Skills Development Resources

Please note: all links on this page that lead to PDFs or to another party's website will open that website in a new browser window.

In support of your efforts to develop yourself, or a staff member who reports to you if you are supervisor or manager, the list below includes Suggested Readings and websites list organized by skill set.

Career Development

There are so many excellent books on career development, here’s just a few focusing on self assessment to get you started.

Books:

• Tieger and Barron; Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type; Little, Brown and Company
• Buckingham, M.; Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance; Free Press
• Sher, B.; I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It; Dell
• Hudson and McLean; Life Launch: A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life; Hudson Press
• Kaye and Jordan-Evans; Love It, Don’t Leave It; Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Block, D.; SoulWork: Finding the Work You Love, Loving the Work You Have; Davies-Black Publishing

Training Program:

• Owning Your Career at Stanford: A Roadmap to Your Success, offered by the Office of Staff Employment

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Change Management

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Change Management.

Books:

• Scott and Jaffe; Managing Personal Change (Crisp Fifty-Minute Series); Crisp Publications
• Scott, Jaffe, and Crisp; Managing Change at Work: Leading People Through Organizational Transitions (A Fifty-Minute Series Book); Crisp Publications
• Barger and Kirby; The Challenge of Change in Organizations: Helping Employees Thrive in the New Frontier; Davies-Black Publishing
• Bridges, William; Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change; Perseus Books Group
• Bridges, William; Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes; Perseus Books Group
• Kotter, John; Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions; St. Martin's Press
• Kotter, John; Leading Change; Harvard Business School Press
• Johnson and Blanchard; Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life; G. P. Putnam's Sons

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Communication Skills

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Communication Skills.

Books:

• Goleman, Daniel; Emotional Intelligence; Bantam
• Goleman, Daniel; Working with Emotional Intelligence; Bantam
• Tannen, Deborah; That’s Not What I Meant!; Ballantine
• Adler, Ron; Looking Out Looking In; Wadsworth
• Bower and Bower; Asserting Yourself: A Practical Guide for Positive Change; Addison-Wesley
• Tannen, Deborah; Talking From 9 to 5: How Women’s and Men’s Conversational Styles Affect Who Gets Heard, Who Gets Credit, and What Get’s Done at Work; William Morrow and Company
• Ury, Fisher, and Patton; Getting To Yes - Negotiating An Agreement Without Giving In; Century

Web site:

• Deborah Tannen’s website

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Customer Service

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Customer Service.

Books:

• Performance Research Associates; Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service (Knock Your Socks Off Series); AMACOM
• Blacharski, Dan; Superior Customer Service: How to Keep Customers Racing Back to Your Business--Time Tested Examples from Leading Companies; Atlantic Publishing Company

Video/DVD:

• FISH! Catch the Energy. Release the Potential; ChartHouse Learning.

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Organizational Skills

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Organizational Skills.

Books:

• Eisenberg and Kelly; Organize Yourself; Wiley
• Morgenstern, Julie; Organizing from the Inside Out, second edition: The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life; Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Web sites:

• The Container Store
• FlyLady.net

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Priority Setting

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Priority Setting.

Books:

• Covey, Stephen; 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; Free Press
• Hoover, John; Best Practices: Time Management: Set Priorities to Get the Right Things Done (Best Practices); Collins
• Nickerson, Pat; Managing Multiple Bosses: How to Juggle Priorities, Personalities & Projects -- and Make It Look Easy; AMACOM
• Loehr and Schwartz; The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal; Free Press

Web sites:

• Franklin Covey
• Julie Morgenstern Enterprises

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Problem Solving/Critical Thinking

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Problem Solving/Critical Thinking.

Book:

• Chang and Kelly; Step-By-Step Problem Solving: A Practical Guide to Ensure Problems Get (And Stay) Solved (And Stay Solved); Practical Learning Press

Web sites:

• Mindmeister

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Project Management

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Project Management.

Books:

• Campbell, Clark; The One-Page Project Manager: Communicate and Manage Any Project With a Single Sheet of Paper; Wiley
• Verzuh, Eric; The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (Portable Mba Series); Wiley
• Martin and Tate; The Project Management Memory Jogger: A Pocket Guide for Project Teams (Growth Opportunity Alliance of Lawrence); Goal/QPC

Web sites:

• Basecamp
• Stanford Advanced Project Management, offered by the Stanford Center for Professional Development

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Team Building

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Team Building.

Books:

• Harvey, Thomas R.; Building Teams, Building People; ScarecrowEducation
• Hunter, Bailey, and Taylor; Zen of Groups: A Handbook for People Meeting With a Purpose; Fisher Books
• Miller, Brian C.; Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers: 50 Exercises That Get Results in Just 15 Minutes; AMACOM
• Katzenbach and Smith; The Wisdom of Teams : Creating the High-Performance Organization; Collins
• Katzenbach and Smith; The Discipline of Teams: A Mindbook-Workbook for Delivering Small Group Performance; Wiley

Training

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Training.

Books:

• King, King, and Rothwell; The Complete Guide to Training Delivery: A Competency-Based Approach; AMACOM
• ASTD’s InfoLines on a variety of training topics
• Silberman and Auerbach; Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips; Pfeiffer
• Phillips and Stone; How to Measure Training Results : A Practical Guide to Tracking the Six Key Indicators; McGraw-Hill
• HRDQ – Training Resources for Your Organizational Learning Needs

Associations:

• American Society of Training Professionals (ASTD)
• eLearning Guild
• International Society for Performance Improvement

Training Classes for Trainers:

• Darryl Sink & Associates
• Grove Consultants International
• Interaction Associates
• Langevin Learning Services
• Linkage
• The Training Clinic
• University of California, Berkeley Extension or Santa Cruz Extension

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Time Management

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Time Management.

Books:

• Allen, David; Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity; Penguin
• Mackenzie, Alec; The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management; MJF Books
• Morgenstern, Julie; Time Management From The Inside Out :The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life; Owl Books

Web sites:

• The David Allen Company
• Julie Morgenstern Enterprises

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Writing

The following resources are books, professional associations, websites, articles, etc., to increase your knowledge in Writing.

Books:

• Strunk, William; The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition; Longman
• Sabin, William; The Gregg Reference Manual; Career Education
• Goldstein, Norm; The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law; Perseus Books Group
• Grossman, John; The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers (14th Edition); University Of Chicago Press

Web sites:

• Owl Online Writing Lab
• Merriam Webster Online
• Bartleby.com

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