The Ultimate Free Leadership Training for Managers

Are you new to management, looking to upgrade your leadership skills, or sourcing leadership training for your employees? If the answer is yes, you’ve come to the right place to find the ultimate free leadership training for managers.

While there is no replacement for the value and benefit of live, synchronous leadership training, where you get to learn and practice leadership skills with the help of an experienced facilitator, reading and building your knowledge on modern leadership may be the next best option.

That’s why we created the free 30-Day Leadership Challenge. It’s a self-paced workbook where each day, you will learn the skills needed to be a successful manager at your own pace with actionable insights and tasks. It’s a great primer before attending a manager training program.

Within each day, you will learn a micro lesson on critical leadership competency, a task to complete, and an action item to do. If you’re ready to get started with what we think is the ultimate free leadership training materials download available online, here is what you’ll find.

Leadership Training Materials for Managers:

1. Upskilling Transferable Skills
2. Learning to Lead a Team
3. Developing Employees
4. Owning Your Leadership Training and Development

Upskilling Transferable Skills

Any leadership training for managers should include the basics to success in business - transferable skills. Transferable skills are skills that “can be transferred to any job, company, or industry.” They’re fundamental skills that are critically important and needed at every level and every function.

The first section of the leadership training materials download, the 30-Day Leadership Challenge, focuses on upskilling these necessary skills. It would be impossible to lead others with these skills. 

Free Leadership Training for Managers to Build Your Transferable Skills:

• Taking Responsibility for Your Words and Actions
• Prioritizing Your Tasks for the Greatest Impact  
• Developing Strong Communication Skills
• Learning How To Managing Expectations
• Building Greater Self-Awareness
• Making Solid Decisions and Thinking Critically
• Demonstrating Personal Accountability
• Managing Time 
  
  
  

Learning to Lead a Team

Effective team leadership is critical to business success. A 2022 study uncovered that a single bad manager costs a company an average of $70,000 a year! Conversely, when managers are effective at leading a team, they are up to 2x more likely to retain their employees, and these employees have 22% higher engagement.

That’s why when a new manager moves from an individual contributor to a people manager, they must have the opportunity for leadership training where they can learn and hone their leadership skills, and this next section of leadership training materials will help you do just that.

Leadership Training Materials to Learn to Lead a Team:

• Hosting Effective Team Meetings
• Creating and Communicating a Compelling Team Vision
• Gaining Team Alignment and Focus
• Resolving Team and Individual Conflict
• Giving Recognition and Praise
• Improving Collaboration and Team Performance
• Championing a Positive Team Culture
• Leading a Team with Empathy
• Maintaining Team Focus During Disruption 

Developing Employees

Employees expect to learn and grow at work, and they believe it should be ongoing and frequent - not one-off training events. Direct managers play a significant role in making this happen, as 66% of employees believe their direct manager is primarily responsible for ensuring they have the skills and knowledge needed to do their job.

Companies recognize the importance of manager-led development, with 70% of organizations claiming they coach and develop their employees. However, when employees were polled, only 11% of respondents said they received coaching and development at work. If you want to increase your knowledge and skills to effectively develop your team members to reap the benefits of increased productivity and performance, this next section of leadership training materials will be invaluable.

Free Leadership Training for Managers to Learn to Develop Employees:

• Motivating and Encouraging Employees
• Leading Productive one-on-one Meetings with Employees
• Delegating and Empowering Employees
• Getting Employee Commitment to Accept Accountabilities
• Giving Effective Feedback to Employees
• Creating Employee Goals
• Nurturing High-Performance Employees
• Helping Employees With Poor Performance
• Initiating and Having Career Conversations

Owning Your Leadership Training and Development

By reading this article and downloading the 30-day leadership challenge, you clearly know the importance of taking your leadership training and development into your own hands. 

In their recent HBR article, Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis agree and share why you’re taking the right actions. They said, “The more managers take control of their development, the better able they'll be to avoid the career mistakes that will get in the way of their growth. And the more their team members see the positive impact of investing in their career development, the more likely they are to do the same.”

In this last section of leadership training materials, you’ll find everything you need to create a game plan for your professional development.

Leadership Training Materials to Help You Own Your Professional Development:

• Crafting Your Professional Vision
• Committing to Continuous Learning and Growth
• Creating and Executing a Personal Development Plan
• Requesting Leadership Training Best Practices

Understanding how to manage effectively can be challenging. Like most managers, you excelled in your functional role, which promoted you to management. However, as you quickly learned, the skills to excel as an individual are much different than what you need as a leader.

That’s where we come in. If you like the lesson learned in the best free leadership training for managers, you’ll love Niagara Institute’s leadership solution. Our programs and coaching focus on delivering practical tips, helpful tools, and applicable coaching - everything you need to be a better manager today. With open enrollment, team programs, and leadership coaching, there is a leadership training solution for every need.