1. Julia Montgomery jmontgomery@zuckerman.com User Experience Manager
Making It Work: Training People Who Won’t Come To Class*
*a.k.a. Attorneys
Julia Montgomery
User Experience Manager
Image: Time Magazine

2. Setting the Scene 150 attorneys in six offices
Centralized User Support from our DC office
Two User Support Analysts/Trainers
One hardware support analyst
User Support Manager
Firm university with approximately eight classes per month

3. The Laundry List of Issues
The firm made a significant investment in technology and our attorneys couldn’t effectively use the system.
Attorneys didn’t have time for training because, apparently, they were busy practicing law.
The perception was that the classes we offered were “for secretaries.” Attorneys, apparently, are not secretaries.

4. Q. How do we get them to class?
A. Remind them of the current schedule – they’ll come to class because it’s the right thing to do and they want to learn.
Or…they’ll come to class because we’ll give them free stuff.
(We have no money for free stuff.)

5. Q. So they won’t come to classes. What are our other options?
A. E-Learning
(They hate E-Learning. A lot.)
How about a reference library of materials on the intranet.
(We have one. So either they can’t find it, or they hate it. A lot.)

6. How do you get people to do something they believe they have no time to do and doing it isn’t terribly fun?
I mean, come on…name one thing people think they’re too busy to do, and they hate doing, but they do it all the time anyway.

7. The Personal Training Program
A relationship built on one-on-one attention from a designated personal trainer
Teach skills targeted to the client’s specific needs and goals
Accountability and consistency on both sides of the relationship

8. The plan The Approach Assign a coach to each participant
Develop a customized training plan tailored to the client’s individual needs
Meet one hour, once a month in the client’s office
Lunch provided
(Hey, it couldn’t hurt)

9. The Pieces Documentation & Materials Clients Coaches
Reviewed Help Desk tickets to identify likely topics
Agreed on a “core” of skills that all participants would learn
Audited existing documentation to identify gaps and began creating material to fill the holes
Created practice files – because working out once a month doesn’t do anything
Clients
Coaches

10. Putting the "consult" in Consultant
Ask questions that get information
Listen to the answers
Learn the client’s workflow
Read between the lines & follow up
Get concrete examples and samples
“Imagining a color they’ve never seen before”

11. The Initial Interview
Tell me about your revision process. Do you make your own revisions? Is it important to you that you keep the marked up copies of your documents, or are you happy to have the final document be the only document in the file?
Can you think of a time you needed to locate a document in the DMS, but you couldn’t find it? Do you remember anything about the search(es) you ran or about the document you needed to find?
Of all the computer-based tasks you perform in the course of your practice, what do you find the most frustrating?
Tell me a little about how you manage and organize your in Outlook.
Is there anything you wish you could do with your handheld that your handheld can’t do?

12. Time to Make It Work
We sent one – no follow up messages and no additional marketing
The message was sent to our DC attorneys and senior managers – 86 recipients
We focused our message on the program being customized for the individual
We expected a participation rate of 10%, or nine clients
A total of 15 clients enrolled – four senior managers, four associates and seven partners

13. Developing the Learning Plan
Meet with each coach to review notes from initial interviews
Begin with core skills and expand the plan based on the information gathered during the interview
Design the learning plans so the material progresses logically
Confirm materials are available for each topic
Meet with each client to review the draft of their learning plan and to discuss any questions
Make revisions and get the client’s sign off

14. Both coach and client sign off on the plan
Whenever possible, we blended our “core” skills into sessions that covered topics gleaned from the client interviews

15. Intranet Resources for Participants
This is MIMI – she’s the friendly face of our User Support team and the mascot of our programs
Clients only see their own materials
The learning plan is accessible here so clients can track their progress

16. After four months, an additional six clients enrolled in the program, bringing the total number of clients to 21 – a participation rate of almost 25%
The additional clients cited positive word of mouth as the reason they chose to enroll in the program

17. After 18 months, only five of our original 21 clients have moved on from the program
The other clients have re-upped, working with their coaches to identify additional topics to continue their training
We currently have a waiting list of five clients

18. What Worked The “anti-marketing” marketing
Creating a partnership from the outset
Supported the establishment of professional boundaries
Created a new respect and rapport between attorneys and Help Desk team
Our Help Desk team gained a new skill set and implemented a new approach to user support
After one year, PTP clients had a 56% decrease in how-to calls to the Help Desk for those applications covered in their learning plans

19. What Didn’t Work
The program is incredibly resource intensive and requires scrupulous scheduling and time management
The personalized nature of the program makes it a face-to-face proposition
The “right” clients didn’t enroll in the program

20. Want to Make It Work at Your Firm?
Do the prep work to get your documentation in shape before the program starts
Think through the logistics and all the moving parts and put tools in place to support communication and time management
Make sure you have the right coaches with the right skills and knowledge
Use the nature of attorneys to your advantage to build word of mouth and drive participation

21. Julia Montgomery User Experience Manager jmontgomery@zuckerman.com
Making It Work: Training People Who Won’t Come To Class*
*a.k.a. Attorneys
Julia Montgomery
User Experience Manager
Image: Time Magazine