Resources

Tools & assessments

• 15Five ↗

  A performance management platform that helps managers set clear expectations, run regular check-ins, and document feedback consistently. Useful for building disciplined performance practices and addressing issues before they escalate.

• Asana ↗

  A widely-used work management tool with dedicated goal-tracking features that link daily work to strategic objectives. Helps managers operationalize OKRs and keep team goals visible and measurable.

• Connected Commons — Rob Cross ↗

  A research consortium led by Rob Cross focused on organisational network analysis and collaborative effectiveness. Offers tools, assessments, and articles to help leaders map and strengthen relationships that drive performance and wellbeing.

• Float ↗

  A widely used resource management tool for planning team capacity, scheduling work, and forecasting budget against projects. Helps managers visualize allocation across people and time in one place.

• Grammarly ↗

  A widely used writing assistant that flags clarity, tone, and grammar issues in real time across email and documents. Helps managers maintain consistent, professional written communication tailored to different audiences.

• GROW Model Coaching Framework — MindTools ↗

  A clear walkthrough of the classic Goal-Reality-Options-Will framework developed by Sir John Whitmore. A practical tool managers can apply immediately to structure coaching conversations.

• Individual Development Plan (IDP) Template — 15Five ↗

  A practical, ready-to-use template for creating individual development plans with team members. Helps managers structure conversations around goals, strengths, gaps, and concrete development actions.

• Lean Enterprise Institute ↗

  A leading hub for lean thinking with articles, case studies, and tools on continuous improvement. Excellent ongoing resource for managers committed to optimizing ways of working.

• Lighthouse - One-on-One Meeting Tool ↗

  A dedicated tool for managers to prepare, run, and follow up on one-to-ones with shared agendas, talking points, and action items. Helpful for managers who struggle with consistency or note-taking across many direct reports.

• Miro ↗

  A visual collaboration platform that enables distributed teams to co-create, brainstorm, and align on plans in shared digital workspaces. It's particularly effective for facilitating cross-team workshops, project kickoffs, and dependency mapping.

• Miro ↗

  A collaborative whiteboard tool widely used for brainstorming, affinity mapping, and running structured ideation sessions remotely. Helps managers create visible, shared space for divergent thinking and experiment design.

• Miro Stakeholder Mapping Template — Miro ↗

  A ready-to-use visual tool for mapping stakeholders by influence, interest, and attitude. Great for running team workshops to align on who matters, what they care about, and how to engage them.

• Mood Meter — Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence ↗

  An app developed from Yale's RULER program that helps users plot, label, and regulate their emotions throughout the day. A simple daily tool to build the self-awareness foundation of emotional intelligence.

• Officevibe ↗

  An anonymous employee feedback and pulse survey tool that helps managers detect issues with team wellbeing, trust, and psychological safety in real time. Useful for surfacing concerns people might not feel safe raising directly.

• Otter.ai ↗

  An AI transcription tool that frees you from note-taking so you can focus on truly listening in meetings and 1:1s. Useful for reviewing conversations afterward to catch what you missed and follow through on what you heard.

• Project Implicit — Harvard University ↗

  Harvard's free Implicit Association Tests help managers surface their own unconscious biases across race, gender, age, and more. A valuable self-awareness tool to take before designing hiring, promotion, or feedback processes.

• Prosci ADKAR Model — Jeff Hiatt ↗

  ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) is a widely used framework for managing individual change. The Prosci site offers tools and guides to help managers diagnose where people are stuck and what to do next.

• RACI Matrix Template and Guide — Atlassian ↗

  A widely used framework for clarifying roles and decision rights on any initiative. Removing ambiguity about who is Responsible and Accountable is the practical foundation of an ownership culture.

• Reflected Best Self Exercise — University of Michigan Center for Positive Organizations ↗

  A structured tool from the University of Michigan's Center for Positive Organizations that helps you gather stories from 10-20 people about when you're at your best. Provides concrete external data to balance internal self-perception.

• SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact) Feedback Model — Center for Creative Leadership ↗

  The Center for Creative Leadership's SBI model is a simple, widely-adopted tool for structuring specific, behavior-focused feedback. It helps managers move away from vague judgments toward observable actions and their consequences.

• Structured Interviewing at Google (re:Work) — Google re:Work ↗

  Google's free re:Work guide explains how to design and run structured interviews to improve prediction of job performance and reduce bias. Includes templates, rubrics, and sample questions.

• Tableau Public ↗

  A free tool for exploring, visualizing, and sharing data interactively. Hands-on practice with visualization builds the intuition managers need to spot patterns and communicate insights effectively.

• Todoist ↗

  A widely-used task management tool that helps capture, organize, and prioritize work across projects. Particularly useful for managers juggling personal tasks alongside team responsibilities.

• Trello / Notion Onboarding Templates ↗

  Ready-to-use onboarding templates that managers can adapt for 30/60/90-day plans, buddy systems, and knowledge transfer. Practical tools that reduce friction in creating consistent, repeatable onboarding experiences.