Defining Success When It Comes To Legal Technology Training Programs

Software trainers find the need for computer training to be never-ending. In many firms, training programs abound but users don't seem to be gaining ground fast enough to master the array of applications on the desktop.

Frustrations among users rise with the need for speed in productivity and also for trainers as they fight for training time, training resources, and willing participants. Yes ' willing participants. End-users aren't motivated to attend training that is stressful, discouraging, or a waste of time; often defined as any training experience that does not provide skill retention and mastery.

Avoiding Feature-Focused Training

Training programs become stressful when the training agenda is focused on learning a laundry list of features. Training time is typically low but the list of required competencies is not, so software trainers feel obligated to cram in as much as possible. The result is a stressful experience all around.

Typical training plans emphasize product-based objectives defined by software trainers who identify essential features, and then design lessons that present, demonstrate and practice those features. Although many hours are allocated toward developing hands-on practice and demonstrations, as well as providing labs, floor support, and documentation, the number of participants who successful grasp and master the objectives is small and increasingly dwindling. Most training participants gain a loose understanding of the materials, but not enough to successfully complete designated tasks with their newly acquired product knowledge. All in all, time is too short and the list of 'key' features and functions is far too long.

Process-Focused Training

If the goal is skill retention and mastery, training programs need a new model.

First, approach the training agenda with the purpose of teaching a process. Perhaps the topic is creating a correspondence document in Microsoft Word. The focus is not on presenting a medley of various features; but how to approach the more general but practical task of document creation. This also provides a sense of direction for the training participants. Various features will still be covered but in the context of a single purpose or task. The learned features are tied in to accomplishing this project. Because a useful process is being directed, the lessons learned along the way are more easily retained and mastered. This provides context; there is a beginning and an end ' the completed document, closure, and a measurable feat to benchmark success. If the training is geared to learning Microsoft Word, for instance, when are you finished?

The document-based approach to teaching Microsoft Word in particular is effective in the legal community because in this industry it's all about the documents. It's also less intimidating because we all understand our documents and automatically determine who is in need of this specific training.

Second, determine those few critical skills that provide a solid foundation in understanding a product's core philosophy. 'What do I need to know?' is just the first step. The next question is 'What is the main theme or the overall thought process?' If learning how to format in Microsoft Word, what needs to be learned is how to bold, center, underline, etc. That won't really take you very far though. The core philosophy is you'll either spot format by selecting text and applying the format here and there or you'll want to carry a formatting theme through the document by using styles. Teaching in terms of 'themes' is like looking at the forest instead of the trees. In this case, grasping the philosophy (forest) of formatting is more important than experiencing a hundred features (trees). The features will be gained incidentally while mastering the philosophy.

Philosophy-Focused Training

The focal point of a successful software-training program has to be in developing competency by emphasizing philosophies. In other words, the philosophy of formatting ' using styles ' is the goal because that is the competency that all the miscellaneous features are built upon. In this scenario, to be truly competent in formatting legal documents, you must understand the philosophy of formatting.

Understanding a philosophy empowers us to go to the next level. We can take that one understanding and apply it to a myriad of circumstances. Feature-based learning is narrow and limiting and results in users who feel overwhelmed. There really is no end if you're just learning product features.

Shift the spotlight from what users need to know to philosophies they can build upon. Learning philosophies give us a desire to connect the dots.

It's critical that the backdrop of this new model is an emphasis on quality over quantity. Short 1-hour sessions on a single theme are easy to digest and the message is 'this is important.' This approach is vital for attorney training where the need for training is high but the availability is low. A brief session on a core concept will go far.

The topic of a recent Microsoft Word session I led for attorneys was creating business documents like agreements. My target audience was obvious ' those who create transactional documents. The main feature in these documents is usually paragraph numbering so the process was definable ' select a numbering scheme, apply paragraph numbers. This was practiced several times in various transactional-type documents. With each practice, a few new features were added to the same overall process. At the conclusion, a group of novice Microsoft Word users mastered one of the most important skills in document formatting.

You'll find increased retention and mastery in this document based approach because there will be repetition in every exercise and a definite beginning and end to measure accomplishment and competency. Learning key concepts (philosophies) in the context of a process (document-based, for instance) in a short block of time (quality) is powerful.

Software trainers find the need for computer training to be never-ending. In many firms, training programs abound but users don't seem to be gaining ground fast enough to master the array of applications on the desktop.

Frustrations among users rise with the need for speed in productivity and also for trainers as they fight for training time, training resources, and willing participants. Yes ' willing participants. End-users aren't motivated to attend training that is stressful, discouraging, or a waste of time; often defined as any training experience that does not provide skill retention and mastery.

Avoiding Feature-Focused Training

Training programs become stressful when the training agenda is focused on learning a laundry list of features. Training time is typically low but the list of required competencies is not, so software trainers feel obligated to cram in as much as possible. The result is a stressful experience all around.

Typical training plans emphasize product-based objectives defined by software trainers who identify essential features, and then design lessons that present, demonstrate and practice those features. Although many hours are allocated toward developing hands-on practice and demonstrations, as well as providing labs, floor support, and documentation, the number of participants who successful grasp and master the objectives is small and increasingly dwindling. Most training participants gain a loose understanding of the materials, but not enough to successfully complete designated tasks with their newly acquired product knowledge. All in all, time is too short and the list of 'key' features and functions is far too long.

Process-Focused Training

If the goal is skill retention and mastery, training programs need a new model.

First, approach the training agenda with the purpose of teaching a process. Perhaps the topic is creating a correspondence document in Microsoft Word. The focus is not on presenting a medley of various features; but how to approach the more general but practical task of document creation. This also provides a sense of direction for the training participants. Various features will still be covered but in the context of a single purpose or task. The learned features are tied in to accomplishing this project. Because a useful process is being directed, the lessons learned along the way are more easily retained and mastered. This provides context; there is a beginning and an end ' the completed document, closure, and a measurable feat to benchmark success. If the training is geared to learning Microsoft Word, for instance, when are you finished?

The document-based approach to teaching Microsoft Word in particular is effective in the legal community because in this industry it's all about the documents. It's also less intimidating because we all understand our documents and automatically determine who is in need of this specific training.

Second, determine those few critical skills that provide a solid foundation in understanding a product's core philosophy. 'What do I need to know?' is just the first step. The next question is 'What is the main theme or the overall thought process?' If learning how to format in Microsoft Word, what needs to be learned is how to bold, center, underline, etc. That won't really take you very far though. The core philosophy is you'll either spot format by selecting text and applying the format here and there or you'll want to carry a formatting theme through the document by using styles. Teaching in terms of 'themes' is like looking at the forest instead of the trees. In this case, grasping the philosophy (forest) of formatting is more important than experiencing a hundred features (trees). The features will be gained incidentally while mastering the philosophy.

Philosophy-Focused Training

The focal point of a successful software-training program has to be in developing competency by emphasizing philosophies. In other words, the philosophy of formatting ' using styles ' is the goal because that is the competency that all the miscellaneous features are built upon. In this scenario, to be truly competent in formatting legal documents, you must understand the philosophy of formatting.

Understanding a philosophy empowers us to go to the next level. We can take that one understanding and apply it to a myriad of circumstances. Feature-based learning is narrow and limiting and results in users who feel overwhelmed. There really is no end if you're just learning product features.

Shift the spotlight from what users need to know to philosophies they can build upon. Learning philosophies give us a desire to connect the dots.

It's critical that the backdrop of this new model is an emphasis on quality over quantity. Short 1-hour sessions on a single theme are easy to digest and the message is 'this is important.' This approach is vital for attorney training where the need for training is high but the availability is low. A brief session on a core concept will go far.

The topic of a recent Microsoft Word session I led for attorneys was creating business documents like agreements. My target audience was obvious ' those who create transactional documents. The main feature in these documents is usually paragraph numbering so the process was definable ' select a numbering scheme, apply paragraph numbers. This was practiced several times in various transactional-type documents. With each practice, a few new features were added to the same overall process. At the conclusion, a group of novice Microsoft Word users mastered one of the most important skills in document formatting.

You'll find increased retention and mastery in this document based approach because there will be repetition in every exercise and a definite beginning and end to measure accomplishment and competency. Learning key concepts (philosophies) in the context of a process (document-based, for instance) in a short block of time (quality) is powerful.