Category: Training Services

The Hidden Costs of Inaction: Why Process Alignment and Training are Crucial for Law Firms

In the legal industry, the cost of doing nothing can be far greater than the cost of implementing change. One of the most significant areas where this is evident is in the alignment and adoption of key business processes. When law firms fail to ensure that their processes are uniformly understood and followed by all employees—whether they are new hires, existing staff, or those acquired through mergers—the repercussions can be severe. This blog will explore the opportunity costs associated with neglecting process alignment and training, and how process-specific, custom content development can help mitigate these risks.

The Opportunity Cost of Misaligned Processes

Opportunity cost refers to the potential benefits that are forfeited when one alternative is chosen over another. In the context of law firms, the opportunity cost of not having aligned and well-adopted processes can manifest in several ways:

Decreased Efficiency and Productivity: When attorneys and support staff are not on the same page regarding how tasks should be performed, it leads to inconsistencies and inefficiencies. For example, if different teams use different methods to manage case files, it can result in duplicated efforts, wasted time, and ultimately, lower productivity.
Increased Error Rates: Misaligned processes often lead to errors and rework. For instance, if a firm does not have a standardized process for document review, some documents may be overlooked or improperly handled, leading to potential legal repercussions and client dissatisfaction.
Higher Training Costs: Without a unified approach to process training, law firms may find themselves repeatedly training employees on the same tasks, leading to higher training costs and longer onboarding times for new hires.
Lost Competitive Advantage: Inconsistent processes can hinder a firm’s ability to innovate and respond quickly to changes in the legal landscape. Competitors with streamlined, well-adopted processes can outpace firms that struggle with internal misalignment.

Real-World Examples

Consider a large law firm that recently merged with a smaller practice. Without a standardized process for integrating the new attorneys and support staff, the firm faced significant challenges. The lack of alignment led to confusion among staff, inconsistent client service, and ultimately, a decline in client satisfaction. This scenario highlights the importance of having a robust process training and enablement strategy in place.

Another example is a mid-sized law firm that failed to adopt a unified case management process across its departments. As a result, cases were often delayed, deadlines were missed, and client satisfaction plummeted. The opportunity cost here was not just financial but also reputational, as the firm struggled to maintain its market position.

The Solution: Process Training and Enablement

To avoid these pitfalls, law firms must invest in process training and enablement solutions that ensure all employees are aligned and equipped to follow key processes. Traveling Coaches offers a comprehensive Process Training and Enablement Solution designed to address these challenges. Our solution includes:

Custom-Designed Training Materials: Tailored to your firm’s specific processes, ensuring relevance and effectiveness.
Interactive Learning Modules: Engaging and easy-to-understand modules that facilitate better retention and application of knowledge.
Ongoing Support and Reinforcement: Continuous support to reinforce learning and adapt to any process changes over time.

By implementing these solutions, law firms can:

Enhance Employee Performance: When attorneys and support staff are well-trained and understand the processes they need to follow, their performance improves. They can execute tasks more efficiently and with greater accuracy, leading to higher productivity and better outcomes.
Improve Consistency and Quality: Standardized processes ensure that all employees perform tasks in the same way, which enhances consistency and quality across the firm. This is particularly important in client-facing roles where consistent service quality can significantly impact client satisfaction and loyalty.
Accelerate Onboarding: New hires can get up to speed more quickly when there are clear, well-documented processes in place. This reduces the time and resources needed for training and allows new employees to become productive members of the team sooner.
Increase Agility and Innovation: With well-aligned processes, law firms can more easily adapt to changes in the legal landscape. Employees who understand the core processes can innovate within those frameworks, leading to new ideas and improvements that drive the firm forward.
Reduce Risk and Compliance Issues: Effective process training helps ensure that all employees are aware of and adhere to regulatory requirements and firm policies. This reduces the risk of non-compliance and the potential for costly fines or legal issues.

Don’t let the cost of doing nothing hinder your firm’s success. Reach out to Traveling Coaches today to learn how we can help you create custom learning assets that support the alignment and training of your firm’s processes. Together, we can ensure that your team is equipped to perform at their best, driving your firm forward.

Law Firm Success: 8 Key Processes

When you think about the success of your firm’s projects and programs—the planning, execution and measurement—how much of that success depends on everyone following your core processes? Following processes is one of the most important variables that determine your success.

When it comes to law firm training, are there universal processes any firm can adopt to increase the effectiveness of their programs? The short answer is yes! We asked our legal education experts and here are eight key processes to consider:

1. New Hire Onboarding:

Onboarding new employees is crucial for integrating them into the firm culture and ensuring they understand their roles and responsibilities. Effective onboarding programs reduce the time it takes for new hires to become productive and they also improve employee retention. Studies show a direct correlation between longevity at a company and the quality of an employee’s onboarding experience. Onboarding should cover company policies, job-specific tasks, and an introduction to the team and organizational structure, serving up the right information at the right time during the first days, weeks, and months of employment.

2. Lateral Onboarding and Offboardin:

When lawyers and their staff transition in to and out of the firm, it is essential to manage the changes smoothly. Lateral onboarding may be more about firm culture and less about technology, based on employees’ previous experience. Offboarding ensures departing employees complete all necessary exit procedures, return firm property, and transfer knowledge to their successors.

3. Leadership Development:

Developing current and future leaders is vital for the long-term success of any firm. Leadership training programs help lawyers, managers, and executives enhance their skills in areas such as strategic planning, team management, and decision-making. By investing in leadership development, firms can build strong leadership pipelines and ensure they are prepared for future challenges.

4. Technology-Related Processes:

As technology continues to evolve, it is important for employees to stay up-to-date with new software tools and IT systems. Training programs help staff learn how to use new technologies effectively, troubleshoot common issues, and apply cybersecurity best practices. This ensures that the firm can leverage technology to improve productivity and maintain a competitive edge.

5. Records Management:

Proper handling, storage, and retrieval of records are essential for compliance and operational efficiency. Training employees on records management processes can help ensure documents are organized, accessible, and secure. This training covers retention policies, electronic records management systems, and legal and regulatory requirements.

6. Court Filing and Paralegal Processes:

Standardizing legal documentation and filing procedures can improve accuracy and efficiency. Training paralegals and other legal staff on court filing, document preparation, and case management processes can help reduce errors and ensure that deadlines are met. This training also includes the specific requirements of different courts and jurisdictions.

7. HR Investigations:

Conducting thorough and compliant HR investigations is critical for addressing workplace issues and maintaining a positive work environment. Training HR staff on investigation processes can help them handle complaints, gather evidence, and document findings effectively. This ensures that HR conducts investigations fairly and takes appropriate actions based on the results.

8. Marketing Processes:

Consistency and effectiveness in marketing activities are key to building a strong brand and reaching target audiences. Training marketing teams on processes such as campaign planning, content creation, and performance analysis can help ensure that marketing efforts are aligned with business goals. Important skills also include using marketing automation tools and data analytics to optimize campaigns.

By focusing on these eight key processes, you can enhance your firm’s overall efficiency, consistency, and effectiveness. Implementing a structured and supportive training approach ensures that your employees are well-equipped to perform their roles and contribute to the firm’s success.

Learn how Traveling Coaches can support your process training.

Transform Your Learning Experience with Premier Learning

In the fast-paced world of law firms, managing effective onboarding and continuous learning can be challenging. With ever-evolving legal technologies and increasing client demands, it’s crucial to have a robust learning strategy in place. Premier Learning offers the solution you need to overcome these challenges and elevate your firm’s learning experience.

Enhance Your Onboarding Process

Premier Learning offers a streamlined, effective onboarding experience tailored to meet the unique needs of your new hires. By providing customized learning paths and role-specific training, we ensure that each new team member is equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed from day one. This personalized approach not only improves new hire productivity but also boosts their confidence and engagement.

Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning

Beyond onboarding, Premier Learning is designed to embed a culture of continuous learning within your organization. Our comprehensive suite of tools and resources supports ongoing development, keeping your team engaged and up to date with the latest industry trends and skills. Whether through self-paced modules, virtual instructor-led sessions, or on-demand resources, Premier Learning adapts to your organizational needs and learning preferences.

Why Choose Premier Learning?

Comprehensive and Tailored Solutions: From onboarding to continuous development, Premier Learning offers tailored solutions that meet the specific needs of your organization.
Scalable and Adaptable: Premier Learning can grow and evolve with your organization, ensuring that your learning strategies remain relevant and effective over time. We utilize detailed analytics and reporting to track progress and measure the effectiveness of your learning programs.
Engaging and Interactive Content: Our learning materials and LegalMind platform are designed to be engaging and interactive, ensuring better retention and application of knowledge.
Client-Focused Approach: Premier Learning is designed with your firm’s unique challenges and objectives in mind, ensuring relevant and impactful learning experiences.

“A comprehensive approach to technology training is the key to user adoption. This service model will bring content, trainers, a modernized platform, and learning strategies to provide a well-rounded solution.”

– Premier Learning Client

Many organizations have already transformed their learning and development strategies with Premier Learning. To learn more about how Premier Learning can benefit your organization, visit our Premier Learning page or contact us today.

Training Return-on-Investment

At Traveling Coaches, we recognize the importance of maximizing the value of training investments. Recently, one of our Learning Strategist had the honor of participating as a panelist in a Training Return-on-Investment webinar, where industry experts convened to explore strategies for effectively measuring and enhancing Training ROI. In this recap, we highlight key insights from the session.

Understanding Key Performance Indicators:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) play a significant role in evaluating training programs. It’s a topic that many firms are discussing, but it’s also one that can make individuals uncomfortable if they’re not sure what they should be measuring, how they should measure, and why they should measure. KPIs are measurable values that signal whether success is likely. They can range depending on the firm’s business drivers but typically include metrics such as:

User Adoption: Are they using it? Are they using it properly or efficiently? Are they using it to the fullest capabilities?

Staff Ratios: Measures the ratio of a specific type of employee to fee earners. This data can be helpful to look at on an overall staff, support staff, or trainer-to-fee earner basis. Learning programs are often implemented to positively impact overall ratios.

Customer Satisfaction: Measures the general perception of the effectiveness of learning services. This can be done at an overall, program/service-specific, or event level. Many firms use an annual Satisfaction Survey to measure this metric.

Time to Competency: Measures the average time it takes until the expected competence level is reached by employees. The measurement can be done through assessments, interviews, and surveys.

Assessment/eLearning Pass Rate: Measures the scores on assessments or eLearning programs. This data can be helpful in identifying additional learning needs.

Alignment with Business Goals:

A central theme of the webinar was the imperative of aligning training programs with overarching business objectives. KPIs need to be customized to your business situation and should be developed to help you achieve your goals. It’s important to begin with the end goals in mind when designing training initiatives to identify what success looks like. By ensuring alignment with organizational strategies, firms can accurately measure the ROI of their training investments and drive tangible results. When we are intentional and plan what gets measured, we’re able to measure what matters to clarify success and to facilitate effective stakeholder communication and engagement.

Overcoming Challenges

Common challenges faced by law firms in measuring and demonstrating the ROI of IT training were discussed. Some firms struggle with knowing what and how to measure, while others fear failure. Echoing the sentiment of Peter Drucker: “What gets measured, gets managed.” By focusing on meaningful metrics and acknowledging the value of qualitative outcomes, firms can navigate these challenges and unlock the full potential of their training programs.

By understanding KPIs, aligning training with business goals, and overcoming measurement challenges, organizations can elevate the effectiveness of their training initiatives and drive sustainable growth.

Traveling Coaches is ready to help you empower your people and elevate your firm. Reach out to us today to maximize your Training ROI.

9 Ways to Become a World Class Trainer

At Traveling Coaches we spend all day talking to trainers. We hear their struggles and help them work through training road bumps, but our favorite part is hearing how they succeed every day to bring exceptional educational experiences to their learners.

As trainers ourselves, we are always looking to empower others. So here is a collection of thoughts from our Traveling Coaches team of experts.

1. Ask open ended questions.

While this seems simple, it often helps a learner to think through what they are learning if they need to process a response that is more than just a yes or no.

2. Listening is as important as speaking.

Pay attention to who is asking questions and what questions are being asked. As well as those learners who remain silent. While this is often more difficult in virtual sessions, using the chat tool is a great way to get people to engage.

3. Training is often not a one style fits all solution.

An amazing trainer finds ways to teach one topic to a variety of learning styles. Think about those you have taught in the past. Did you have people that didn’t understand what you were teaching until they got to do it themselves? Did you have others that simply had to hear it to become a master? Or maybe learners who seemed to ask endless questions? Being able to adapt to a variety of needs will help you meet your learners where they are in their learning journey.

4. For virtual sessions, don't forget your tech setup.

Nothing is worse as a learner than not being able to clearly hear the instructor. Make sure you have a quality external microphone, dedicated headset, proper lighting, and multiple monitors. Without even changing the way you are presenting, you can radically change the way you are perceived in your online sessions.

5. Utilize closed captioning technology when you can.

Even tools like Teams have closed captioning capabilities. Let learners know they can turn on this feature as an added enhancement. To use live captions in a meeting, go to your meeting controls at the top of the screen and select More. > Language and speech > Turn on live captions. As a trainer, you don’t need to change what you do to change how it’s consumed.

6. Know your audience.

Have you ever had the request to “Train everyone how to use Excel during our lunch and learn next week”. While we can all come up with something, it won’t be a success unless you establish a few things first. You need to know who you are training and what expectations they have and if there have been any questions or concerns raised about the topic. You also need to know what success will look like. Is this a group that has never used Excel, or can they already create pivot tables faster than most of us can remember what tab you need to go to for that feature. And make sure to start the training with the end in mind. Tell your audience what they can expect to learn during their time with you.

7. Encourage audience participation to help gauge their understanding.

Whether this is using a visual indicator in a classroom setting or the chat in a virtual setting, make sure to check in. Ask for a simple thumbs up or thumbs down if they think they can now do what you just taught them on their own. It’s a quick way to check in to make sure you can keep going. Be able to adapt to anything unexpected that may come up.

8. Follow through if someone asks a question you didn't know the answer to.

Either help them find another individual who has the answer or help them get to the bottom of their question. The learner is your customer and the assistance you provide will be remembered.

9. Borrow knowledge to build knowledge.

Use topics, processes, and ideas they already understand to hasten familiarity with the new concept. If you are teaching someone how to use PowerPoint, draw on skills they likely already know from using Word.

While every trainer has their own style and skill set, learning from others helps us elevate our skills.

Learning Impact at Every Stage of the Employee LifeCycle

Author: Dave Seligsohn, Chief Product and Services Officer at Traveling Coaches

I believe:

Learning does not operate in a vacuum
Learning is an essential part of Change Management
What gets measured, gets done
Learning is most effective in the “moment of need”

Establishing a seamless foundation for an effective learning organization involves applying these four statements to every stage of the Employee Lifecycle: recruitment, onboarding, management, development, promotion, and exit/retirement.
This integration is crucial for driving overall business growth and improvement. Let’s look at these one by one:

Learning Does Not Operate in a Vacuum

Learning does not operate in a vacuum. Once you move past compliancy and required minimal training activities, you begin to focus on actual behavioral change. When behavior changes, you have the ability to observe and measure results, leading to performance improvement (hopefully) and, by definition, learning has just bled into performance or talent management, career pathing, salary and bonus payments, etc. Learning may be the catalyst, but its impact is far reaching.

Learning is an Essential Part of Change Management

To remain successful, companies, their teams, the roles and the people in them are in a constant state of change. After all, if something isn’t constantly changing, then by definition, it is dying or already dead. The paradox here is that few of us love change. So, we need training, enablement, support and encouragement to help us not only embrace the change, but to prepare for it and equip ourselves to successfully execute it once it is here. Change Management without learning as a key enabling factor is doomed to fail.

What Gets Measured, Gets Done

There is a basic “math” equation I like to use in this instance: Here is our business today. Add in the “change.” What is different? Business + Change = ??? Learning should result in measured behavioral change (hopefully for the better!). Improved individual behaviors will equal better team performance, which, in turn, will lead to measurable business results (increased revenue, reduced cost, higher customer satisfaction and/or retention, removal of risk, etc.). The key is tying learning to the anticipated business result BEFORE you implement the change. In this way, you can track it, determining if the change did what you thought (or hoped!) it would.

Learning is Most Effective in the “Moment of Need”

Research clearly shows that when there is need – and the more urgent and significant the need, the greater the imperative – full adoption and expression of learning is more frequent and more impactful as measured by performance improvement. The opposite is also true – learning without an urgent need or triggering event is often lost fairly quickly and may never be applied to actual job performance. There is an inverse relationship between when the learning takes place and the timing of its application; the longer the interval, the weaker the impact of the learning event. So, how do we measure learning when it happens in the moment of need? The key here is the right combination of quantitative (factual numbers, outcomes and measurable results) and qualitative (observed behaviors, team interactions, peer, customer and manager feedback) data to paint the right picture. Only looking at one of these can lead you to missing the mark on the true impact of learning or the intended change.

Taking the above foundational concepts and applying them to the Employee Lifecycle, here are some ways you can apply and measure learning at every stage:

To learn more, or to talk about this in greater detail, let’s continue the conversation.

Boosting Legal Productivity with Microsoft Copilot

Why Law Firms Should Embrace Microsoft Copilot

In a world where time is of the essence, legal professionals are constantly seeking ways to enhance efficiency without compromising security. The recent surge in the adoption of ChatGPT showcased the demand for AI-powered solutions, but it comes with a significant drawback—security concerns. Enter Microsoft Copilot, an enterprise solution that not only provides the advantages of Generative AI but also addresses the risks associated with data security. In this article, we’ll explore what you should consider when embracing Microsoft Copilot and how it can transform legal workflows.

Unveiling Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot, unlike its counterparts, is designed to be a secure, enterprise-level solution that seamlessly integrates into the Microsoft 365 (M365) ecosystem. This means it is embedded in all your M365 applications, ensuring that the power of Generative AI is at your fingertips whenever and wherever you need it. More than just a time-saving tool, Copilot acts as your personal assistant, assisting legal professionals in with various aspects of their work.

Security First

One of the primary concerns with ChatGPT and similar platforms is the potential risk of data leaks, especially when dealing with sensitive information common in legal practice. Microsoft Copilot prioritizes security, offering law firms the confidence to leverage AI without compromising the integrity of client or firm data. With Copilot, you can enjoy the benefits of Generative AI without the associated security headaches.

Boosting Productivity

Early benchmark data for Microsoft Copilot indicates a substantial time savings from minutes to hours each day depending on the tasks. Imagine what your legal team could achieve with that extra time; focused on higher-value tasks, ultimately improving overall productivity.

Seamless Integration with M365

Microsoft Copilot is not a standalone tool—it’s an integral part of the M365 suite. This seamless integration ensures that legal professionals can access Copilot within the familiar environment of their existing applications. Whether creating new business presentations, composing or catching up on emails in Outlook, or running efficient department meetings in Teams, Copilot is there to enhance the workflow without the need for additional installations or disruptions.

Your Personal Assistant

Microsoft Copilot is more than just a time-saving tool; it’s a personal assistant for legal professionals. Want to draft email responses based on your past emails? Need to catch up on your emails after being in trial all day or after a vacation? Would you like Copilot to recap a meeting and list the action items? Copilot has you covered.

Copilot can handle many of the things you typically can’t bill for that suck time out of your day. Its adaptability and understanding of legal language make it an indispensable tool for a wide range of tasks, empowering legal professionals to work more efficiently and effectively.

As legal professionals seek ways to optimize their workflows, Microsoft Copilot emerges as a secure, powerful solution that not only saves time but also prioritizes data security. With its seamless integration into the M365 ecosystem, Copilot becomes an indispensable part of the legal toolkit, offering a new level of efficiency and productivity.

At Traveling Coaches, we believe that empowered individuals improve organizations, and we’re ready to help your law firm unlock the full potential of Microsoft Copilot. Contact our team today to embark on a journey of innovation and efficiency in your legal practice.

Keep Training on Track with Virtual

How are you leveraging virtual training at your firm? What steps are you taking to set up learners for success? What follows is our guideline for Virtual Training. These should help you get to where you want to go.

1. Engage Your Audience Prior to Training

The reality is, in any virtual connection, engagement is difficult. Participants may tend to multitask and not pay attention. One way to promote better engagement during the session is to develop an awareness campaign prior to the session. Utilize project sponsors (executives at the firm who have significant influence) to heighten people’s awareness of why the training is important, and their desire to lean in. People will learn, retain and ultimately use information and skills to a greater extent when they want to learn it – that is when they are personally invested in the benefits. Many people will push back from required training because it takes them out of their normal routine and requires time, which is already in limited supply. However, if they see this time as valuable – perhaps how it will fix problems they already have or make them more productive – they will likely be more apt to participate. If done correctly, virtual training might better align with users’ schedules than traditional in-classroom style training, which could increase their willingness to participate.

2. Include Users in the Planning

Consider this human-behavior-related truism – “people support what they help create.” If I help create something, I will be more invested in it. As a result, my support of it will increase. Gain feedback from users on what their current pain points are. Investigate helpdesk tickets to discover common issues. Poll or survey users on what they wish they could do with greater ease. Enlist power users to take specific portions of the training to share their insights and expertise. Finally, form training around function, not features and employ a “just in time” rather than a “just in case” guide for training.

3. Use These Key Elements for Best-in-Class Virtual Training

Deliver with a Moderator – They can keep track of chats, troubleshoot technical issues and even step in to ensure the training carries on, should the presenter have any unexpected issues – technical or otherwise. Should the main presenter have technical issues, the moderator can also provide redundancy and be ready to step in to take over training if needed.
Conduct Full Rehearsals – Make sure all the elements you have planned, including interactions, work as expected. This is also a good opportunity to test equipment such as lighting, audio, and video.
Create a Warm Environment – Think about what you normally do to connect on a personal level with participants and double that effort when virtual. For some remote users, virtual training may provide their only chance at human interaction in this otherwise isolated climate.
Plan Frequent and Purposeful Interactions – Get people involved in the training as often as possible through interactions such as chats, polls, or individual and group activities. Utilize your interactions to measure the likelihood of behavior change after the training.
Follow Technology Best Practices – Use a headset for audio, frame your camera properly, look into the camera, eliminate background noise and use ethernet, as opposed to Wi-Fi.
Follow Technology Best Practices – Use a headset for audio, frame your camera properly, look into the camera, eliminate background noise and use ethernet, as opposed to Wi-Fi.
Reinforce Learning Through Follow Up – Schedule time to follow up with participants before training even begins. Plan interactions that ask participants to indicate what they need follow up from a trainer on. Then, follow through.
Try Not to Mix Virtual and Live Participants – During the current pandemic, most of your participants will be watching from their laptop at home. This presents a silver-lining of this round of “forced” virtual training, because many times virtual training will involve a mix of individuals at their computers, groups huddled in a conference room, and live participants. Mixed participants may complicate matters as each group will have specific needs and challenges. If all participants are connecting in the same way, virtual training becomes much simpler.
Practice the 15-Second Rule – You might not like awkward silence but jumping in to answer the questions you pose to participants is a sure-fire way to kill engagement. If you want people to respond to questions, or participate in dialogue, wait at least 15 seconds before bailing them out. If the group is silent after about 7-8 seconds, re-frame or re-ask the question, but don’t give the answer. Do this once or twice, and people will figure out that you want them to participate.

Let’s get creative with how you can continue to achieve your best results. Contact us today for more information on how you can utilize our content library through LegalMind® to prepare your workforce for tomorrow.

Winner of ILTA's Solution Provider of the Year for the Premier Learning Program