What are you a subject matter expert (SME) on?
- Giving great presentations?
- Motivating a team?
- Making a perfect loaf of sourdough bread?
If someone asked you to share everything you know, where would you start? How much time would it take? And how would you decide what matters most?
Unless you’ve been lucky with your sourdough experiments, chances are you’d struggle with those questions. Expert knowledge is hard-won, and deciding how and what to share with others is a real challenge.
Why Expert Knowledge Is Hard to Capture
As learning experience designers, guiding SMEs to share what they know can be time intensive. Most experts have gathered their knowledge over decades. They’ve collected thousands of tips, stories, and lessons. Asking them to distill all of that into a single course or workshop is no small task.
And here’s the problem: too often, learning projects start in the wrong place. They begin with the question, “What do learners need to know?” That may sound logical, but it sends us down a path that’s full of lengthy interviews, scattered notes, and an overwhelming amount of content.
A better starting point is to ask, “What are we trying to achieve?”
Beginning with Goals, Not Knowledge: Action Mapping eLearning
Cathy Moore, an experienced learning professional and thought leader, created a framework to tackle this exact problem. It’s called Action Mapping. This is the foundation for creating highly effective Action Mapping eLearning courses.
The method is simple but powerful. Instead of asking SMEs to list everything they know, we start with the business goal. From there, we work backwards.
First, we identify the behaviors learners need to adopt in order to reach the goal. Next, we ask: what’s the least amount of knowledge a person needs to practice those behaviors? This “least amount” approach sounds strict, but it’s effective at helping SMEs think differently about what a learner needs to know.
Why “Least Amount” Works for Action Mapping eLearning
On paper, this framework might feel sparse. But in practice, it creates clarity. Instead of overwhelming learners with every possible fact, we build learning that’s targeted and actionable. This ensures your Action Mapping eLearning delivers clear results.
This shift also changes the role of the SME. Instead of unloading every detail they know, they share what’s most essential. The result? Content that is practical, lean, and anchored in real-life expertise.
Moving Beyond “One and Done” Courses
By starting with behaviors and goals, we also move away from building long, single-modality courses that learners dread. Instead, we create experiences where learners practice skills, try things out, and see immediate relevance.
That doesn’t mean SME stories are pushed aside. Quite the opposite. Their stories become more powerful when used in the right place to provide nuance and real-world perspective. Real scenarios, short case studies, and anecdotes from the field benefit the learner’s engagement and application.
Partnering with SMEs the Right Way
SMEs are essential. Without them, we can’t create learning that is accurate, helpful, and authentic. But expertise alone doesn’t guarantee effective training. It takes a partnership between the SME and a learning professional to make it work.
Frameworks like Action Mapping give us a shared language. They help SMEs see why less can be more. They also give learning teams the ability to move faster and with more focus.
At Apti, we pair this kind of framework with our own AIM approach. The combination helps SMEs quickly narrow down the most important information from their vast knowledge. From there, we shape it into engaging, authentic eLearning experiences.
Why This Matters
Think back to your own expertise. If someone asked you to hand over all your insights in one sitting, you’d probably feel overwhelmed. Learners feel the same when asked to take in too much at once.
Our job is to respect the depth of an SME’s expertise, while also respecting the learner’s time and attention. That balance is what makes learning effective. It turns endless pages of notes into something learners can actually use.
Getting Started
If you have experts in your organization but aren’t sure where to begin, you’re not alone. The good news is you don’t have to start with a massive content dump. You start with a goal.
What business result are you aiming for? From there, we can work with your SMEs to define the key behaviors and shape the content that supports them.
So, if you’ve got experts ready to share but need help shaping their knowledge into high-impact Action Mapping eLearning, let’s talk. We’ll help identify your goals, map the critical behaviors, and build learning that feels both authentic and effective.