The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/21494
CASE STUDIES A True Champion’s Story by Denise Ash, Litigation Support Analyst at Robinson & McElwee Editor’s Note: Denise Ash is the winner of ILTA’s 2010 Distinguished Peer Award as a Champion of User Support. We asked her to chronicle her award-winning achievements in the areas of training and support. A CALL TO ACTION We have a beautiful training room at Robinson & McElwee; it has fashionable chairs, a great view of the streets of downtown Charleston, West Virginia, eight computers, a SmartBoard and even a fully-stocked refrigerator. But, until 2010, it lacked something — something important ––students to fill those stylish chairs. We held training sessions when implementing new or upgraded software and when new users arrived, but not much more than that. This year, Kent George (our managing member) asked the information systems department to focus more on training than we had in the past. In order to accomplish this task in an environment where our workdays were already busy, we purchased training content from a leading provider in the legal market. This consisted of hundreds of webinars, quick reference cards, classroom training materials and online learning files. The materials are well-designed and specific to law firms, and, for a yearly maintenance fee, we receive any new materials created by the vendor. Our information systems department installed the online learning files in our training room because we wanted to track people’s participation and felt that they would learn better away from the distractions of their desks. The files are available by Citrix for our satellite office. GETTING PEOPLE TO THE CLASSROOM Marketing the training was our next challenge. Of course, I sent e-mail messages to our users announcing the training, but I also spoke positively to people about it as I helped them at their desks, on the phone or via e-mail. In addition, I created a database of available classes that I could search while on a support call. After helping users with their immediate needs, I inform them of the class that covers related skills and suggest that they come to a session. This type of encouragement worked well to attract our users to the training classes. Another marketing technique is a weekly tip from one of the training courses on our intranet. Underneath the tip, 38 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer we provide a link to the technology training section of our intranet, which allows users to search the available classes. EVERYONE SUCCEEDS Part of the success of this ongoing initiative lies in the excellent attitudes and aptitudes of our employees and members. Our end users are all interested in learning more in order to be more productive for our clients; they soak up knowledge like sponges. I also believe that the rapport our information systems department has built with our end users over the years was a great benefit to the success of our training initiative. When I first came to Robinson & McElwee as a contract employee in 1998, I had to walk around twice a day asking people if they had any questions because nobody called for help. Often, they would timidly reply that there was something they’d been curious about and then tentatively ask their question. Since then, the members of our department have intentionally spent time getting to know our users and building good relationships with them. I believe the adage I learned in my days as an elementary education major rings especially true in user support: “People will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The knowledge that we care for our end users as people makes them feel comfortable about calling us for assistance, and it also makes them more motivated to attend trainings offered by our department. Thanks to the excellent materials from our solution provider, the intentional marketing by all members of our department, the thirst for knowledge from our users and management’s support of training in our firm, we have logged more training hours in 2010 than the previous three years combined! We have even loftier goals for training next year, and we have developed a bold plan to see them actualized. After all, better-trained employees provide better service to clients, which is the goal of any successful law firm. ILTA