Some firms take the view that training is a necessary evil and merely ensure that sufficient training is undertaken so that everyone's CPD is up to date. Others believe in the culture of investing in their people and that training and development engenders a feel-good factor in a firm that is a benefit that works over time.

A good training programme will also be viewed as an essential ingredient of an employment package in order to attract high calibre staff. Yet, for some, a successful training programme can do far more than this. It can fundamentally change the way your practice works.

The word 'training' covers a range of interventions, including professional knowledge transfer, hard skill development – such as learning to use a computer application – or soft skill development, such as improving your leadership skills.

The value of the first two is relatively easy to identify. For example, before you attended the European Law Conference you did not know about 'X', now you do. Before the IT course you could not create a spreadsheet, now you can. So far so good, but when it comes to the development of soft skills, things get more difficult.

I attended my first leadership course in 1992 and, among other things, was taught about motivation and Maslow's hierarchy of needs with which everyone is doubtless familiar (for those who are not, it is based on a pyramid with basic needs at the bottom with other needs building up once the level below is in place). At the end of the course I filled in the 'happy sheets' and reported how much I had enjoyed my two days out of the office. Ten years later I can remember Maslow, but am I any better at motivating my staff? Did this course make any material difference to my life or the life of my subordinates?

In later years, I started to deliver similar courses myself and was always faced with a similar question. People told me they were engaged and interested, they learned many things while still feeling listened to and I always received high marks on the happy sheets. Even more than that, people left the room committed and motivated with an action plan to work on. But I was always left wondering whether their behaviour would be any different afterwards. I knew I was not being paid to get good happy-sheets; I was being paid to improve the management and leadership of the business.

Training managers need to be more concerned. They need to ensure that there is a visible benefit for all to see. A training budget is a soft target and an easy thing to cut, so a manager needs a robust defence and a very good explanation as to why it should be maintained or increased. Professional and technical skills are easier to defend, but despite its huge importance, leadership skills training is much harder.

Various ways of prolonging the effectiveness of training courses have been tried, with varying degrees of success. One solution that goes some way in helping the problem of assessing training effectiveness is to give memory joggers for attendees to keep on their desks. The idea is that in the midst of discussions with staff and colleagues the leader is reminded about what they should be doing and how they should be doing it – the bullet points for their action plan should be staring them in the face.

Another way to do it is to write an action plan, arrange a session to share your ideas with the boss and the results reviewed at the end of a set time period.

You can also bring small groups of participants together at follow-up events and meetings to share experiences, exchange views and discuss progress.

People are encouraged to write letters to themselves that the trainer then sends at particular times in the future to coincide with achievements that have been identified to be completed by specific dates. The letters might say 'by now you should have done x, y and z, have you?' Yet even with this type of approach, there is always a lingering doubt over whether the training made any real difference.

So just why is it so difficult for someone to apply the lessons of a course?

First and foremost you have to accept that your style of working and dealing with people has been built up over years. It cannot be expected to change overnight.

Secondly, people have become very used to dealing with you the way you are; even if they do not like your foul moods, they have learned to spot them and work around them. Any change in you is disruptive for them so they will subtly work to keep things the way they were – that is why they say, 'oh, he has been on a course and will be back to normal soon'.

Thirdly, everyone who is busy and under pressure will return to their natural style.

Fourthly, and let's be honest here, lawyers are measured and rewarded almost exclusively by results. Quality billable hours is the name of the game. You can be a wonderful manager and leader, but you are not going to survive in a partnership if you are not producing the goods. If you are bringing in the money, no one is going to bother checking up on how well you coach, lead, inspire or motivate.

Management courses, team builds, away days and staff satisfaction surveys can all make a big impact at the time and then inevitably and remorselessly all the fine ideas and good intentions fade away and we revert to business as usual.

The core problem is that the desired changes are not monitored and followed up month after month. The demands on a lawyer's time are immense and finding an effective and time efficient way to implement an on-going appraisal system is never going to be easy. However, through the intelligent use of e-mails, the internet and related technology, there is a system that can allow even busy professionals to benefit from continual assessment.

We have developed a system so that trainers and professionals can use technology to embed learning and see real changes in the way people behave after a course.

Imagine going on a course and being really fired up and making a promise to yourself to be better at listening to your staff. The trainer will ask you to put it into a plan and then devise a simple question that will tell you if you are being successful. For example: how often does 'X' ask me for my opinion when making decisions?
Y
ou then give the trainer the e-mail addresses of people whose opinion you value and once a month they are polled via e-mail and asked for responses. You get reminded of your commitment then hear back from others about how well you are doing. After six months of this, it is to be hoped that you have made a habit of it and you are ready for the next stage of your development route. A simple idea can make a huge difference.

Let us hope that in future, when people go on courses, they will have fun, find it interesting and learn new information and skills. With
on-going appraisal and feedback individuals, teams and training managers will be able to see how their ability to manage and motivate is developing and witness real benefits in the overall efficiency of the practice.

Paul Ballman is a business psychologist at Psymmetry.