Mind. Officially. Blown. I recently read in InformationWeek that McDonald’s has to onboard 700,000 new employees every year. Now, of course I assumed that their hiring requirements were huge, but somehow seeing that number staggered me. My company helps law firms onboard and train new employees all year long, as well, but I thought surely I could learn something from McDonald’s if they are hiring 700,000 people across the world every single year.
And I was right. There is always something to learn when you keep an open mind. (After it’s been blown, that is.)
Paper Binders + Training Rooms = Expensive Training Time!
So, believe it or not, until very recently, McDonald’s was using three-ring binders and paper documents to train its 700,000 new hires every year. Geez! That’s how things were done when I was looking for my first job back in… well, back in the day. Paper binders. And you know what that means? Training had to happen on the clock but off the job, usually in a training room somewhere. So, McDonald’s was paying all these people to sit in a training room for hours just to get them up-to-speed so that they could actually do something valuable for their paycheck.
But, believe it or not, a lot of law firms train in the same way. Before launching new hires into the work flow, many new firms make the newbies sit in a training room for hours learning protocol, document management and HR requirements.
What if that entire process could be dynamic and occur mostly while the new law firm employee is actually doing their job? That would be AWESOME!
From Boring to Dynamic
So we agree: those binders and papers are BORING. Snooze-ola. We don’t even put our kids through that kind of teaching anymore; why would we make our adults sit through it?
McDonald’s knew it had to do something different. Their solution? They moved all of their training materials onto a dynamic learning platform with content that is available to employees on any device: desktop or mobile. And the content is FUN! New cooks can access a video on condiments or French fries while they are doing the job! Often, they are paired with a seasoned cook who can make the hands-on learning even more impactful.
Hmmmmm, this is starting to ring a bell. How in the world could a law firm move new-hire training out of the back room and into the actual work flow process? How in the world could a law firm provide at-your-fingertips training on the specific tasks that its attorneys need?
Oh wait! A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM designed just for law firms! If only I knew where I could get my hands on one of those…
More Accountability
Training programs that are based on paper systems are also unwieldy when it comes to tracking progress. Quizzes on paper require human grading. If a series of quizzes is required to achieve a certain level of success, who is going to manage that process? What if there are multiple learning tracks for each employee? Honestly, I pity the fool whose job it is to manage THAT process.
And McDonald’s was mired in that system.
Now, with a dynamic, cloud-based LMS, McDonald’s trainers can create a learning track, push it out to the people who need it and let the system track progress, reporting back on who is doing well and who needs help. Further, it’s more fun and manageable for the employees who can access the training when they need it. The key here is that they are training while they are working, creating more value for McDonald’s.
Again, wouldn’t it be great to find an LMS for law firms that’s cloud-based, provides continuous content updates, tracks progress and reports back to trainers? Golly, I’d love to get my hands on one of those.
Time and Cost Savings
Prior to making the shift onto their new learning platform, McDonald’s said that any change to their training manuals took four to six months to push out to the universe of McDonald’s trainers. From the content changes to the design changes to the shipping, the costs of a paper system – both in time and money – were extraordinary.
Now, when they have a change, they make a new webpage or mini-video or guide and push a button. Viola! Everyone has it!
Many law firms – especially those with several offices across many cities or countries – face the same issues. But with a dynamic, cloud-based LMS, the cost of changes to your training program drop substantially. Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t YOU like to get your hands on one of those?
Well, it just so happens that Savvy Training & Consulting offers one of the most robust (yet economical) learning management systems for law firms on the market today. It’s called SavvyAcademy and I’d love to tell you more about it. Contact me for a demo today! (303-800-5408 or Doug@SavvyTraining.com)
ABOUT SAVVY TRAINING AND CONSULTING
Savvy Training & Consulting works with leading companies and technologies to deliver the most up-to-date training solutions and curricula to law firms. Savvy recently unveiled an award-winning Learning Management System (LMS) for law firms, SavvyAcademyTM, which delivers scalable training capabilities, reportable data down to the individual user and 24/7 support, all for a fraction of the cost of traditional LMS services.