12 months a pandemic – 3 Oscars?

What we have learned from training lawyers online in the course of a global pandemic

The last year was challenging on so many fronts. In March 2020 we all were suddenly forced into the bounds of our home offices, online communication and, therefore, online training. Today I want to recap what works, what doesn’t and what 3 learnings have actual Oscar quality and could be integrated into our work going forward.

In a nutshell

1. (specific) online formats are here to stay
2. in-person versus online workshop preferences are pretty much 50/50
3. what format works better depends on the skills and people you train
4. self-paced learning makes your life easier, and harder at the same time 

1) Online versus live training

=> I see online stay for certain formats

Last year I went from 0% to 100% online training, no matter what country. Hail to the new driver of digital transformation!

In some of our feedback sheets for trainings, we asked participants whether they had (theoretically) preferred the training to be online or in person. And we were surprised! Opinions were pretty 50/50 each time we did this.

It seems that if training is designed in a way that keeps it highly personal, interactive and practical, for many people the comfort of being able to join from their own home/desk, the savings in travel time and the flexibility in integrating it into your work or family life has serious appeal (apart from the benefits of the next point).

Oscar #1: Flexible online training might be here to stay.

2) Full days versus short batches

=> shorter workshops, higher retention

Another reason for the appeal of online training is the fact that, without the need to travel for trainer or participants, trainings can be broken down into shorter segments, therefore enhancing the implementation, retention and flexibility for participants.

Many trainings that we used to run in a one-day workshop format are now split up into 2x3hours or even 3x2hours. One of our most common formats is a new 4 weeks setup with weekly 1.5-hour sessions. This has received great feedback, especially amongst senior lawyers. 

The beauty of this format (from a trainer’s and L&D perspective) is that participants actually get to sleep on the skills we practice for a week, try them out, experiment, implement, and come back with questions and experiences for the next set of skills the next week. In terms of retention, I personally estimate that we might get close to twice as much compared to an extensive workshop over 2 days off-site event (not taking into account the extent of the party on the first night :P).

For the participants, it adds flexibility and convenience. Especially since in many firms these sessions can be run parallel with multiple groups (e.g. 10 people per group, 4 groups with 4 different slots a week) which allows people additional flexibility because they can switch time slots on a short notice whenever unplanned work comes in (feel free to reach out if you want to hear more about how you can set that up!)

Oscar #2: Shorter workshops for more flexibility and higher retention

3) Self-paced versus live online learning

=> Blessing and curse

Negotiation and communication skills are not some luxury add-ons that can wait to develop at a more senior stage of a lawyer’s career. Foundations of both areas are key to get covered early on (there is a reason this already happens at law school in the U.S.!). However, to provide workshops/workshops of any decent length to an (often large) number of associates can be a logistical or budgetary challenge. 

In 2019, we started providing recorded online courses designed to give a solid introduction into the Harvard Negotiation Style (“interest-based negotiation”) and how to utilize it as a lawyer.

The courses are very interactive, with all video content broken down into short segments, quiz questions after every couple of videos, practitioner interviews, negotiation exercises, self-assessments and more. Participants can take them in their own time.

Here is the big BUT: Getting people to start the courses has been a hurdle.

Probably not unrelated to the high workload of associates, ensuring that the courses are actually taken is a struggle at many firms. Most firms make the course a requirement for bonuses or advancements, some firms with stronger HR teams are additionally very actively chasing people to submit their results and certificates by certain deadlines.

So, while these self-paced courses are a great way to share fundamental concepts with a larger amount of people, ensuring that they actually do them remains challenging (even though, once people do take them, they love them).

The only two ways to counter that (that I see so far):

1. with a firm culture that puts a massive focus on continued education where, from top-down this attitude is not only made clear but also lived (we probably all dream about that, but it’s very rare..) OR
2. using the course in a blending learning approach where the self-paced course is part of a bigger (non-mandatory) course and must be taken as a prerequisite to joining a deep education in negotiation (although that doesn’t solve our problem with mandatory training of a larger number of young lawyers, those still have to be chased :D)

Oscar #3, at least a nomination for now: Self-paced learning. It is a huge time and cost saver if applied in a pro-learning culture or blended learning approach.

__________________________________________________________________________

Going forward, I feel like there will be a combination of training formats depending on the target group and priorities of the event.

The in-person format will prevail for 

• mid-level participants, 
• trained in medium to large groups (15+)
• with a focus on skill development but also socializing and "event-spirit”,

This is often the case with mandatory workshops.

The online format might take a stronger foothold for

• senior participant,
• trained in very small groups
• with a focus on skill development, retention and implementation on an expert level

These would typically be voluntary expert-level workshops. 

What are your experiences and thoughts? I’d love to hear! Let me know in the comments or reach out to me at [email protected]

Claudia

PS: If you are working in HR, L&D, or are a partner responsible for continuing education of your lawyers, feel free to sign up for our Next Level Lawyers newsletter for more insights by clicking here.