Useful Tips for All Managers

 

Warrick McLean,

ALPMA Treasurer

General Manager, Colman & Greig ~ Solicitors & Notaries

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone.  For many ALPMA members, finding the time to undertake research is very difficult as we are constantly being pushed and pulled to manage the next bushfire, arrange the next Partners meeting or ensure that financial reports are produced on time. Many of us, however, are key drivers of change and need to be aware of trends and happenings in the market place. Listed below is mix of resources that will assist you and your firm.

  

Throughout 2006 & 2007 ALPMA has been using a great piece of information that was highlighted by Craig Rispin, one of our presenters at the 2005 ALPMA Conference. Craig spoke about many things that would impact the way we would work but certainly www.surveymonkey.com has achieved the most traction amongst ALPMA members since the conference two years ago. For those ALPMA members who are yet to experience the ease and simplicity of www.surveymonkey.com  as Molly would say…”do yourself a favour” and review the functionality and benefits of this inexpensive web hosted software.   

  

ALPMA has been using this online resource to undertake member fast surveys, many ALPMA firms have been using it for staff surveys and many L&D teams have been using it as a simple and effective  training evaluation tool. www.surveymonkey.com is cheap and is easy to set up and takes the hassle out of compiling and presenting survey results.

  

Another piece of web based technology which is gaining momentum is www.linkedin.com. This website is similar to facebook but targeted more at professional types and used as professional networking tool. With many companies labeling facebook as a time waster and many law firms blocking access to this site, www.linkedin.com has been called “facebook for business.” There are several functions listed in the main page of www.linkedin.com. Home contains some special functions of www.linkedin.com, for example, you can find your former classmates or past colleagues here. People is a super search engine that allows you to Search for people you know from over 13 million professionals already on www.linkedin.com. Jobs and Hiring, help people posting advertisements of hiring and finding jobs which seems to have potential and maybe another way for HR Managers to source candidates. Service contains a category that lists almost all industry. It is still early days for this site but it has potential. 

  

The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) which is the American equivalent of ALPMA, has a great website which can be found at www.alanet.org. A great tool on this site is the Legal Management Resource Center called the Source, which provides a whole range of content. Recently we were looking for some inspiration for a partners retreat and accessed a lot of free and relevant information at http://thesource.alanet.org/portal/server.pt If you need some ideas or just want to trawl an industry website this is a great starting point.

  

A recent “quick survey” that was undertaken by ALPMA NSW revolved around healthier eating options in firms. The response was amazing – the trend is, out with iced vovos and more of the apple and oranges! Law attracts many staff that are conscious of diet and exercise, and many firms have or are trying to meet this demand. Many firms use the services of the www.thefruitbox.com.au or www.fruitatwork.com.au or simply have an arrangement with a local supplier. Providing healthy options for staff is a win/win for everyone. 

  

Another great free site that ALPMA Administration has been using is www.yousendit.com This site allows you to send free of charge, an individual file up to 100MB in size. The intended recipient receives an email which includes a link to the file ready for downloaded. Eliminate the delays sending graphic files to your printer, this tool is invaluable and beats burning discs and snail mail any day.

 

If you have a useful website or a resource that we could include for the next ALPMA Member newsletter please forward to: wmclean@colgreig.com.au