As a speaker, facilitator, and podcast host in the field of leadership and talent development, part of my job is staying up to date on the current research, trends and ideas about leadership development by reading what’s out there in the dialogue and discourse on new trends, stories, and examples.
This is where I’ve often drawn inspiration for The Edge of Work Podcast (Spotify, Apple) and Newsletter, and the work I do in partnering with organizations to improve their pipeline of leaders and grow their people through talent and leadership programs.
While there’s never been more access to content and information, sorting through all of the noise to find the signals can be difficult. I’m not perfect by any means, but because I’ve tried my best to find the best content and ideas out there, I’ve developed some resources over the years to keep track of what I’ve found.
Note: While this is geared toward professionals who work in roles developing leaders and organizations, many of these resources are relevant for the following roles:
- Leadership Development
- Talent Development
- Transformation and Organizational Change
- Organizational Effectiveness
Or if you are in a business that serves the following functions and roles:
- Talent (Development and Management)
- People and HR Leaders
- Organizational Development Leaders
#1) Improving How we Implement Leadership Development
These are resources to help you design, develop and deliver leadership development programs inside your organization.
- Measuring The Impact of Leadership Development – This is a primer from Heidrick and Struggles about how to measure the impact of leadership development
- How to Measure Leadership Development – This is a foundational primer on how to measure leadership development
- The ROI of Leadership Development – A research report from BetterManager on how they were able to measure the ROI of leadership development.
- Key Leadership Trends for 2023 – DDI releases a report each year on Leadership trends, and this is a summary from 2023.
2) Ideas About Leadership For Today’s World of Work
These are resources that can help you imagine and think about what leadership means inside your organization, as well as specific leadership topics that are relevant to the content and curriculum you use.
Podcasts
- The Edge of Work – This is my podcast, which focuses on ideas to help leaders build engaged, productive and sustainable organizations with modern day leadership practices. This focuses on topics related to leadership and talent development, new ways of working, and developing organizations.
- Culture by Design – Hosted by Dr. Tim Clark and the Leaderfactor team, this podcast talks about topics related to leaders and culture with a special focus on psychological safety
- Learn to Lead – podcast to help leaders lead more effectively, and for how organizations can focus on developing their leaders in more effective ways
- Lead From The Heart – Hosted by Mark Crowley, Mark brings on researchers, authors and leaders to share leadership guidance and advice
- Coaching For Leaders – Dave Stachowiak interviews some of the top and recent leadership expert authors on this podcast.
- Coaching Real Leaders – Muriel Wilkins is an Executive Coach, and does live coaching sessions on topics related to leadership topics.
- LeadX Leadership Show with Kevin Kruse – This is a short-form podcast show where Kevin interviews Chief People Officers and Heads of Leadership development to talk about leadership and culture.
Websites & Blogs
- HBR – HBR has numerous articles related to leadership topics
- Zenger Folkman – Zenger Folkman is a leadership development firm, and regularly shares their research and thought leadership on leadership ideas
- Leading Sapiens – Sheril is an executive coach who writes thoughtful articles that are research based on topics related to leadership development
- Leadership Freak – Dan has written a weekly leadership blog for over 10+ years.
- Lead From Anywhere – This is an article I wrote on the importance of leading right from where you are, regardless of where you sit inside the organization.
#3) Improving How We Implement Manager Development
These are resources that are specific for thinking strategically, intentionally and holistically about how we equip managers to lead effectively in today’s workplace, and how we design manager development programs
- The Manager Development Podcast Playlist – I put together a playlist of my favorite podcast episodes related to developing managers. This is available on Spotify via this link, and is updated regularly
- Are Managers Moot (Gartner) – Some Gartner research focused on the importance of developing managers
- How Microsoft Implemented Manager Behaviors – This is an episode I did with Microsoft Chief Learning Officer Joe Whittinghill on how Microsoft changed manager development and manager behaviors
- Building Better Managers – A podcast that is produced by BetterManager on how to develop and train better managers.
- Investing in Managers Pays Off – This is an article from McKinsey based on research they have done on the ROI of investing in Middle managers
- 5 Trends for HR Leaders for 2024 – Gartner has put out a report on the five trends for HR leaders, and #2 is all around manager development. (Note: You must give your e-mail address to download)
#4) What it Means to Be a Manager in Today’s World of Work
These are resources that are specific for people managers. Consider these as resources to inform your own thinking around manager development, or what you can include in your programs as additional content for managers
- The Four Manager Types (Gartner) – Some important research from Gartner on the four types of managers, and how to identify which style is best
- Radical Candor – This is a great podcast for managers to listen to in order to get smart on relevant people manager topics
- How Managers Can Lead Hybrid Teams – I wrote this article specifically to help managers learn the practices for effectively leading hybrid teams
- Modern Manager – This podcast focuses on how to be an effective manager.
- The Role of The Manager in Employee Career Development – I wrote this article to help managers understand how they can effectively empower their employees and support their career growth efforts.
- Employees Want a Lot More From Managers – Even though this was written in 2015, this research from Gallup is still relevant and spot on for managers.
- A Great Manager’s Most Important Habit – This research from Gallup (2023) talks about the most important things a manager can do to impact the engagement of their team.
- How to Give Feedback – A simple and practical method for how manager’s can give feedback
So there you have it! A plethora of useful and helpful resources to help you learn, grow and work in the field of people, org and leadership development. This by no means is an exhaustive list. I would welcome any feedback from other people or resources that I should add, and also, if you end up using these, please let me know which ones are most helpful and useful. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any feedback!
Are you looking for a partner to improve the quality of your leadership and talent development programs? Contact Me today, I’d love to learn more about your business goals!
