A quick glance at a recent job advert for a director of knowledge at a large London firm succinctly demonstrates the main elements of the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and training: "The successful candidate will be expected to develop a comprehensive know-how and training strategy; and to support practice team lawyers through training, know-how and systems for leveraging knowledge."

Put another way, the job description envisages an interdependence between the firm's knowledge strategy and its provision of learning and development if both (or either) are to be effective. Indeed, an overarching knowledge strategy can provide the context in which learning and development programmes are designed and run, while training is an essential part of the rollout of knowledge management improvements if they are to be understood and put into practice by fee earners as planned.

Unsurprisingly, the motivation for most firms that have KM and learning and development strategies is as a means of staying competitive and profitable in a swiftly-evolving legal marketplace. Underlying this general goal, however, are usually one or more of the following specific ambitions:

- to maximise internal efficiencies, in particular by reducing the costs and risks of providing traditional legal services;

- to look at new ways of conducting business and providing services to clients;

- to add value to new and existing business relationships;

- to introduce new revenue streams and reduce reliance on time-based billing;

- to develop the expertise, quality and job satisfaction of lawyers as a means of attracting and retaining the best people; and

- to differentiate the firm from its competitors and thereby to continue to attract profitable work from targeted clients.

While these ambitions are likely to have been the subject of considerable debate within the management team and the partnership, there is often considerably less fee earner insight into and understanding of the firm's strategies in these areas; and the potential benefits of KM both at an individual and firm-wide level.

The prize for successfully communicating the thinking behind the firm's KM and learning and development strategies can firstly be a new motivation and engagement with learning and development – a common goal for all – and in time (assuming that actions and the provision of resources follow words) the creation of a knowledge acquisition and sharing culture. Of course, buy-in by fee earners to this approach usually depends on an ability to demonstrate how a new KM procedure or skill will benefit them individually or as part of a team or why it is necessary to use it at all. Although winning the learning and development 'buy-in' battle will often depend on firm-specific issues, there are KM and learning matters of more general relevance which may be persuasive.

While the impact of both KM and learning and development are notoriously difficult to measure, attempts have recently been made to gauge which firms and individuals are most innovative and therefore, by inference, have succeeded in applying their (collective) knowledge to business ends. The FT Law 50, published for the second time in July 2007, provides a unique ranking of the most innovative lawyers and law firms operating in Europe. Reading the rankings and supporting stories behind them vividly demonstrates how developing and leveraging knowledge can deliver major benefits to the firms which invest in KM and the learning and sharing culture required to encourage and support it. This information readily provides the basis for a KM case study or a facilitated discussion about potential projects in other firms. Alternatively, the scoring approach used in the rankings might assist in an in-house innovation analysis.

At the same time, the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority's (SRA's) February 2007 discussion paper 'Education, Training and Development for Solicitors N The Way Ahead' anticipates a change from process to outcome-driven continuing professional development (CPD) and a concomitant responsibility on solicitors to undertake personally-tailored development programmes. Although the introduction of outcome based CPD may be some way off, the initiation of a debate about these issues by the SRA provides another reason for lawyers to become fully conversant with the KM and learning and development strategies of their firms: in due course this will become a necessary first step towards designing their own individually tailored development plan.

Bringing KM strategies to life

Mirroring the individual focus in learning and development referred to above, a key part of a firm's KM strategy should be to encourage their fee earners to develop their own knowledge strategies. Since a lawyer's individual knowledge and skills are usually cited by clients as the most important factors for them in deciding who they will instruct, the development and maintenance of that knowledge and skill is essential.

How can the learning and development team assist lawyers to become better at acquiring, maintaining and using their knowledge? To help solicitors become more efficient at absorbing information some commentators suggest training in speed-reading, listening and memory skills. Even when the basics of these skills are covered by existing training it may be appropriate to periodically revisit them by running advanced workshops and measuring their impact on individual's knowledge acquisition. Another approach, akin to the SRA's 'day one outcomes', is for firms to expressly set out in their training and professional standards materials the knowledge and skills which each lawyer should have in a given practice area, noting possible areas of extension and further reading and (where there are deficiencies) linking back to individuals' personal development plans.

In the age of information overload, two other key personal KM skills are the abilities to focus the process of knowledge acquisition and to deal effectively with the vast proliferation of materials which are now available from various physical and electronic sources. Anecdotal evidence suggests that beyond basic introductory courses about research techniques and how to use the firm's computer systems, there is often little guidance or training in these areas. These topics lend themselves well to facilitated small group discussions in which fee earners share best practice top tips (what works and why) rather than to a more prescriptive, top down approach.

A key aim of any KM initiative is to allow any given fee earner on a matter or pitch to identify and use (as appropriate) all the knowledge within a firm on a given subject or client. This function requires interpersonal knowledge strategies, i.e. encouragement to fee earners to obtain key knowledge from subject experts in the firm and to subject experts to project and share their expertise with their colleagues. Of course, the effectiveness of the interaction between fee earners in these circumstances (and subsequently with the client to whom the relevant knowledge is to be passed) depends on the interpersonal skills of the people involved.

Therefore, from a KM perspective, training in interpersonal communication should be aimed at increasing the firm's social capital (the stock of active connections among people), the quality of knowledge projection and the quality of client service. Commonly, such training will cover conversation skills and introductions; delegation and supervision; effective working and team relationships; effective coaching and appraisal processes; listening; building trust; the effective use of email; and building social networks. While training on some or all of these areas is very likely to form a substantial part of many firms' learning and development programmes, in my experience the KM relevance of them is rarely covered.

Of course, what KM usually brings to mind is the creation of precedent banks, databases and other tools designed to save fee earners time and make their practice more effective. There is inevitably some degree of initial training for fee earners in the use of such systems and documents, but what is often lacking is learning and development input and knowledge sharing at a more advanced stage aimed at allowing able users to fully leverage the knowledge embedded in them and thereby maximise the benefits they can obtain from these systems in their day-to-day work.

My message is that for KM and learning and development to work properly there needs to be good communication of the firm's strategy in these areas. Training input can (and ought to) play a part in this process to demonstrate just how great a difference good KM and learning and development can make.

The development of personal and interpersonal skills is key to a good KM strategy. Even where the requisite skills are already part of a firm's training programme, however, they will often be taught/discussed in a non-KM context. Changing the packaging and presentation of personal and interpersonal skills training to emphasise KM and ongoing learning and development connections can potentially provide greater 'buy-in' to courses and be an important step to building a firm-wide knowledge acquisition and sharing culture.

David Whitney is a professional development consultant and presenter who works closely with fresh Professional Development.