In-house Training As A Team Building Exercise

With the announcement that economic recovery is going to take longer than first thought, there is pressure on legal firms to be more competitive than ever before. Consumers are becoming more exacting about the services they spend their money on, and are expecting standards that exceed their expectations. According to a report by employment and skills consultants CFE, 73% of business owners intend to maintain their levels of in-house training, while 16% intend to increase the amount they undertake. They believe that expanding the knowledge base and skill sets of their employees will help them through difficult times. However, while it could be argued that knowledge is power, is there something else to be considered?

Can Your Team Work Together?

There is no doubt that, in order to stay ahead of your competitors, it is worth investing in further personal injury training. The Law is constantly evolving, so furnishing your staff with new skill-sets and a deeper understanding of legal changes can only help your staff achieve at a time when success is crucial to your business and furthering your reputation. However, there is little point in your team being the most up-to-date lawyers on the block if they cannot work together to implement that knowledge effectively and efficiently.

Professional Empathy

Legal training can cover both the knowledge base and the teamwork aspects that are vital to the smooth running of your firm. Within every firm, there are groups who will naturally ‘fit together’ and those who won’t. Personal injury training sessions can give colleagues a greater understanding of how the firm operates as a whole and their place within that structure. It can also help employees to understand that professional cohesion is a much better way for a law firm. By recognising and appreciating the skills and knowledge on offer from your colleagues, you are far more likely to approach them in times of pressure. In many ways, what is required is a degree of professional empathy - the ability to let someone stand in your stead when that is what the situation requires.

Subliminal Reinforcement

Team building events have developed their own myths and are often perceived as a way of getting out of work for an afternoon. However, a good legal trainer will combine the communication of new knowledge with the application of the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Not only can this be a lot of fun for all those involved, but is also a clever, subliminal method of reinforcing that which the candidates have learned on the course.

As a business owner, your responsibility is to find out where the strengths and weaknesses in your organisation lie. You may want to interview your Heads of Department or send out a confidential questionnaire to all your employees to garner honest, constructive feedback. This information, along with your requirements from the legal training aspect, must be passed on to the trainer. By examining the structures of the relationships and communication in a business, a trainer can best

decide how to build bridges where they are needed and transform a splintered group into a fully co-operative and efficient team.