Think about your favorite band or artist. They find their rhythm with each other by ensuring they are “N*SYNC” with one another both musically and socially. Employees are the same way.

Creating a culture of continuous learning and collaboration is essential for any organization, but it’s not always easy for teams to make the time or prioritize these skills. One innovative way to engage your team and drive discussions around key organizational topics is through book clubs. While book clubs are often associated with personal reading, they can be a powerful tool in a workplace setting, encouraging team members to develop skills and understand topics aligned with your organization’s goals.

Promoting Continuous Learning and Professional Development

A book club can serve as an engaging ongoing professional development opportunity. By selecting books that align with your organization’s objectives, your team stays informed about the latest developments in your field but also furthers a collective culture of lifelong learning.

The most important part of any book club is the analysis and discussion that happens once the book is read. Through group discussions, team members can apply what they’ve learned to real-world situations, enhancing their ability to contribute to the organization's success. Now you’ve got an excited and engaged workforce that has a collective vocabulary and set of short-hand phrases to convey complex ideas!

Here are a few examples of professional development titles offered on Libby.

Encouraging Open Dialogue and Diverse Perspectives

Book clubs create a welcoming space where employees can freely share their thoughts and engage in deep conversations on complex topics. Whether exploring themes like diversity and inclusion, change management, or innovation, these discussions promote cross-departmental communication and help break down organizational silos. In an informal setting, book clubs allow employees to connect on a personal level, strengthening relationships and creating a more cohesive workplace. Leveraging existing employee resource groups (ERGs) is an excellent way to launch a book club, seamlessly integrating it into your organization’s culture.

Here are a few examples of titles centered around diversity and inclusion in Libby.

Aligning Team Efforts With Organizational Goals

Book clubs can be strategically used to align your team’s efforts with the broader goals of your organization. By carefully selecting books that reflect the company's mission, vision, and values, you can reinforce key messages and inspire employees to think critically about how they contribute to the organization's success.

For example, if your organization is undergoing a digital workflow transformation, reading and discussing books on technology trends like artificial intelligence can help your team understand the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Driving engagement with learning and development isn’t always the easiest sell for an organization, but a book club can help activate employees more, engender passionate advocates for the process, and even develop champions for learning.

To learn more about book clubs and how they work at OverDrive, visit our website to inspire your organization’s next book club.