Three Must-Know Facts to Establish Rapport with SMEs

This week's blog will focus on establishing a positive relationship between SMEs and IDs.

It is known that most ID designers will travel from one organization to the next when their tasks have been completed. transitioning from one company to another is complex already enough; imagine having to establish all those relationships again in another company. It can be pretty exhausting. However, it is imperative that when you transition to another company or establish a new team, a good rapport is established with the individual/group. This is especially relevant when you meet with a subject matter expert (SME). Researching, scheduling future meetings, and actively listening are three things you should always take into account when working with an SME.

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Research the active projects that are occurring.

Researching the company's active projects will help you be one step ahead of the game if you are aware of what is occurring. Your first week will be hectic enough learning new policies and guidelines for the company, but it's better to be prepared before your first initial meeting with the SMEs. Singer (2007) mentions the importance of being prepared, stating, "Respect your interviewee by doing your homework beforehand. This includes reading up on existing material related to the project: the system requirements specifications or marketing documentation, other internal documents, or relevant memos." Completing this research before the meeting allows time to be better prepared to ask specific questions regarding the content and have some background knowledge on unfamiliar terms, teachings, communication style, and work culture.

Schedule meetings ahead of time.

Transitioning to a new position in a company can be time-consuming. While you are getting to know your team and SME, it is important that you respect everyone's time. Your schedule may be similar but think about all the other engagements or separate tasks your team has. When you are assigned your first project, schedule a meeting and figure out what everyone's schedule is like. You may not be able to always schedule a meeting on a particular day or face-to-face, but if you establish the schedule now, you will have more details as to when the team can meet. this can include time, days, method of meeting, face-to-face, phone, or media platform. I also recommend using a platform that allows all communications to be within a focused group. Zoom, Front.com, or even Microsoft Teams are examples of software that allow effective collaboration to happen within an organization or a group of individuals. In doing so, you can ensure communication is sent to your group and keep track of all the tasks and completions that are done throughout the project. Yancey (1996) explains the importance of communication within an organization by stating the following, "Establishing rapport goes a long way toward increasing your credibility and expediting the information-gathering process. This is especially true in situations where content may be confidential, and the SME may be reluctant to provide information" (p.2).

Actively listen and ask questions.

Part of establishing rapport with your SME and team members is to practice active listening. You may think, "well, that's just obvious," but I have come to learn a phrase that goes like this, "common sense is not so common." This is especially true when we engage in conversations with family, friends, or coworkers. Be careful not to interrupt or brush someone off when they are talking or explaining the task. Instead, try to really focus on what they are saying and restate the comments back in your own words. this ensures that there is no disruption, miscommunication, or misinterpretation of what is being said. Another part of active listening is asking open-ended questions. Yancey (1996) states, "Open-ended questions will elicit more information than closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions that begin with "Tell me about....," "What," "Why," "How," and "Describe" open up a conversation. They allow you to pinpoint areas of definition and put questions in the appropriate sequence, beginning with general ideas and moving toward more specific topics" (p. 3).

It can be difficult to establish a rapport with SMEs, but using these guidelines can be a gateway to establishing a more collaborative relationship with not only your SMEs but with your entire team as well.

References

Singer, W. (2007). How to interview subject matter experts. studylib.net.

https://studylib.net/doc/10730472/e-experts-how-to-interview-subject-matter

Yancey, C. (1996). The abcs of working with smes. Performance + Instruction, 35(1), 6–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.4170350104