- The FORUM where you will get (often brutally) honest advice for the toughest challenges
- The SLACK COMMUNITY to find everything from inspiration, reads, examples, methods, and tools
- 2 PODCASTS that get to the point and offer concrete leadership advice
- The PUBLICATION full of goodies
- ➠ Related Notion templates
- ➠ Related Management Frameworks
Free communities, podcasts & publications for practical managers
One year ago, I felt a need to establish authority with others in the company as a leader and as a manager. As this was happening during a time of restructuring of the company, I didn’t feel at ease to ask internally for help as it would (I believed) show my vulnerability and put a risk on a potential raise or promotion. I needed to find help externally.
After a few weeks of hectic search, I found gems of knowledge on leadership and management.
If you are in need of inspiration, advice, reassurance, or simply brushing up on your skills, dive in.
The FORUM where you will get (often brutally) honest advice for the toughest challenges
Subreddit r/managers
When you face a sensitive challenges and would like to keep your anonymity, the subreddit for managers is a gold mine. The reddit users ask probing questions to figure out the core of your problem, provide examples from their experience and give you advice from an objective point of view.
The moderators are devoted and clean up any disrespectful or disturbing posts. You end up with a good collection of opinions on your toughest problems.
I must admit that I often use the forum as a “feel good” arena as reading about others difficult cases gives you a good perspective to evaluate the situation you are into 🔭.
Perfect for: finding support on a very challenging issue; getting honest (often a bit harsh) feedback.
Not so great for: finding culturally-specific advice.
The SLACK COMMUNITY to find everything from inspiration, reads, examples, methods, and tools
With more than 23,000 users, there is certainly a topic you could dive into.
The slack is divided in the most common managerial interests and each channel boasts reads, ideas, best practices, as well as cries for help from the members.
My assumption is most users are in the tech industry, at least the Slack community is more tech-oriented than the reddit subforum.
Another advantage of the Slack channel is privacy: the content cannot be searched on Google, and you can safely ask questions that you don’t want to be read by your colleagues.
Perfect for: talking freely about your professional life, brushing off your management skills, getting inspiration
Not so great for: discussing sensitive issues (you still post with your profile)
2 PODCASTS that get to the point and offer concrete leadership advice
As a huge fan of podcasts during commute and shopping, I have tried many shows and speakers. The following two are the ones I always go back to:
1️⃣ Coaching Real Leaders (choose your platform on the site)
During each episode, we are immersed in a coaching session between host Muriel Wilkins and a guest. The guest is a mid- or senior-level professional who has a specific blocker at work and solves it live on the show.
In each episode, there will be a part where you would say “I relate” / “This is exactly what is going on right now” / “So similar to my situation”. And while Muriel would guide the guest to find an answer, you will get insights too.
2️⃣ Practical Leadership with Paul Morton (Spotify or Apple Podcasts)(Disclaimer — Paul is a friend)
Paul interviews seasoned leaders on topics ranging from recruitment, through driving performance, or building trust. What is common between each episode is the focus on the concrete experience of each guest.
You are taken through their career and some juicy stories from the near or distant past. The situations are closed with a recap of lessons learned that you could easily apply when the time comes.
The PUBLICATION full of goodies
People Managing People focuses on how-to articles and resources to equip your managerial day from A to Z. I use it for inspiration on topics that are not my usual strengths, such as conflict resolution or offboarding.
If you are looking for a software or a tool on any HR/Leadership topic, they have done a magnificent job in comparing all apps and tools.
The Resources section can also come in handy when you are in search to structure an area of your job, such as a coaching session or 1:1s.
My goal with this article is to help other fellow managers find concrete and actionable advice to, ultimately, become better people managers. Do you think I missed a precious gem that should be added to the list?
➠ Related Notion templates
➠ Related Management Frameworks
