A house without books is like a room without windows, said Horace Mann – a renowned American educational reformer from the mid-1800s. At SocioSquares, we’d like to offer our version of this quote for today’s fast moving digital world. A workplace without books is like a mobile without access to the internet.
Being a learning focused organization, we introduced an activity during the pandemic era to not only enable our remote-working employees to upgrade their knowledge but to also find a forum to socially interact. The SocioSquares Book Reading Club. The agenda was simple. Every week, enlisted members would gather in an online room to share their views about a book that’s set as a common read. While initially, the club got people to increase their interest and commitment to reading books, eventually the weekly exercise began unfolding benefits that no one had even imagined possible.
Take the story of Nimmi, the head of HR at our digital agency and a key driving force behind the club. She discovered the concept of writing goals in one of the reading sessions. A learning that got her setting goals regularly and even achieving them within the set timeframes, and this includes finally owning that home that she always dreamed about. Another reading session led her to try thinking positive at all times, a practice that enabled her to defuse tense work situations on quite a few occasions, which invariably would have led to conflicts. She also ingrained the importance of forming habits and started a routine of walking which she has been able to upgrade to cycling and eventually, exercising. There’s also a lot more that she has the book club to thank for. She found a community of co-workers who shared interests that were similar to hers. She found a space where employees could bond freely over experiences and even share solutions for problems that went beyond the scope of the workplace. She found a platform that encouraged her to finetune her abilities to communicate and express. To sum up, she found a world that enriched her in some distinct way, every time she stepped in.
In a world that’s all about change, books hold the power to catalyze some of the most significant changes in every sphere of our life. At SocioSquares, we have only just begun introducing our employees to the life-changing power of the written word. If you’re an organization that’s always looking for ways to bring out the best in your employees while also helping them better their own daily lives, try the tool we’re recommending. Try starting your own book reading club.
