A key factor for an organisation’s survival is gaining an advantage over its competitors. In an ever-changing workplace driven by rapid technological advancement, this is no easy task. Organisations require a competent, efficient, and agile workforce to help them reach their business goals and achieve long term profitability. Developing such skills and competencies in employees requires ongoing training, motivation, and encouragement.
Outlining the Benefits
Some of the overwhelming benefits for any law firm that invests in training are:
• Improved quality
Often training is considered for new employees only. However, the ongoing training of current employees is just as important if not more so; it helps them to adapt their daily routine at work according to rapidly changing job requirements and to improve their performance in their current role, preparing them for future opportunities within the organisation.
• Employee retention
Hiring is a costly business. 94% of employees say they would stay at an organisation longer if it invested in their learning and development (Source: LinkedIn Learning 2019 Workplace Learning Report). If you can retrain current employees instead of making them redundant, you’ll save the firm money and the employee distress.
• Recruitment leverage
88% of Gen Z employees say it is important to them that a future employer offers formal training programs (https://explore.sitel.com/future-of-work-survey). Effective ongoing training develops a good image of the organisation and brings in talent.
• Increased engagement
When a firm invests in you, you feel valued and engaged. According to Gallup, companies with the highest levels of employee engagement were 23% more profitable than those with lowest levels of engagement. An 81% drop in absenteeism, 10% increase in customer loyalty, and an 18% increase in productivity are just some of the other benefits (https://bit.ly/3T6wrvJ).
• Build competitive advantage
Being able to demonstrate IT skills to potential clients is vital and introducing a competency-based framework can be a way to improve your organisation’s competitive edge. In addition, it provides targets and rewards for your people, and may even introduce an element of competition within the firm.
Overcoming the Objections
You can’t chop down trees with a blunt axe
Offering training therefore seems a no-brainer, but with the incessant pressure of recording more billable time in law firms and responding to client demands, lawyers rarely feel they can take time out to sharpen their tools. How can we overcome this and other barriers to learning?
We suggest trying the following to overcome the time scarcity barriers:
1. Training as a management priority
Any strong management team needs to make training a priority and champion it. This means discussing training requirements during personal development conversations and appraisals. Firms are engaged in a war for talent and framing training as a key factor influencing people with career choices will help.
2. Sneak training into everyday
Microlearning has proven to be very effective for sharing and retaining knowledge (https://bit.ly/3C8mGX2). This form of active learning involves delivering content in short, digestible chunks; it has been shown to improve engagement, focus and memory retention, thereby saving valuable money and time.
Training programs have been shown to produce increased productivity, quality, and morale, all of which enable organisations to achieve long term profitability. Continuous employee training, be it virtual, classroom-based or utilizing digital learning chatbots, is therefore a business investment that firms simply cannot afford to overlook.
“If you think education is expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs”
Barack Obama
