Recently in the e-groups, discussions included requiring fall associate training, personalized technology requests and more. Explore curated sources on these topics including some from ILTA’s treasure chest.
Required Training
Egroup conversations frequently circle back to training and not doing enough . I liken it to exercise. We all know the benefits. Some of us even enjoy exercise but finding the time, getting all the gear and being consistent always proves challenging. The ILTACON 2015 session, “Breaking the Cycle of ‘But We’ve Always Done It This Way’” speaks to creating a “true culture of learning” to improve or develop the right training program for your organization. Before taking your plan to the decision makers for buy-in, heed this warning from Forbes in “How to Get Real Buy-In for Your Idea.” The author, Kristi Hedges, warns that typically getting buy-in is approached in a “describe and defend” method when it should include debate, discussion and co-creation. When ready to try something new, look for interesting models that scale to your organization. Even Harvard Business School has a new online education program, HBX CORe. To learn more about this program, see “Harvard Business School Hopes to Fundamentally Change Online Education with Its New $1500 pre-MBA Program.”
Responding to Personalized Technology Requests
“Best practices” does not mean the perfect arrangement for each individual. By definition, “best practices” involves compromise or the “best” outcome given all circumstances. Still when an attorney or other employee makes a request for an exception, we should listen. The requested exception could result in an overall improvement. In ILTA’s Professional Services White Paper from June 2015, Brian Clayton and Beth Silvers suggest, “Sustaining a Customer Service Culture of Yes.” To learn about more of the exception requests and to handle them well, listen to the webinar, “Building and Effective Partnership with Your Helpdesk.” All this being said, the keynote speaker at ILTA’s INSIGHT, Peter Hiscocks, warned against maintaining too many innovative projects at once. He encouraged innovative technology departments develop meaningful selection processes. Access an interview with Peter Hiscocks and other materials from INSIGHT on the INSIGHT Downloads page.
Something Extra – Paperless Workflows, Best Password Managers of 2015, and ILTA’s INSIGHT videos and presentation materials
Should you use a password manager for your organization? If so, which one? What are the best practices for using a password manager tool? PC Magazine recently published a report on “The Best Password Managers of 2015” and CSO Online recommends password audits in “What I learned from Resetting Over 300 Passwords.”
Technology professionals in legal may dream of a paperless office but the reality still seems difficult to achieve. For instance, ILTA published a white paper on “The Paperless Office” in 2004. Damian Jeal wrote a blog piece after the Association of Legal Administrators conference on starting with an approach to use less paper, “ALA 2015 report – Less Paper, Paperless or Paper-Lite?”
November at ILTA included many rich learning opportunities including the Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar, INSIGHT and many webinars. Visit the Downloads Page of the Sharon Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar for video recordings, story boards and other leadership materials. Discover great content from several sessions at INSIGHT and videos of interviews with Chris Dale of the eDisclosure Information Project and the keynote speaker, Peter Hiscocks on the INSIGHT Downloads page.
As ILTA’s content curator, I’m always monitoring the discussion forums to discover what topics are top-of-mind among the members. Each week, I focus on a few areas that spark your interest, and I provide some curated resources to assist your own information-gathering on the topics. If there are specific topics you would like assistance exploring, please contact me at joanne@iltanet.org