According to the 2016 State of Learning and Development Report by Mimeo, the average training professional is responsible for fulfilling three separate roles, ranging from learning strategy and management to creating, coordinating and facilitating courses. With limited time and resource allocation combined with the need to wear multiple hats, training professionals often struggle to gain buy-in when collaborating with subject matter experts (SMEs) during the instructional design process, which is a key component to any learning and development strategy.

How can training professionals mitigate this challenge while ensuring positive outcomes for the organization, the SME and the learner and without compromising quality of content and learner experience? The answer is a coaching approach. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines coaching as an active, focused, positive and outcome-oriented process. Coaching stems from a variety of psychological models rooted in action and change. Appreciative inquiry, which is one of the foundations of coaching, lends itself well to instructional design and gaining buy-in from stakeholders through defining, discovering, dreaming, designing and destiny. When coupled with instructional design, the coaching process includes each of the following components.

Phase 1: Partnership (Defining)

During the initial phase of the instructional design process, training professionals should define their role and the role of the SME, focusing on co-creation as a process. The role of the instructional designer entails listening, questioning, challenging, supporting, providing resources and information, and setting goals, while the role of the SME is listening, questioning, taking action and attaining goals. Defining the process and respective roles establishes a foundation for mutual understanding and collective accountability.

Phase 2: Setting the Agenda, Establishing Goals and Developing a Plan of Action (Discovery and Dreaming)

The second phase moves the process from ideation to action through the development of the project plan. This plan includes scope, sequence, outcomes and outputs. SME input and feedback within this phase contributes to collective transparency and encourages trust and rapport as the foundation for content development.

Phase 3: Development and Execution (Designing)

This phase is when partnership and goal-setting marry, and outcomes are achieved by supporting the design process, eliciting feedback from SMEs related to needs and creating program collateral. The success of the training professional in establishing trust and rapport with the SME is demonstrated here, at the most crucial point of the instructional design process. Through the use of powerful questions, the training professional can move the process along while remaining in the spirt of co-creation:

• If you were taking this course, what would the experience feel like?
• How would content drive the learning experience in a perfect world?
• What other areas should we explore further?
• What support or information is needed to accomplish our goal?
• How should we pull all of this together?

Phase 4: Feedback and Follow-Up (Destiny)

In the beginning of the process, a relationship was formed. As the training professional, while enveloped in logistical and production details, it is easy to omit the last but most important part of the coaching process: eliciting feedback. SME feedback allows training professionals to improve their individual processes and brings to the surface blind spots, enabling them to refine and enhance their approach and leading to increased efficiencies and outcomes. Additionally, once the course has been launched in beta format, purposeful and scheduled follow-up with the SME recognizes his or her contribution and contributes to increased collaboration and relationship management for future projects.

Positive Outcomes

For NACE, adopting the coaching approach has had a significant impact on the association’s ability to successfully leverage the expertise of its 12,000 members – many of whom serve as SMEs – to provide an expanded array of quality offerings. Over the past five years, the association has been able to expand the number of its virtual programs from six to 26; introduce new programs, including multiple certification programs; and reinvigorate several legacy programs – all because the NACE team has been better able to collaborate with SMEs through a coaching approach.