It usually starts with "Hey! Quick question... do you have a minute?” and then turns into “Actually, while I have you, would you just walk the new hires through that process? You explain it so well.” And once again, your SME has become your default solution for everything unclear.
That’s how most SME problems begin. Not with bad intent, but with a lack of structure and clear expectations as to when and how they are to be utilized. Over time, even the most generous, capable professionals start to feel interrupted, stretched, and well, over it.
Will anyone save our SMEs? Why yes! Yes, we will!
SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) are the people everyone goes to, the ones who catch mistakes before they happen, and the ones who can explain not just what to do, but why it matters. If you don’t already have SMEs in place, you may be asking, where do I find such a magical being?
The right SME isn’t always the most senior person; it’s the one whose work and thinking consistently stand out. You’ll find them by looking for patterns rather than titles.
A simple question often helps: ‘If we could bottle one person’s knowledge in this area to help others succeed faster, who would we choose?’
There’s a moment no one really talks about; it’s the point where the SME stops being helpful and starts being responsible. Not officially. Not intentionally. Just gradually. One question, one walkthrough, one ‘can you also’ at a time. And suddenly, they’re not just doing their job, they’re carrying a piece of everyone else’s. In many firms, this shows up in familiar ways, like an intake process that only one person really understands, a case workflow that lives in someone’s head, or a particular understanding that only one person really seems to know how to explain. It works… until that person is unavailable. Or overwhelmed. Or quietly avoiding calendar invites that start with ‘quick question.’
At their best, SMEs are knowledge partners. They provide insight, context, and judgment that elevate training. They are not the training department. This is where things tend to go sideways. When the SME role isn’t clearly defined, it slowly expands until the SME is doing far more than anyone intended. They find themselves fielding continuous and repetitive questions, conducting training sessions for new and existing team members, and being asked to do the work of others, as it’s felt they can conduct the work faster with greater accuracy or detail.
SMEs should be leveraged for their thinking, not their time.
What they shouldn’t be doing is just as important:
When SMEs are used improperly, the organization becomes dependent on them. When used well, their knowledge becomes part of a scalable system.
Once you define the role, the next step is to make it visible carefully.
Without guidance, introducing SMEs can unintentionally send the message: ‘Here’s the person you should go to for everything.’ That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid.
Instead, position SMEs as part of a system:
This framing protects the SME and helps the team understand how to use their expertise appropriately.
The goal isn’t to involve SMEs more; it’s to involve them better. If someone has to explain the same process more than three times, it’s likely that this is no longer a people problem, but a system problem.
Training shouldn’t rely on the availability of your best people; it should reflect the thinking of your best people. The most effective approach is to capture their expertise once and reuse it many times. That’s where training structure becomes your biggest ally. Instead of repeatedly pulling SMEs into conversations, build learning experiences that reflect how they think and work.
This might look like:
A helpful shift is this: SMEs help build training, but they don’t have to deliver it every time.
When this is done well, new hires still benefit from expert-level insight without requiring the expert to repeat themselves endlessly.
Burnout doesn’t always look like someone saying ‘no.’ It sometimes looks like slower response, shorter answers, or quiet disengagement. Thanks alone isn’t a strategy for SMEs. If it just feels like extra work ‘on top of everything else,’ the model won’t hold.
Support starts with respecting their time and being intentional about how it’s used. That means planning, limiting duplication, and making sure their involvement is purposeful.
Recognition matters just as much. Not because SMEs are looking for applause, but because visibility signals that their contribution is valued.
More than anything, SMEs want to know their time is being used well and that what they’re helping to build actually matters.
This isn’t about asking less of your SMEs. It’s about asking the right things, in the right way, at the right time.
Most organizations don’t overuse SMEs on purpose. It happens because it seems efficient in the moment. The reality, however, is that short-term convenience becomes long-term dependency, and that’s where the problem begins. Your SMEs will still help, they always do. The question is whether you’ve built something that helps them back. When firms take the time to build a thoughtful approach, something important shifts. Training becomes more consistent. Teams become more confident. And SMEs get to go back to doing what they do best without feeling like they’ve accidentally taken on a second job.
So yes, let’s save the SMEs. Not because they’re fragile, but because they’re valuable. And the way we use them says a lot about how we build, scale, and respect expertise within our firms.
