Ignite your creativity by joining the LDE Book Club this month by starting a book club with our self-paced Workday Learning courses and free discussion templates. After reading the abridged book club titles, feel free borrow the full book from the LDE Lending Library for deeper learning.

This month, we’re featuring a book that will encourage you to think outside the box:

• LDE Book Club: Thinking Outside the Brain: Think outside the box from a neuroscience perspective with The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain by Annie Murphy Paul. Discover practical strategies for improving your cognition with three outside-the-brain resources: your body, surroundings, and relationships.

Get ready to explore new ideas and challenge yourself to create solutions that go beyond the expected. 

Tap into LinkedIn Learning through Workday and take courses designed to boost your creative and innovative thinking. Here are a few recommended courses to help you get started:

• Creativity Tips for All: Creativity isn’t limited to a select few; it’s something we all use, no matter our role. Discover how to cultivate and harness your creative potential.
• Creative Collaboration by Denise Jacobs: Learn how to recognize and remove personal creative blocks, connect and communicate with others, combine ideas using play, and construct a collaborative environment to tap into a group’s creative brilliance.
• Building Creative Organizations by Thea Polancic: Learn how to encourage a growth mindset, leverage feedback as the gateway to learning, and eliminate organizational barriers to creativity.

To access more LinkedIn Learning courses, go to Workday Learning, select “Search for Available Learning,” and filter by “LinkedIn Learning” under “Content Type.”

This month’s Essential Reads are all about sparking creativity and embracing innovative thinking. These books will help you cultivate a creative mindset and apply it to both your work and personal growth:

• “Creativeship: An Employee Engagement and Leadership Fable” by Bob Kelleher: In today’s fast-changing world, organizations need to focus on new ways to grow and lead. Follow a retired management consultant as he explores what’s missing in business today.
• “Not Just Another Meeting: Creative Strategies For Facilitation” by Rodney Napier and Eli Sharp: Learn how to be intentional about diagnosing what your team requires from a meeting. By expanding your repertoire of what to do and how to do it, you can respond to any situation with calm, certainty, and creativity.
• “HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation” by Harvard Business Review: The Harvard Business Review combed through hundreds of articles in the HBR archive and selected the most important ones to help you innovate effectively.

Visit the virtual LDE Lending Library to check out these books and others!

We are excited to announce the launch of the LDE Next Level page in Workday Learning! This special collection of professional development curriculum is now available in one convenient and centralized location. By visiting this link, you can easily access a curated list of learning modules to help you take your career to the next level. Start exploring today and unlock your potential!

Feedback Foundations: Enhancing Workplace Interactions for Better Results (In Person)
Thursday, May 1, 2025 | 1:00 PM - 2:30 pm
Participants learn how to more approachable and constructive atmosphere for feedback, thus promoting open communication and ongoing improvement.

What Do Linus and His Blanket Have to Do With Change and Transition? (Virtual)
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Participants learn practical ideas and tools for navigating the change process as well as for assisting both their team and themselves during transitions.

Starting out as a manager can be both exciting and challenging! To help you succeed in your leadership role, we offer not only sessions in the Management Essentials Program and Leadership Certification Program but also a variety of resources designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to lead effectively and foster engaged teams.

Workday Learning provides a range of courses to support your management journey. Access these resources anytime to build on your knowledge and skills as you navigate your management role. Try out:

• Managing Meetings (Linkedin Learning): Follow Chris Croft as he provides a practical, step-by-step guide to setting up and facilitating meetings, diving into a variety of topics ranging from choosing your meeting format—online or in-person—to using visual aids.
• Managing Teams (Linkedin Learning): In this course, professor, consultant, and coach Daisy Lovelace shows you how to set goals, delegate, manage performance, and develop both your team and the individuals on it.
• Management Tips Weekly (Linkedin Learning): In this series, Todd Dewett, PhD, shares the tips respected and motivated managers use to improve rapport, navigate tricky situations, build better relationships, and drive the business forward.

Also, check out these books from the LDE Lending Library:

• “The First-Time Manager” by Jim McCormick, Gary S. Topchik, and Loren B. Belker: A true management classic, the book covers essential topics such as hiring and firing, leadership, motivation, managing time, dealing with superiors, and much more.
• “Nine Minutes on Monday: The Quick and Easy Way to Go from Manager to Leader” by James Robbins: You’ll discover the nine keys to raising productivity, boosting morale, and increasing employee engagement. Nine Minutes on Monday combines proven engagement drivers and principles of human motivation into a simple system of execution that will show immediate results.
• “The Carrot Principle: How The Best Managers Use Recognition To Engage Their People, Retain Talent, And Accelerate Performance” by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick: Gostick and Elton walk readers through exactly how to use the simple but powerful methods they have discovered all great managers use to provide their employees with this effective recognition, which can be learned easily and will produce immediate results.

We’re committed to your development as a leader, and these resources are designed to support you every step of the way.

We invite you to think creatively this May and explore how you can bring new ideas to life in your work and beyond. Creativity grows when we challenge our assumptions and stay open to different ways of thinking. By doing so, you can bring fresh and innovative approaches to all areas of your life.

To support creative and exciting work, it helps to set aside time and mental space for new ideas. This month, challenge yourself to:

• Rethink how you approach your work. Consider how you might tackle everyday tasks or problems in a new way.
• Include different perspectives. Invite collaboration with new voices to spark ideas and inspire innovation.

Make creativity a priority this month by trying something new.