April 15, 2005
Training Pays
Stephen Collins, President of Juris, Inc., often points out that training is the tool that unlocks the potential of the firm’s information system to increase partner income. Earlier this year, he penned the following article explaining the reason why training needs to be a continuous process. He points out that every dollar invested in a sound training program generates a profitable return to the partners.
For the most part, "on-the-job" training is the way we all learned how to handle our responsibilities. Real life experience in the workplace through apprenticeship is still the rule. But, on the job training is not enough. First and foremost, you can only teach others what you know and then only part of your knowledge gets passed on. Thus, knowledge is lost as it passes through multiple generations of teachers and students. We have identified six elements of a successful continuing education program. An effective education program should be: Structured, Progressive, Repetitive, Measured, Inspirational and Leveraged.
Structure Training Based on Required Skills
For every position at the firm, a set of skills and knowledge can be defined as a prerequisite to excellent performance. And, these elements of competency may reasonably take years to master. Take the time to outline the skills, knowledge and behavioral attributes that are required for each position at the firm beginning with the most critical roles within the firm. Then map a training program to ensure personnel are able to acquire those skills within the time frame required. For each position, a good guide to categorize and allocate training needs might be organized around the following categories: a) tools of the trade (technology), b) role-specific technical skills, c) business/management concepts, and d) communications.
Make Training Progressive
People don’t graduate with an accounting degree or law degree and walk out ready to be partners in accounting or law firms. Higher education simply serves as the foundation to continue building knowledge and expertise. As people gain experience and knowledge, they have the capacity to learn more complex skills and become more productive members of the team. Accordingly, an effective training program that will maximize the potential of each individual is progressive. In other words, training must not only be continuous, training must also be progressively more challenging.
For example, firm administrative staff may have attended the introductory training for the firm’s time and billing system and, based on that initial exposure, developed processes and policies for firm billing. However, over time, the time and billing application may have significant additional and perhaps new capabilities that may benefit the firm, but will remain untapped unless a more advanced knowledge level is obtained through training. And because the team is more competent, they have the capacity to understand and retain more complex new skill sets. A progressive training plan around business software in use at the firm would systematically increase the effective utilization of the firm’s technology investment.
Repetition is Key to Knowledge Retention
If you just go to a training class and then come home and put the books on the shelf, then it is unlikely that the investment in training will be realized. Traditional training is based on the KASH principle. That principle conveys that new Knowledge, plus the right Attitude, provides new Skills that, with use, become Habit. If you pay the cost in time and money to provide training, ensure that the individual will have an immediate opportunity to apply that knowledge whether it’s done on the job or through post training exercises and practice. An excellent practice to reinforce learning and institutionalize knowledge is to have training attendees return to the firm and present a summary of the material covered in training. To further increase the benefit of training, challenge training attendees to return with specific recommendations as to how their new knowledge can be applied to improve firm operations and results.
Knowledge Can and Should be Objectively Measured
Testing is an integral part of the educational process. People don’t like taking tests, generally speaking, but there’s nothing like objective measurement to ensure that new knowledge has indeed been retained. If your firm invests in training, then personnel should be evaluated and their new skills measured, whether through "old fashioned" testing, or perhaps by having personnel teach others or document and present summaries of recent training experiences.
New Knowledge Should Inspire New Ideas
One of the most important reasons to incorporate outside training into a comprehensive training program is to increase awareness of what’s new in terms of technology, management practices and the like. People should return from training with new ideas and new perspectives about how the firm is operated and managed. Ask those attending training to return with a list of new ideas for the firm to improve results. Allocate some training investment to conferences or other opportunities to look ahead.
Leverage the Knowledge of Individuals to Benefit the Firm
Every firm has an employee who is considered indispensable because they alone have a particular skill set. It’s always a good idea to teach more than one person to handle critical responsibilities if at all possible. Yet, staff training tends to be focused on the individual, so the firm, as a whole, does not typically benefit from training investments, at least not long term. Certainly, that individual’s performance may improve based on their training, but if that knowledge is not documented and communicated to others at the firm then the new knowledge will only accrue to that individual. Once they leave the firm, all those training dollars are wasted and you’ll have to start from scratch to retrain their replacement. Make sure you have a system for retaining training materials and that materials can be shared within the firm. Every employee should have a responsibility to facilitate a smooth transition for their successor.
Inadequate training means partner income is lower than it could be.
Training isn’t a cost. It is an investment with a proven return on investment. If you shortchange training, you shortchange partners.
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