7 Podcasts to Recommend to Your Team

When you’re a manager, part of your role is to be a culture creator for your team. Fostering an intellectually stimulating environment benefits your staff. It supports their professional development and it forges team cohesion.

If you believe in the members of your team, and you demonstrate that by encouraging their professional development, they are likely to continue to grow and impress you. Your interest in your team’s professional development can also help you foster engagement and combat turnover.

The Glassdoor study Why do Workers Quit? The Factors that Predict Employee Turnover reveals that “the culture and values of an organization are among the top drivers of employee satisfaction. It should come as little surprise that employers who offer attractive culture and values and provide clear upward career paths for employees are more likely to retain workers..."

Be a purposeful culture creator. Give your team ongoing educational opportunities. One easy way to further team motivation is by promoting great resources, including great career podcasts. These are our favorites.

Best Workplace Podcasts

1. HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review IdeaCast features high caliber academic, business and management leaders. Hosted by HBR executive editor Sarah Green Carmichael, IdeaCast mirrors the quality of thought and scholarship that earn HBR its stellar reputation.

Following IdeaCast is a great way for your team to keep their knowledge of professional concepts and players fresh and current. Ideacast has been recognized as the best business podcast by Fortune, FastCompany, Forbes, and others.

Recent topics: The Power of Curiosity, The Science Behind Sleep and High Performance, and Managing Someone who is too Collaborative.

2. Lead from the Heart Podcast

This podcast is especially helpful if your team members are also managers or may assume a leadership or mentoring role. Hosted by best-selling author Mark C. Crowley, the Lead from the Heart Podcast explores ways to foster a human-centered approach to leadership. Crowley is joined by leading CEOs, writers, researchers and scientists who all share his commitment to human leadership.

Crowley’s perspective is all about championing our common humanity and using that to steer employees towards their best selves.

Recent topics: Why the Heart is the Driver of Optimal Human Performance, Why it Pays to Break the Rules in Life and Work, and The Bad Habits that Limit our Career Growth and Success.

3. Master of Scale

Hosted by Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman, Master of Scale features Hoffman’s peers, like Arianna Huffington, Tim Ferris, and Ev Williams. They explore aspirational topics such as entrepreneurialism, growing professional culture, leadership, and start-up culture.

While it may involve concepts that are outside the day-to-day for your team, it gets them thinking big and exposes them to some key business leaders known for disrupting the landscape. Recent topics: What great Founders do at Night, How to Build Trust Fast, and Never Underestimate your First Idea.

4. How to be Awesome at your Job Podcast

Consultant and coach Pete Mockaitis talks with thinkers and “result-getters” about relatable workplace issues. Your team will appreciate the user-friendliness of the podcasts. In How to be Awesome at Your Job, Mockaitis offers real tips that your staff can implement to get excited about the work they do and to perform it better.

Recent topics: Establishing Evening Routines to Optimize the Day Ahead, Bridging Skills Gaps Through Strategic Learning, and The Case of Kindness at Work.

5. Tim Ferris Podcast

Recognized as one of FastCompany’s “Most Innovative Business People,” and honored as one of Fortune’s “40 under 40,” Tim Ferris is a tech investor/advisor who understands how work gets done.  A best-selling author, he earned the nickname “The Oprah of audio,” because of his record-setting business podcasts.

In his podcast, Ferris offers tips for working efficiently, honing focus and maintaining a positive attitude, among other tricks. He’s a creativity and productivity powerhouse. Ferris invites a stellar cast of guests to share their knowledge. His sage advice is bound to get your team talking.

Recent topics: The Path from Shyness to World-Class Debater and Investor, How to Say “No” Gracefully and Uncommit, and Outflanking and Outsmarting the Competition.

6. Eat Sleep Work Repeat Podcast

Hosted by Bruce Daisley, the podcast examines “bites-sized ways of improving your job.” Daisley deconstructs workplace mores and culture, examining them to see if they actually function as intended. For example, he’s especially interested in how the use of tech can create communication and productivity voids that leave professionals feeling uncomfortable and unfulfilled in their work.

Eat Sleep Work Repeat is one of the more thought-provoking podcasts, which will likely make it excellent fodder for conversations with your team about the culture of your workplace.

Recent topics: High-Pressure Teams, Architecture of Work, and The Case for Optimism.

7. Ask a Manager Podcast

If your team has concerns or questions, you want them to come to you. But if you want to give them a great resource for all things work-related, this podcast does just that. Host Alison Green dives into regular questions that surface at work with her funny, smart, thought-provoking commentary.

Green takes a range of questions from her audience-some are hilarious, others are heartbreaking. She handles them all with her token wisdom and savvy.

A great success story and someone who’s done her time in the trenches, Green started out writing her own Ask a Manager blog, which has led to columns in Slate and New York Magazine. Now, she’s writing for the New York Times.

Recent topics: Am I the Annoying Intern, I’m Bad at Taking Feedback, and I need to be more Confident at Work.

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