Best Ways to Run an Office Book Club will be discussed in this article. An office book club is a gathering place for readers to talk about their preferred books. A book club is a fantastic method to include ongoing learning in the workplace. With the help of this activity, you can build strong bonds with your staff members while also enhancing the workplace environment and culture. An office book club can be used as a tool for culture building, connection building, and team building exercises. For some great workplace reads, check out our lists of motivation books, communication books, and company culture books.
How to Run an Office Book Club In 2023
In this article, you can know about How to Run an Office Book Club In 2023 here are the details below;
How to organise a successful book club at work
Let’s get started straight now. How to launch an office book club One of the best possibilities if you’re looking for ways to provide your employees a great work experience is to start an office book club. One of the finest methods to encourage professional and interpersonal growth among your staff is to start an office book club. Make sure your staff members are informed and interested in participating before launching a book club. Concentrate on the most crucial steps to ensure the success of your club.
1. Understand the Purpose of the Book Club
You must comprehend the goal of a book club in order to successfully operate one. You get to choose whether the book club focuses on leadership development, career advancement, or fun. Simply because you want to read more books and invite others to join, you might wish to start a book club. Once you’ve established what your book club is about, let interested employees know. It is advisable to make a flyer outlining the goals of the book club, the events it will participate in, and the benefits your staff will receive from joining.
2. Select the Right Books
It would be simple to choose only your favourite novels for book club discussions as you are the leader and president of the book club. The strategy, however, won’t guarantee the interest of your team. It’s a good idea to choose works that support the goals of the book club. If there isn’t a clear reason for starting the book club, it would be best to pick broadly appealing literature.
If you are still considering which books to discuss, ask each participant to give a list of five to ten books they would like to read. You can combine all the titles and make a survey asking the staff which book they would like to read. The book of the week is determined by the title with the highest votes. This approach is wonderful since it fosters teamwork and provides you with a wide range of authors and genres.
3. Set a Suitable Time
Setting a suitable meeting time comes after selecting the appropriate books for your first meeting. The holding of an office book club meeting has no set time limit. For instance, businesses might decide to hold 30- to 50-minute meetings every Wednesday and Friday. It can take some time and effort to select the ideal time. If your staff is on board, you could schedule each meeting for 8:30 a.m., when everyone is still awake and prepared for work.
Nonetheless, you might wish to schedule book club sessions an hour before closing to guarantee that staff finish their daily chores. Once you’ve determined a time that works for everyone, stick to it. Consistency increases engagement and keeps members. You must keep in mind, though, that this is an office book club, and there may only be a few people available at a given time.
4. Create a Simple Reading Schedule
Just a select few workers would want to pick up a book to read after a long day at work. Yet, you may get your staff interested by making a quick reading schedule. Include the number of chapters or pages to read in your timetable to prevent overloading book club members. Even if each employee could just read one chapter, there wouldn’t be nearly enough information to go over in the meeting.
A excellent suggestion would be to invite members to read two chapters each week in preparation for the upcoming meeting. Also, it’s crucial to provide these schedules a week in advance so that everyone is aware of the timetable. To ensure that no one misses the schedules, you might email them to your members or post them on the office notice board.
5. Keep Each Session Lively
More than just reading books is involved in starting a book club. Connections are fostered by keeping each session dynamic and enjoyable. Creating lively and interesting discussions around a particular chapter is one of the best ways to keep your members interested.
A helpful suggestion is to draw attention to contentious passages in the book and get the group’s opinion on them. You can also pos interesting queries, such as how the reader felt while reading the book, what they took away from it, and which characters they liked best.
You can ask members to point out important lessons they have learned if your book club only reads nonfiction or books on personal development. You can even make the session more enjoyable by giving each participant a chapter so they can read it aloud before discussions when it is their turn.
Work Book club recommendations
There is an endless supply of paperbacks and e-books. Choosing which books to read might feel impossible! Hence, listed below are genre-based suggestions for the office book club.
1. Self-Development
The following are some of the most suitable books in the self-development category:
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Produce Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
- Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich
- Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Positively Effective People
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Eat That Frog!
- 21 Amazing Ways to Stop Procrastinating & Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
- Daniel J. Siegel’s book Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
- Here are some more books on professional development.
2. Business
The following books should spark conversation in the business world:
- Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In: Women, Work, & the Will to Lead
- Group of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Company by Paul Jarvis
- David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The art of stress-free productivity
- Influence: The Psychology of Convincing by Robert B. Cialdini
- Ed Catmull’s book Creativity Inc.: Overwhelming the Unseen Forces That Prevent True Inspiration
- Examine additional business book recommendations.
3. Fiction
Here are some of the most suitable fiction books to include in your book club readings:
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
- The House of Wolves by James Patterson and Mike Lupica
- The Shining by Stephen King
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
There are many different types of fiction, and your group may gravitate towards some more than others. For best results, ask members to list some of their favourite books and select books with related themes.
4. Memoirs
Here are some memoir best-sellers you should add to your reading list:
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah\sSpare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
- The Diary of a Young Girl by the Anne Frank
- The Latehomecomer: Kao Kalia Yang’s Hmong Family Memoir
- These books are among the most well-reviewed by numerous book clubs and are among the best-selling books in their respective genres.
- You can rely on these books for an engaging book club meeting if you are unsure of which ones to read first.
How to run a book club discussion
It might be difficult to incorporate a work book club into office events, especially if you have never served as president of a book club. Any book club would be incomplete without discussions. If you foster engaging, dynamic discussions, it is difficult to lose members. The following suggestions for leading a book club discussion are helpful. Also check Best Paying IT Certifications
1. Start by Reading the Book
You can’t talk about a book you don’t know. It might seem obvious, but reading the assigned book is crucial to generating a lively discussion. As the president of the book club, you might need to finish the book before the next meeting in order to familiarise yourself with it and prepare insightful discussion topics. You should make a note of any fascinating chapters, page numbers, or passages that would be excellent discussion starters.
Reading the book also helps you craft thought-provoking questions to ask members at the next book meeting. If you do not have enough time to write questions, then many bestsellers have general questions or talking points, so you can focus your discussions on those.
2. Allow Members to Do More of the Talking
It is easy sometimes to forget that a work book club differs from being in the office. The office book club should be a safe space for employees, even if you are the boss. Each meeting aims to discuss the book you have read, so try not to do most of the talking.
It is best to let the participants respond to questions first. Even if you finished the book before the other members, it is best to act unaware and ask questions about chapters that you have already read. You can also invite participants to comment on each response, either in favour of or against the suggestion. Ideally, conversations that move back and forth are more interesting than ones where one person does all the talking. Also check Types of ERP
3. Avoid General Questions
One of the most useful ways to build momentum and engagement during a work book club discussion is to avoid general questions. General questions require either a yes or no answer or a short response. Instead, it would help if you asked questions that lead to thought-provoking conversations.
A trick that works very well is choosing the most controversial excerpts and basing your questions on them. It is also better to ask open-ended questions concerning the book’s theme, character development, and real-life applications.
4. Give Members Time to Answer
Certain individuals like to mull over a question before answering. Be sure to avoid being too eager to move to the next question when an answer is not forthcoming.
You want every reader to know their opinion matters, so you should encourage the shy ones to speak up. As much as you should avoid putting members on the spot, ensure they answer the questions thoroughly. Similarly, you do not want to be the one to answer almost all of the questions if no one has the answers. Not to lecture the audience, but rather to discuss a book.
5. Link comments to Questions
Making the conversation more engaging entails exercising your initiative during this process. If a reader offers a thought-provoking comment that relates to one of the questions, you should immediately pose that question in response. You are not required to ask your questions in chronological sequence. You may improve the conversation’s flow by adding links between comments and questions.
6. Avoid Being Dismissive
Avoiding being dismissive is a crucial strategy for leading a successful book club discussion. A great technique to get others to stop participating is to say, “That doesn’t make sense” or “You sound foolish.” Instead, respectfully disagree with a member’s response if you don’t agree with it. Similarly, it would be best to advise members to remain amicable whenever they disagree with a response or remark. In order to build employee connections, a work book club should always encourage civil discourse.
Book Club agenda ideas
Like any other meeting agenda, a book club agenda functions similarly. All activities are listed on the agenda in the order they will be carried out, typically with timestamps. Your agenda needs to be brief enough to be completed throughout the allotted meeting time.
1. Introduction
In this section, you extend a warm welcome to all participants in the book club. The book the group is reading and the chapter you will be discussing are also introduced. “Welcome to our second meeting of the week,” for instance. Stephen King’s The Shining, chapters three and four, will serve as our conversation topics. Also check Ecommerce Platforms
2. Summarization
Members of the book club summarise the main points of the various sections of the reading selection. You can choose a different group member to provide the summary at each meeting in order to involve everyone more fully.
3. Discussion
Discuss the topics of the club members’ reading notes at this point. The predictions from last week’s reading choice and intriguing passages in the new chapters can then be discussed. Finally, you can ease into the prepared questions.
4. Prediction
Predicting what will probably occur in the upcoming chapters should be the next item on the schedule after thoroughly reviewing the chapters. Members are more likely to read on if they can predict the points of the upcoming chapters.
5. Set Reading Goals
Setting the following reading objectives by choosing the chapters to read is the next item on the agenda. You can use this format to design your book club agenda, or you can obtain online templates.
How to organise a successful book club at work
It could seem scary at first if this is your first time leading a book club. You could feel overwhelmed between coming up with the concept and forming the group. Starting an office book club, however, is different from maintaining one. To assure its success, you must put in a lot of effort.To guarantee that your office book club is successful, we advise putting the following advice into practise.
1. Do Not force Participation
Despite the fact that you are the company’s CEO, you shouldn’t coerce any staff members into joining your book club. It’s perfectly OK for some employees to not be interested in literature. Invite every employee to the office book club after it has been established. But make sure that only people who are genuinely interested join the club.
2. Select Captivating books
Reading novels that provoke thought and serve as the starting point for insightful discussions is the purpose of a book club. On the majority of social media platforms, you can begin by reading best-sellers or highly regarded novels. There is a requirement for compelling literature because you want the guests to enjoy reading and discussing the book. Members will then eagerly anticipate each discussion session.
3. Provide Books If Necessary
Since you are the one who came up with the concept for the book club, you might have to spend some money getting some of these titles for the staff. Depending on your audience, you may need e-books or paperbacks. Even though some workers might already have their own copies, giving out books is a terrific approach to promote involvement. Also, it is a fantastic opportunity to expand the company’s collection.
4. Make Meetings Easily Accessible
Each member must be present at every meeting, which is nearly impossible. But, you can include individuals who cannot attend in person through conference call. You might also make audio recordings of the meeting and distribute these to the participants. To have a successful book club all year long, try to involve the members in every session.
5. Stick to Your Schedule
Make sure to adhere to the plan if you decide to hold book club meme time every month, every three months, or every two months. Because it conveys a lack of seriousness, it is simple for members to lose interest when you are inconsistent with the timing of your meeting. Along with staying on time, we suggest emailing members in advance to inform them of forthcoming meetings.
6. Offer Refreshments
Never undervalue the influence of refreshments. The thought of extra refreshments can occasionally entice employees to join the book club. Also, if you meet an hour before the event ends, you will need to provide light refreshments. Most workers might not want to attend a meeting by that point since they are exhausted and hungry. Providing refreshments is practical and makes your staff feel welcome.
Conclusion
In addition to enhancing business culture, establishing an office book club is a fantastic method to promote teamwork and communication among employees. This post is the best resource for starting an office book club if you need assistance. The book club will continue to be successful thanks to the book recommendations, agenda suggestions, and advice. Check out our lists of leadership exercises, social committee suggestions, and neighbourhood improvement projects next.
The office book club FAQ
The most common queries on how to organise an office book club are listed below.
An office book club is what?
An office book club is a gathering place for book lovers to talk about various books. These books might cover fiction, nonfiction, business, or self-development.
How is an office book club organised?
To organise an office book club, you must first comprehend its goals, choose the appropriate books, and motivate staff to participate. The ideal club schedule should also be chosen.
Why should you establish an office book club?
Your interactions with your staff will improve if you run an office book club. These gatherings also promote cohesion, cooperation, and positive working relationships among colleagues. An office book club is crucial since it enhances employee development and company culture.
