Driving Collaboration by Bringing Together a Fractured and Threatened Industry

Starting an Association : Article

The Problem
The court reporting profession is at a pivotal point in its storied history. On top of the arrival of new technologies that promise to disrupt the traditional systems for capturing the spoken word within a legal environment, the number of stenographic court reporters continues to decline. As these dynamics have unfolded, the need for a new organization that represents the industry as a whole—not a single technology or group of professionals—to examine issues in a holistic fashion, to discuss standards that cross technologies and application, and to ensure, above all else, that the integrity of the legal record is not compromised.

Some people only need to hear the idea to get on board. Others need to see and feel the idea before it becomes real to them. It took a website, a newsletter, and a webinar to make the Speech to Text Institute (STTI) real for many in the marketplace.

The Approach
Virtual engaged leaders from across the court reporting industry for a summit of sorts to examine the need for a new organization, the role it should play, and what its initial priorities should be. Representatives from two dozen companies from across the industry participated in-person or virtually for a full day of discussions, agreeing in principle on the general parameters to form the Speech to Text Institute. These discussions lead to the development and execution of a highly successful organization launch and ongoing thought leadership communications program. A number of industry trends were leveraged to secure interviews. A white paper about the stenography shortage, video and infographic were produced to support the launch.

Key Takeaways
Change never is easy, especially in an industry with rich history and with practitioners and companies that largely have defined themselves proudly by the technology they use to capture the record rather by the legal record produced by that technology.

Leadership requires courage. This is particularly the case in situations where acknowledging marketplace realities and adjusting business models in accordance with those realities comes with corresponding reputational risk. In STTI’s case, the inaugural member companies had to risk incurring the wrath of some colleagues and, in some cases, their own workforce.

Market-force disruption cannot be wished away. Those companies and institutions that have a vision and the fortitude to pursue it will benefit significantly over the long run. While this vision might feel uncomfortable, or even wrong, on any given day, its long-term payoff is nearly inevitable.

The Results
Six months almost to the day after we launched, I hosted a webinar about COVID-19’s impact on court reporting. Three of the industry’s leading luminaries agreed to participate and more than 200 registered to participate. It was clear that STTI was making an impact. The impact will be measured across years—even decades—as firms, suppliers, and schools establish a collaborative spirit that will drive the development of standards that will redefine an industry. To date, the focus is to convene a group of leaders willing to invest in such an effort, to build awareness and acceptance of marketplace changes through content and programming, and to build momentum for the work that will be necessary to move the industry forward. Our thought leadership communications program is helping to forward these objectives with a state-by-state PR campaign tailoring specific data for each state. This effort has resulted in ten quality press hits where STTI was quoted and occupied at least 50% of the story. The sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. Approximately 1,000 visitors were driven back to the website to view the press release, video and infographic. Social media remains steady climbing to 8k Twitter impressions. Remarkable results for an organization still in the early stages of planning and growth.

The Lessons
Changing people’s minds, particularly in areas where they have a personal and emotional investment, is particularly difficult. It requires time, patience, and resolve. It means waiting for people and institutions to come aboard at a pace with which they are comfortable. But when your idea is sound and when you align yourselves with a group that is grounded in sound principles and in marketplace reality, you position yourself for ultimate success.


 

Back to Knowledge Hub

What's on our minds?

Fetch Tweets: You currently have access to a subset of Twitter API v2 endpoints and limited v1.1 endpoints (e.g. media post, oauth) only. If you need access to this endpoint, you may need a different access level. You can learn more here: https://developer.twitter.com/en/portal/product Code: 453