The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/34686
BEST T PRACTICES When Knowledge Is the Differentiator he successful law firm in the year 2020 has withstood a dramatic period of declining profits, increased competition, growth in outsourced legal services, headcount reductions, radically changing workflows and roles, Baby Boomer “brain drain,” and a rapid culture shift as a new generation of media-savvy Millennials became lawyers and clients. In response, the successful firm has leveraged innovation, agility and technology to build efficiencies across the firm’s people and processes. Performance has been crucial to ultimate success. Each worker has been equipped with the tools, skills and information necessary to perform in a fast-paced, highly efficient environment while still delivering high quality legal work product to clients. But, it didn’t happen overnight. And, it didn’t come easily. The successful law firm in 2020 had to unlearn the old, create new ways of being successful and meeting new client demands, all while the world around it was rapidly changing. Many experts speculate that, by 2020, timely access to knowledge will be a key differentiator for successful organizations. The knowledge of their employees and the access their employees have to answers and information in their moments of need will make for increased and agile performance in a world where most workers are overloaded with too much information and too few filters. Knowledge management (KM) professionals are well aware of this and are actively developing ways to cultivate and manage the knowledge-based assets of their firms. 18 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNING timely access to knowledge will be a key differentiator for successful organizations.” “By 2020, PROFESSIONALS Training/learning professionals also are responsible for disseminating knowledge and ‘know-how’ across the firm, and yet the traditional ways of doing so will not be timely or relevant enough for the firm of 2020. This is an opportunity for learning professionals to innovate and bring new value to their firms. In fact, in a recent Fast Company (FC Expert) Blog, blogger Sam Herring of Intrepid Learning Solutions predicted that the years leading up to 2020 may be coined “The Learning Decade” because of the intense value learning will bring to tomorrow’s organizations. In today’s law firms, the technology training efforts are focused primarily on rollout training, new hire orientation, ongoing training classes and the development of learning content for reference guides or e-learning modules. The traditional formal training model that we’re so accustomed to puts the trainer at the center of all knowledge. It views the classroom as the place where all knowledge is transferred, and it assumes that if the learner is not attending classes or e-learning events, he must not be learning. The opposite is true. In fact, learning is continuous. While the instructor-led training events remain an important piece of organized learning, firms that are not tapping the 80 to 90 percent of all learning that happens outside of the classroom are missing an opportunity. Today, users get their technology how-to questions