Younger lawyers don’t fear technology because they know how it can help them transform law practices. However, sometimes it is not as easy to get senior attorneys to embrace it. Market forces and client demands rely on the efficient delivery of legal services, and bold moves are required from everyone if your law firm is to meet the future.
For senior attorneys, new technologies are scary, even though they are often aware that these can increase their productivity. The sooner new technologies are adopted in a legal office, and the quicker everyone adapts, the better.
Here is how you can convince senior attorneys to adopt new technology:
Getting everybody on board is the only way to ensure everyone is working faster. But how do you convince them when they are happy working in traditional methods instead of adopting the technology?
1. Create a Compelling Vision
If everyone is aware of how legal technology can make their lives easier, the faster they will embrace technology. Therefore, make the vision compelling, ensuring everyone understands the advantages for the firm.
1. Advertise the Value for the Firm
In legal firms, technology offers successful change, which needs to be emphasized to the whole team. By enhancing their skills, everyone can grow the firm and its income, meaning a high return on investment. In return, everyone feels valued.
2. Empathize With Them
Change is difficult to embrace, even if it will make things easier because new things require a learning curve and create uncertainty. Reassure colleagues by letting them know you understand how they feel. Also, remind them why the new technology is significant for everyone in your legal firm.
3. Use Positive Influencers and Encourage Interaction
There is always that one person who understands the new technology better than everyone else. Let them promote the new solution to everyone. You will be amazed how fast positivity can spread, even among the biggest skeptics.
Interaction allows better training, so encourage it when introducing new technology. Allowing those who know more to demonstrate to others helps them retain their knowledge while also sharing it with everyone else.
4. Highlight Positive Results for Better Engagement
New technology will inevitably have a positive impact on the legal office. Highlight the positive results to make sure everyone knows how the legal firm wins with its adoption. The deployment of new technology requires everyone’s engagement for better success.
5. Incentives are Encouragement
Sometimes, incentives are the best way to encourage senior attorneys to train and adapt to the new technologies. Use your imagination, but some perks will fire them up. After all, you want to retain these senior members in your team since they have years of experience in the legal industry.
6. Break It Up into Small Steps and Invest in Follow Up Training
Not everyone can learn at the same pace, so ensure that training sessions are geared toward everyone. Some will need extra time, and others need you to be more patient. However, the success of tech adoption requires that everyone understands the basics before moving on.
After that, make training an ongoing initiative. The first step is to ensure everyone feels comfortable to say if they have any issues with adopting it. Refresher courses are also necessary, ensuring everyone is aware of new updates to the software.
Failure is a Step Toward Success
Everyone learns even the most difficult things eventually, and failure is a way of learning. Allow room for failure. Even senior attorneys don’t know everything, so allow them the chance to overcome the challenge of adopting the new technologies. If it makes sense for your legal office, the latest technology will quickly make their lives easier, making them wonder why they hadn’t thought of using it sooner.
