The results of the first annual Working with SMEs survey are in, and here’s what we know about a sampling of my readers.

1. Gender – two thirds are male.
2. Age – spread evenly among the 35 through 65+ categories.
3. Half of you describe yourselves as subject matter experts or technical experts.
4. Readers are spread evenly among government, manufacturing and professional services.
5. Half of you say that your biggest challenge is developing training that achieves behavioral objectives. Other responses included working with subject matter experts and creating training tools and approaches for millennials.

The survey got the expected percentage of responses. Therefore, I interpret that the above describes a representative sampling of readers.

Turning Training into Behaviors

One of the most interesting responses to me was the fact that half of you say your biggest challenge is developing training that achieves behavioral objectives. I found it interesting, but I am not be surprised.

Take the case of very smart subject matter expert who writes his own training. He knows what he wants learners to be able to do and can articulate it. The training breaks down when he comes up with creative activities for a workshop but they don’t directly relate to the articulated goals. The activities lack structure and purpose to move an individual toward competency.

A strong instructional design can help a SME turn his goals into actionable steps that lead toward effective behaviors. Going forward, we will devote time talking about how to help SMEs develop training that moves the needle on performance.

Thank you to the readers who took the survey! It helps to know what you need from this blog.