Your Subject Matter Experts Know the Work, But Do They Know How to Teach It?

In a growing organization, subject matter experts (SMEs) know the systems, the customers, the shortcuts, the mistakes to avoid, and the “here’s what actually works” reality that no manual ever captures. So when you need onboarding or internal training it feels logical to say: “Let’s get our experts to build it.” But here’s the catch: being great at your job doesn’t automatically make you great at teaching your job. It’s not a personal flaw either (it’s a design problem). This article will help you understand the gap between expertise and instruction, why it matters, and how to support your SMEs so they can share knowledge in a way that actually sticks.

What is a Subject Matter Expert?

A SME holds deep knowledge that has been built through sustained experience in a clearly defined area. This understanding comes from spending significant time close to the work itself, which allows the person to grasp not only how things function but also why they function the way they do.  In small and mid-sized organizations, your SMEs are often:

• The person everyone Slacks when something breaks
• The “go-to” for how things really get done
• A top performer who has built their own reliable system
• A long-time team member who carries a lot of institutional knowledge

They are incredibly valuable. They also tend to be busy. And they’re usually not trained educators. That’s why SME training is such an advantage. When you do it well, knowledge becomes repeatable, onboarding gets smoother and fewer things live only in someone’s head.

Why Subject Matter Expertise Doesn’t Automatically Translate Into Good Training

Created by Petra Mayer & Associates Consulting. You’re welcome to share this infographic with attribution and a link to our website: https://petramayerconsulting.com

When SMEs create training without support, the result is often one of these:

• The information dump: The SME shares everything they know, because they can’t tell what matters most to a beginner. The learner feels overwhelmed, and the key steps get lost.

• The missing steps problem: Experts forget what it felt like not to know. They skip “obvious” steps, which are the exact steps a new hire needs.

• The “how I do it” bias: Sometimes training becomes a personal workflow rather than a team standard. That can create inconsistency and confusion, especially as you grow.

• The accidental training tax: When training isn’t clear, learners ask more questions later, which means the SME keeps teaching the same thing over and over. This is where leaders start to feel the real cost of weak training. 

What Subject Matter Experts Actually Need To Teach Effectively

Most SMEs don’t need a formal course design certification to be effective. What they need instead is clarity around their role in the learning process along with structure that helps them organize their knowledge and support that guides them as they translate expertise into meaningful learning experiences. Here’s what makes the biggest difference:

Clear expectations: “What are we building, and who is it for?”

Before your SME creates anything, they should know:

• Who the learner is (brand new? experienced but new to your tools?)
• What the learner must be able to do at the end
• What “good” looks like on the job

Without this, SMEs tend to build training that’s either too advanced or too broad.

A simple structure for converting expertise into learning

A helpful structure sounds like this:

1. The strategy: why it is important
2. The goal: what the learner must do
3. The decisions: what choices they’ll need to make on the job
4. The mistakes: what usually goes wrong and how to prevent it
5. The scenarios: real examples the learner is likely to face
6. The practice: how they can try it safely before it “counts”

This is the heart of effective SME training: you’re guiding experts to teach the work, not just describe it.

Time boundaries that respect their real job

SMEs burn out when they’re asked to “just build a course” on top of everything else. A better approach is smaller, focused contributions:

• a 45-minute interview
• a short review of a draft
• a scenario brainstorm
• a quick validation of “is this accurate?”

Your SME contributes what only they can contribute, but they don’t carry the whole build.

How To Support Subject Matter Experts Without Overloading Them

If you’re relying on SMEs to build training, the goal is not to turn them into instructional designers. The goal is to create a repeatable process that makes it easy for them to share what they know. It’s important not to just ask SMEs to “create training”, instead, ask them to capture expertise. Here are a few ways to do that:

Facilitated interviews

A learning partner asks targeted questions and records the answers. The SME speaks. Someone else shapes it into learning.

Guided outlines or templates

Instead of a blank page, give them prompts like:

• “What’s the most common mistake?”
• “What do you wish new hires understood by week two?”
• “What’s a real scenario you’ve handled recently?”

Co-creation sprints

One short working session to map a learning path, followed by quick SME reviews as content is built. This approach also protects your organization as it grows. Many employees look for growth and learning opportunities. And when internal options feel weak, they’ll find learning elsewhere. Gallup reports that 58% of employees sought at least one learning and development experience outside formal employer training in the past year. That’s a signal worth paying attention to: people want development, and they’ll go get it. With or without you.

Use learning paths to focus SME input

One reason SME-led training gets messy is that there’s no clear sequence. A learning path solves this. It answers:

• What do learners need first?
• What can wait until later?
• What should be practiced on the job?
• What needs reinforcement?

When SMEs see the path, their input becomes sharper and more useful because it’s attached to a stage of learning, not a giant pile of content.

Turning Expert Knowledge Into Learning Paths That Scale

When you support SMEs properly, you create a system for transferring knowledge reliably as your organization changes. Gallup has reported that organizations that strategically invest in employee development see 11% greater profitability and are twice as likely to retain employees. And onboarding is a major place where SMEs are already doing heavy lifting (often invisibly). Research summaries citing Gallup have found that organizations with strong onboarding can improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%. Even if your organization is smaller, the principle still applies: when learning is structured and supported, people ramp faster and stay longer.

What this looks like in a practical SME-friendly model

A scalable model often includes:

• A core onboarding path (what every new hire needs)
• Role-based paths (what specific roles need to do well)
• “Moment that matters” training (hard conversations, safety issues, customer escalations, systems access)
• Refreshers and updates (because processes change)

Your SMEs feed this system with scenarios and real-world detail. A learning partner shapes it into usable training.

Quick FAQ for leaders

Leaders often know something isn’t quite working with training, but it can be hard to pinpoint why. When SMEs are involved, questions tend to come up quickly around roles, expectations, and where support should come from. The answers below address some of the most common questions leaders ask when they are trying to turn internal expertise into effective learning without adding more strain to already busy teams.

   1. How do I know if we need subject matter expert training?

If your best people are constantly re-explaining the same things, your training isn’t carrying its weight. That’s a strong sign you need a better SME support process.

   2. What should subject matter experts be responsible for (and not responsible for)?

SMEs should be responsible for accuracy, real-world context, scenarios, and common mistakes. They should not be responsible for building the entire course structure, writing every activity, or managing the LMS.

   3. What’s the fastest way to capture expert knowledge?

A facilitated interview plus a simple template is usually the quickest win. You can capture a surprising amount of usable training in 60–90 minutes if you ask the right questions. If your training depends heavily on subject matter experts, start by asking: Are we expecting our experts to be trainers or are we giving them a process that makes training development easier?

Final Thoughts

SMEs are one of the most valuable assets in a growing organization, but their impact depends on how well their knowledge is translated into learning. When experts are left to teach without structure or support, training becomes inconsistent and harder to scale. When they are given guidance and a simple process their expertise turns into something far more powerful. The goal is not to turn SMEs into professional educators. It is to respect their time, protect their energy, and create a learning experience that reflects how the work is actually done. For small and mid-sized organizations, this approach creates a ripple effect. Onboarding improves, teams ramp faster, and critical knowledge no longer lives in just one person’s head. Most importantly, your experts get to stay focused on the work they do best, while your people gain the clarity they need to succeed. If your training relies on SMEs, a strong curriculum framework can ease the load and improve learning outcomes. Our curriculum development services help turn expert knowledge into clear, practical learning paths that scale as your organization grows. Learn more about our curriculum development services.