Peer to Peer Magazine

22 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | WINTER 2016 BEST PRACTICES DARE To Revolutionize the Role of Traditional Trainers DARE To Revolutionize the Role of Traditional Trainers A Broken Model Training teams face a sea of new hires whose experience at previous law firms varies from a lot to none. This renders useless the one-size-fits-all approach to training that has been the norm in legal environments. Meanwhile, new soware is rolled out to lawyers and staff who engage lile, if at all, with the formal training offered. Classes are scheduled, webinars are held and For years, trainers have watched as interest declined in traditional approaches to technology training. Confronted with a changing job market, many still struggle to find their way on a new path. Key skills are required for trainers to increase their value, deliver programs with more impact and engage the modern learner. documents are posted to the learning management system (LMS). The content is there; why are they not coming? The "if you build it, they will come" model is broken and needs to be fixed. Locked in a Box Many trainers are marginalized as "just trainers" because they have locked themselves in a box that contains a limited set of behaviors and tools. They spend a few hours with new hires, review applications, share a few documents and send them on their way. They reactively build classes and quick reference cards based on poorly communicated rollout schedules. They religiously load content into the LMS, send notification emails and post notices about new initiatives. Lather, rinse, repeat. Learning is limited to these few events within the box and cut off from the business of law. Leadership needs trainers who can create new and engaging learning that lives very far outside the box. Lawyers and staff want experiences more like those they have come to expect from applications like Google and YouTube. Leaders want this change, lawyers and staff want this change, and many trainers know they could be more effective. The problem is trainers cannot seem to find a way out of the box. DARE to Unlock the Box While some firms are making changes and seeing results, many senior IT leaders are tired of the lack of engagement with training, low technology adoption and the same old classes and documents. They want more than evolution: They want a training revolution. They want to see the learning function recalibrated to match the expectations of incoming lawyers and staff. They want to transform trainers from tactical players into strategic partners who bring more value to the firm. You'd expect the keys to unlocking the box would be virtual training, avatars, gamification and social learning, but more importance should be placed on trainers acting as business professionals with consultative skills who happen to know a lot about training. There is a desire to increase the professionalism of law firm training. It's the small things that maer, such as dressing for success or following up on customer requests. by Eileen Whitaker and Mike Sweeney

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