WE ARE IN AN EXCITING TIME when it comes to professional development. Twitter chats, virtual conferences and online workshops with some of the biggest names in the training world are expanding the minds of educators everywhere.

Podcasts can do the same. Podcasts serve as PD in your pocket.

Too often I hear fellow educators bemoan, “I don’t have time to read. I don’t have time to attend a conference.” Indeed, we’re all busy, but when we reflect back on each week can we honestly say we didn’t have an extra 30 minutes to make us better at what we do?

Educators I’ve talked to say they pick a podcast episode before heading out for a jog. A teacher recently told me her commute is about 30 minutes — a perfect amount of time to listen to a new episode of her favorite podcast.

Beyond Education
Go beyond the field of education for your PD experience. As organizational leaders, we need to recognize the value of what is being said and done outside of our profession. Just because it doesn’t come from educators doesn’t mean it can’t impact our growth as educators.

Consider, for instance, the WorkLife podcast hosted by best-selling author Adam Grant, a professor of organizational psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In his podcast, Grant invites himself inside the minds of some truly unusual people because they’ve mastered something about work he wishes everyone knew. Top episodes include “Become Friends with Your Rivals,” “How to Love Criticism” and “When Work Takes Over Your Life.”

A major bonus with this podcast is that Grant’s website has a discussion guide for each episode. This could truly serve as a joint PD opportunity with your administrative team. Maybe start a podcast club.

Another amazing podcast from outside the profession is The 5 AM Miracle hosted weekly by Jeff Sanders, a productivity coach. Sanders delivers quality content that is applicable and relevant to the improvement of our personal and professional lives. His podcast boasts more than 300 episodes, including “Leadership in an Age of Isolation,” “Building an Unstoppable Team,” “How to Stop a Bad Habit for Good” and “Overcoming the Busyness Epidemic.”

One may look at these podcasts and not spot keywords such as STEM, curriculum or students. But a well-rounded leader must not narrow her or his focus within education alone. It’s easy to see how podcast episodes such as the seven titles I’ve mentioned might apply to our daily work, conveying knowledge that will fit nicely in our leadership toolkit.

Finding the perfect podcast to best suit your needs takes no time. Reaching out to your network on Twitter will give you ideas as to what your colleagues find valuable. Searching your topic in the Apple Podcast or Google Podcast stores also will yield a multitude of options. Or you can search out organizational leadership forums from sites such as Forbes or Change Creator.

Mental Transitions
Podcasts are great because they can be accessed immediately at any time of the day. Educators can listen on their way to work or before a workout. On a plane trip recently, I was able to catch four 30-minute podcasts on my departure flight and two hour-long episodes on my return flight.

I’ve also found that short bursts of episodes in 15-minute increments can help my mind transition from one activity to another. A short burst of a podcast is equivalent to reading a couple pages in the book you keep on your desk. Moving from budget concerns to maintenance projects sometimes requires a mind reset. This is a great way to get a quick shot of PD while transitioning into your next task. 

There is an alternative if you just can’t bring yourself to listen to someone else talk. Most of the top podcasts come with transcripts for each episode. Quick readers may find this as a great compromise to obtaining the knowledge from podcasts while saving time. No matter how and when you catch up on your preferred podcasts, you owe it to yourself to build on your well-established leadership foundations.
SCOTT ENGLAND is superintendent of Fairfield Public School District 112 in Fairfield, Ill. Twitter: @EScottEngland