Identifying Subject Matter Experts - any structured methodology/guideline #expertise-location
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sjagannath@...
All, Probably one of the crude/easiest ways to identify SME’s in an organization would be through (a top-down approach) nominating associates who have accumulated knowledge in specific area. Just a devil’s advocate thought, could this be the right approach? Views could be biased based on experience, communication skills or other qualities. Hence, would want to learn from this group if anybody followed a structured methodology/broad guideline to identify subject matter experts. Please do share… Thanks & Regards Srinivas Prasad |
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Mark D Neff <mneff@...>
Srinivas, Here is the crux of the question. What do you define as a SME? (academic, experience, recognized thought leader, the one everyone else goes to for advice, the greatest communicator, the best teacher, the most productive, the most published, the most patents, all of the above?) What do you want these SMEs to do? What is the purpose of identifying them? Do you want to point to them in proposals as leads in particular subject areas? Do you want them to form the basis for establishing a mentoring program? Are you trying to identify a starting point for collecting their knowledge? Are you trying to give them recognition? Are you testing your senior management to see who they go to for particular expertise so that their social network becomes more visible? Do you see them as a possible way to influence senior management? Are you afraid that unless senior management recognizes their expertise in a particular area, then they are not really SMEs? All of these questions and more will actually influence your methodology for identifying SMEs. It also depends on what areas you are trying to id expertise in because depending on the level of expertise and topic, senior management may be the worst place to start. Just some thoughts for you to consider. Mark 706.447.8522
All, Probably one of the crude/easiest ways to identify SME’s in an organization would be through (a top-down approach) nominating associates who have accumulated knowledge in specific area. Just a devil’s advocate thought, could this be the right approach? Views could be biased based on experience, communication skills or other qualities. Hence, would want to learn from this group if anybody followed a structured methodology/broad guideline to identify subject matter experts. Please do share… Thanks & Regards Srinivas Prasad |
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Peter Dorfman <pdorfman@...>
If "thought leaders" intrigue you, do some networking in the Pharmaceutical
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industry. Drug companies maintain a function called Medical Affairs that is largely devoted to networking among "Key Opinion Leaders" -- thought leader physicians who are influential in the treatment of specific diseases, who can often make or break a drug brand in the marketplace. They have this down to a science; there is a whole class of software applications specifically designed to manage KOL networks. How they do this translates nicely to address the needs of organizations in lots of other industries that have to manage influence networks. Peter Dorfman KnowledgeFarm http://pdorfman.wordpress.com On Mon Sep 8 13:17 , 'Albert Simard' <simarda@...> sent:
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steven.wieneke@...
Srinivas, We use a structured methodology (executive vetting process) to identify SME by CoP. Steven Wieneke Technical Fellow Global Technical Memory Closed-Loop Learning Process Global Product Engineering General Motors Corporation
All, Probably one of the crude/easiest ways to identify SME’s in an organization would be through (a top-down approach) nominating associates who have accumulated knowledge in specific area. Just a devil’s advocate thought, could this be the right approach? Views could be biased based on experience, communication skills or other qualities. Hence, would want to learn from this group if anybody followed a structured methodology/broad guideline to identify subject matter experts. Please do share… Thanks & Regards Srinivas Prasad
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Albert Simard <simarda@...>
Srinivas -
Speaking of thought leaders, you have just expanded my horizons of the
possible dimensions of a directory of expertise. it's not just
multi-attribute, but multi-purpose as well.
Hummm...something to ponder.
Al Simard |
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Valdis Krebs <valdis@...>
Yes Peter, excellent application.
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We do a lot of work like this for Pharmaceuticals and other knowledge/ expert type businesses. See example of Key Opinion Leader diagram @ http://www.orgnet.com/KOL.html Companies [pharma & others] also use social/organizational network analysis to look at internal experts/mavens/leaders http://www.orgnet.com/experts.html Valdis http://www.orgnet.com http://www.thenetworkthinker.com On Sep 8, 2008, at 1:23 PM, Peter Dorfman wrote:
If "thought leaders" intrigue you, do some networking in the Pharmaceutical |
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sjagannath@...
Mark, Wonderful set of questions! For the initiative am currently working on, the scope definition for SME would be an expert in the system/application/niche domain. Ideally, I would want to make that person visible contact for rest of the organization as "go to person". I feel the rest (i.e. recognition, senior management acknowledgement, establishing mentorship program, or identifying knowledge hoarder's in the organization etc.) will implicitly get covered. That said, am looking to identify these experts & ensure that KM group facilitates knowledge exchange from the experts. Also, as a next step would be mentor each of these people to become "go to person". With this context any specific methodology/successful structured process to identify SME's? To provide some more background, heard previously followed protocol to identify experts was simply any associate who has been working on a specific system/application for more 2 years or so. This list has associates across various levels from the junior to senior managers. I am looking forward to formulate a set of guidelines/attributes for identifying SME's such that they can extend support/clarify while issues/problems/challenges are encountered. Thanks Srinivas Prasad
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Patti Anklam <patti@...>
Srinivas,
Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is a good method for identifying experts by using the questions that Mark raises. For example, you could construct an ONA that asks people who the other people are who they go to when they need help solving a problem in their domain of practice. The question can be worded in ways that let you see the likelihood of someone choosing one person over another, and so on.
The overall “map” of where knowledge resides in an organization can be a very powerful talent management tool. You can use it to map knowledge and expertise across the organization. Perhaps Barry Dayton would like to chime in here… I wrote about what he is doing at 3M in Inside Knowledge magazine a while back. (http://tinyurl.com/5ocsp3 requires subscription.)
/patti anklam
Patti
Anklam http://www.pattianklam.com Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and Sustaining Networks at Work and in the World is now available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.
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