Earlier this year, I had been spending a lot of time thinking about how to better engage my team as well as how to better support them. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been reading a lot of books lately. As I was reading some good books in the beginning of this year, a few neurons fired, sparking an idea: what if there was a way to get other folks at work to read similar books and to multiply what they learn by meeting to discuss the books? It’s hardly a novel idea, but something about it really resonated with me.
In order to gauge reception to the idea, I asked a number of colleagues and direct reports whether they’d be interested. Only a handful of people expressed a desire to participate, but that’s all that’s necessary to get started. I figured that if nothing else, at least it’s a worthy experiment.
Our Team’s Approach
Over the past 6 months or so, we’ve read and discussed 3 books and have selected the 4th. Our group’s approach is pretty simple. We read a book every 2 months and meet to discuss it. I start the process by requesting 1-3 book ideas from the group based on a previously selected theme, as well as what the group members would like to have as the theme of the following book. Once the deadline for inputs has expired, we all vote on the books and themes. For books, everyone picks their top 3 choices in prioritized order, so the votes are weighted accordingly; for themes, we all get a single vote. Once the voting deadline has passed, I announce the results.
Since we can’t meet during work hours, our group meets in the evening via Zoom. Our meetings have been pretty laid back, but always interesting. We follow a rather loose format – in other words, we haven’t used a structured set of questions.
Book Club Best Practices
When first getting started, I did some simple online research to see what others have done to build successful book reading clubs. I’ve summarized here what I learned from my research.
General
- Set expectations up-front, including the purpose of the group, genres / themes that will be covered, etc.
- Schedule meetings regularly. Best frequency is about every 2 months; quarterly is probably too long. Alternatively, meet weekly and discuss one or more chapters (two chapter is a good number per week) at each meeting vs. the entire book.
- Meeting times
- The time of day should be consistent
- Lunchtime (“brown bag”) is a good time
- 3PM is a good time for afternoon sessions
- Consider inviting experts on the topics occasionally
- Keep it informal; there are different approaches that can work
- Can ask some questions for conversation starters (email them beforehand), then let it flow
- Can have a ‘standard’ set of questions that the group discusses for every book
- Can select a different person to start the conversation each meeting
- Can ask each person to choose a passage from the week’s chapters and read it aloud; then the group discusses their thoughts on the passage
- Keep the tone of the discussions cordial & arbitrate if necessary
- Keep two lists: what was read and what possible future options are
- Consider asking HR or training group if the cost can be covered by the company
- Discussion should cover how the reading applies to your work / business
- Invite new members each time
- Switch up themes each time
- Consider doing something thematic at each (or some of) the meetings related to the book theme
- Listen to your members – what do they want?
Book Selection
- Get suggestions (e.g., 10 suggested books) from each member
- Allow members to vote on the books. Use an online survey for voting or draw from a hat, etc. Alternatively, consider delegating the book selection each time to someone different, either to select the book or collect suggestions and run the vote.
- Consider book length – too short could be difficult to have enough to discuss; too long might not allow people to finish reading
- Books should be widely / easily available (and low cost – e.g., paperbacks)
- Keep it work appropriate and focus on strengthening the group, not dividing it
Bibliography
- The Ultimate Guide To Starting A Book Club At Work, By Nicole Gulotta, January 16, 2017, http://nicolemgulotta.com/blog/starting-a-book-club, accessed 2/23/2021
- Implement a Book Club at Work, by Susan M. Heathfield, Updated September 17, 2020, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/implement-a-book-club-at-work-1917942, accessed 2/23/2021
- 6 Tips for Running a Book Club at your Workplace, By Dawid Bednarski, updated in March 2019, https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/6-tips-for-running-a-book-club-at-your-workplace, accessed 2/23/2021
- Tips on Creating a Book Club, Penguin Random House, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/book-clubs/tips/, accessed 2/23/2021
- The Art Of Picking Books For A Book Club, By Elizabeth Allen, Aug 22, 2017, https://bookriot.com/how-to-pick-books-book-club/, accessed 2/23/2021
- How Does Your Book Club Choose Books to Read?, https://booksmakeadifference.com/bookclubpicks/, accessed 2/23/2021
- How to Pick the Perfect Book Club Book in 7 Steps, By Julianna Haubner, July 30 2018, https://offtheshelf.com/2018/07/pick-perfect-book-club-book-7-steps-2/, accessed 2/23/2021