Please Don't Tell Me That You Haven't Been Taught to Manage

A common complaint I hear from supervisors is that they haven't been "taught" to manage. The assumption, here, is that if the organization hasn't sent you to a training, how could you possibly be expected to know how to be a good manager? My personal feeling? That's a cop-out, especially in the age of so many free online tools and resources. So here are a few you can use to embark on your own personal learning journey toward better managerial skills.

Note--I'm going heavy on the podcasts here because I think that for a lot of people, they offer the most flexibility to access. You can listen to them online, burn them onto a CD for the commute to and from work,  or download them to your mp3 player to listen to while you're jogging or traveling. Cuts down on the "I don't have TIME to learn something new" excuse.

Manager Tools Podcasts
This is a great selection of free audio recordings that cover a wide range of managerial skills, including writing more effectively, hiring, time management, running meetings, performance reviews, etc.

The Cranky Middle Manager
Another collection of podcasts. Says the companion blog: "Host Wayne Turmel vents, offers humorous commentary and talks to the smartest people in the field about management techniques, career strategies and just keeping it together day after day. If you ever feel stuck between the idiots that make the decisions and the morons who won't do as they're told, this is the show for you."  Be sure to listen to the show on Personal Branding.

Carter McNamara's Free Nonprofit Management Library
Carter has been surfing the web and organizing nonprofit management resources since the mid-1990's. He's developed a great collection of articles, tools and resources organized into easy-to-use categories.

Open Culture's Business Podcasts
I've found some really interesting podcast resources through Open Culture, which now has a position of prominence in my Netvibes. The business category is fairly broad, but there's so much good stuff there, it's worth the browsing. Be sure to check out the Digital MBA with links to podcasts at some of America's top business schools. They're doing some really great stuff that you can access for free.

OK, so these should be more than enough to get you started. Let me know if you've run across any other manager training resources that you've found helpful.

BONUS FOR NETVIBES USERS--If I managed to persuade you that Netvibes is a great personal learning portal and tool, then you'll be happy to know that I created a Nonprofit Management Netvibes tab for you to add to your personal Netvibes. It includes some bonus items on career and professional development that you may find useful. Just click on the Netvibes link below and you'll be able to preview and then add to your Netvibes page. If I get additional links, I'll add them to the page. Also, I'm interested in feedback from people to see if this was useful.