In Bangladesh, the expert hand is something that is misunderstood and misinterpreted (unless they are a doctor, architect, chartered accountant, a lawyer, or of relevant professions with a form of professional certification). We see this regularly. With the exception of a handful of companies, there is a drastic misuse of expertise by others.
Expert hands are always subject-focused rather than being multi-task multi-focus-oriented, where assigned tasks are given centric to his/her area of expertise. This is the primary mistake that contractors make when engaging the person. The subject matter expert (SME) is being specifically developed, through the provision of specialized training as a form of investment where resource building is concerned (we should not confuse this “SME” with the other “SME,” which is small and medium enterprise -- a totally separate thing).
“Why is an SME required” is the primary question we ask as a decision maker or someone who wishes to learn more. A company, institute, organization or other entities generally do need expert hands to maneuver and get things into a state of basic workability after the company or entity is operational. The subject matter experts are needed to actually optimize on company resources and to as well to provide a destined roadmap and thus guide the entity to reach the set journey's end applicable area of focus of this specific SME.
When an entity grows and graduates from being a SOHO (small office home office) and then to a small setup (whatever it is -- corporate, institute, anything) it requires guidance towards success, procedures, targets and milestones, team building, automation, compliance as well as growth with planning and whatnot. During this transition, a path is charted, which the SME can help with if chosen well. The same applies to when an entrepreneur builds a large setup from scratch -- he or she needs to be guided as a person or his team may not have all core competencies required for success.
Of course, “best practices” change with the times. Just like conformity, requisite standards change as well. A good firm in the 1980s, for example, may not be at par with the best practices of the current year. Which is where the concept of guidance comes in.
Similarly, an expert in IT may not be an expert in HR or financial planning. Therefore, again, a situation arises where a gap needs to be filled. A jack of all trades trying to play God never ensures success, and likely never will.
Resistance towards SMEs is usually the result of apprehension -- on the one hand an existing resource may feel threatened that their position of authority may get compromised or worse get booted from the company. On the other hand, the management feels threatened because they feel that a person who knows more than the entrepreneur themselves may become a threat in a more overarching way. This is entirely too common as far as mindsets go.
Sadly, the positive aspects of hiring someone specifically tailored to handle something are never considered. The pros of SMEs always dwarf the cons, remember that.
In Bangladesh, we are starting to witness an increasing need for SMEs. But sadly the demands outweigh the actual supply. There are far too many men and women who fit the profile stuck in dead end jobs, and even if we consider that entire base, the demands are still too high. Which is where skill resource development training in the hands of qualified processional trainers come in. It is a form of self-development for the individual as it helps to strengthen them by maintaining resources that are more competent (with a form of tenure collateral).
These developed resources will by privy to the knowledge and contribute to paving the way for better practices and approaches for the company itself.
In Bangladesh, we need to stop settling for mediocrity and demand resource development (locally or internationally) because this is the only way for the nation to rise out of external dependency on specialist skills. In both the short and long run, the country stands to benefit substantially if the government emphasizes more and more in subsidizing skill development.
It's also quite important to understand that isolating such development to large urban areas does not help -- rural Bangladesh and our smaller towns and cities should be the larger area of focus, in fact. Why? Because, Bangladesh as a nation is pretty centralized already.
Waleed Morshed is a consultant, institutional advisor, and entrepreneur.
