The Importance of Leveraging Internal SMEs for Business Process Improvement

Prior to being a consultant, I was an SME (subject matter expert) for several companies in various industries primarily in the area of process improvement. During my time as an SME for some of these organizations, they hired external consultants to help accelerate their improvement programs.

Inevitably the consultants would try to work with me or other SMEs to gain a quicker understanding of the organization and key projects that were underway to improve processes. In a few cases this “partnership” worked.

One example of where this worked was when I was working on implementing a lean manufacturing process in a manufacturing plant, but the plant hired consultants to “validate” our endeavor. I worked with the consultants to help them understand the major issues encountered that led to the creation of the project and how we planned on solving them. I also showed them the metrics that we were using to show if the processes we were implementing can be measured to show improvement or if there needed to be an adjustment to keep the project on course.

The consultants performed their own analysis and reported out their findings. During their final presentation, they referenced several times how their analysis confirmed our methodology on how the project should be implemented and the vetted the expected benefits associated with the intended outcome. This was one of the best examples of consultants leveraging SMEs for the good of the project and the organization.

Most examples that I have encountered however have not been as effective. In those situations, the consultants to some degree were threatened by the SMEs, as the consultants considered themselves the experts, not the SMEs. While consultants do have extensive expertise, they do not necessarily have the wherewithal to navigate their client’s organization. Their egos can get in the way of true process improvement without the cooperation of the SMEs. This can alienate the SMEs as well as other key members of the organization.

In these situations, the organization will not realize the intended benefit of the engagement, and all parties involved suffer in some fashion.

During my time as a BPR consultant, I have kept these examples in mind when trying to engage with SMEs of an organization. These lessons proved to come in handy during a recent engagement. We were working with a client to help them understand how budgeting and forecasting relate to each other, and how these concepts can be managed by implementing a Sales and Operations Planning Process. These concepts were very foreign to the organization as they had never performed them within the company.

After several sessions, using many examples we were still having issues conveying the concepts to the project team. There was one SME that seemed to understand the base concepts. It was imperative that he understood because during the inception of the BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) project, the SME was very much against changing the processes. However during these sessions the SME was more animated, more involved in the discussion. At one point the SME actually wanted to present the concepts to the team, in order to act as bridge of knowledge between our consultant team and the organization. We gave the SME the opportunity to present the concepts so that they could understand per how the organization could assimilate the information. Not only did this help the organization, but the SME is now fully onboard of the process changes. In fact, the SME wants to attend all sessions going forward to make sure they are a positive influence for process improvement.

Why is the SME fully engaged now in the project versus the early stages? It all boils down to a few key factors of making this a successful engagement:

1. We as consultants set our egos aside and allowed the SME to help present the concepts to the organization. By being able to communicate our understanding to the SME, they were able to articulate the concepts and convey the knowledge better than we could based on their understanding of the organization.

We empowered the SME. This is huge.

1. This allowed the SME to become more involved, and in doing so, improved their view of how important positive change was to their organization. This level of empowerment has now helped the SME be “all in” on the project, which is a huge catalyst toward success.
   
   
2. We partnered with the SME. This partnership led to an incredible exchange of knowledge and energy led to a phenomenal session. That level of interaction carried over throughout the remainder of the project.

Seems simple right?

It can be, but it takes practice and reading the situation correctly. However, if you are able to master leveraging the SME of an organization, you will have an effective and enriching career as a consultant! At Liberty Technology Advisors, our team of expert consultants have not only mastered the art of leveraging SMEs but have been SMEs ourselves and are here to help you move your business forward.