This is the article published on
http://www.careerride.com/Subject-Matter-Experts-SME.aspx , which I had written when I was working as a subject matter expert with an e-learning company. Now after going back into active training, consultancy and management research, I realized that I have matured as a trainer, as I know the importance of content development,its presentation so as to make that lasting impact in the mind of the target audience. Moreover, I am of the opinion that the role of a subject matter expert can be donned even on a freelance/part-time basis and to be honest companies from across India and parts of pacific are willing to give some or the work to me.Recession has its benefit for individuals delivering services, rather than big corporations.Thats also the reason why most of the e-learning companies rope in subject matter experts on a project basis, rather than keeping them full time on roll. Meanwhile, I should admit that rubbing shoulders with instructional designers, graphic designers and visualizers on an e-learning platform gave me new food for thought, especially when it comes to making that high impact presentation.At the same time, it was also true and somewhat disturbing to see at times, the overlapping of domain experts into each others territory!This had its own reactions, sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit.However, the absence of proper demarcation especially when a defined process is absent in the creation of a product/service, not only results in under-utilization of resources, but also initiates the chain reaction of blame game.For a subject matter expert willing to leverage his core competencies and contribute towards organizational and individual growth,may come as spanner especially if the directions aren't clear.I am critical and vocal only because I want to mark my positive and negative takeaways I had from this experience.
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