Law firms need to analyse their training needs
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For law firms, training is vital. Training is used to improve the firm’s performance, help execute its business strategy, and meet its strategic goals (Becker and Huselid, 1998). In addition, training contributes to creating a sustainable competitive advantage by developing firm specific resources and capabilities that competitors find difficult to imitate (Barney, 1991).
Therefore, when law firms provide training and coaching for partners and associates, they are pursuing a highly effective method for obtaining and nurturing organizational and personal capabilities that are valuable, rare, non-imitable, hardly substitutable, and perhaps even unique (Lepak & Snell, 1999).
In our practice, training is a process of five consecutive stages: needs analysis, design, delivery, transfer, and evaluation. We place special emphasis on the first stage of this process – the needs analysis. Since the 1960s, academics and practitioners have underlined the primary importance of training needs analysis (McGehee & Thayer, 1961; Moore & Dutton, 1978). We use this analysis to shed light on the following issues:
at what levels does training need to be conducted in the law firm (organization level analysis),
what is to be trained in terms of knowledge, skills and abilities (operation level analysis), and
what training do particular individuals need (person level analysis).
By addressing these issues, law firms can articulate in a more direct way their learning objectives. In turn, we can provide them with custom-made training in terms of design and delivery.
We have assisted several law firms with specifying their learning needs as well as developing training programs matching these needs. These needs-based programs includes not only legal capabilities (e.g. drafting, negotiation, advising) but also business ones (e.g. sales, presentation skills, finance, pitching for working and better pricing). In many cases, we also help firms review their current training strategy and check its compatibility with their ongoing business strategy.
We firmly believe that training should be an integrated chapter of a law firm’s business strategy. However, before the firm can integrate this function into its ongoing strategy, it needs a preliminary analysis. By performing this analysis, firms can best reap the benefits of training that directly reinforces their competitive position.
If you would like to learn more about how we help firms with their training, contact us for a free consultation.
References
Barney, J.B. (1991) ‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’, Journal of Management, 17: 99-120
Becker, B.E. and Huselid, M.A. (1998) ‘High performance work systems and firm performance’, Research in Personal and Human Resource Management, 16: 53-101
Lepak, D.P. and Snell, S.A. (1999) ‘The human resource architecture’, Academy of Management Review, 24: 31-48
McGehee, W. and Thayer, P.W. (1961) Training in business and industry. New York: Wiley
Moore, M.C. and Dutton, P. (1978) ‘Training needs analysis: Review and critique’, Academy of Management Review, 3: 531-545