Tag Archives: Books

The corporate library-how (and why) we set one up

Offering a corporate library to employees is a great way to encourage learning and give people low-cost opportunities for growth and development. We have been kicking around the idea of establishing one for a while (especially after my article about how to develop an employee reading program), and in October the right things came together to make it happen.

National Book Month

At Pinnacle, we do a monthly social awareness campaign to give employees some food for thought. October is National Book Month, so I was trying to see if we could get a book for every employee. That was going to be tough to do on our timeline, so instead we decided to pull a few books together and start the Pinnacle Library.

How It’s Set Up

We have a very basic set up since our office is relatively small. Clara, our property whiz, agreed to give me a hand, so she catalogs new books and puts them on the shelf. She also maintains the checkout list in SharePoint, so anyone can see what is checked in or out at any given time. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s a great start!

Zappos.com’s Model

Zappos offers a large stash of books for employees to borrow or keep. They are large enough to afford the purchase of hundreds of books per year, but they tie it into their core values for people to be constantly learning and growing, so people know that it’s expected of them to grab a book and start developing their knowledge. It’s a great way to be, and I hope one day we are large enough to offer free copies as well. You can also do book reviews in newsletters and other company communications to help generate some interest.

Our Books

The books to start were all donated (and most by me) :-) so it’s a random mix, but as we add to our corporate library I have a short wishlist of books that will be more targeted toward our software engineering focus and some of the other programs we have going on. To name a few:

  1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  2. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
  3. Perform Like a Rock Star by Orna Drawas
  4. Be Bodacious: Put Life in Your Leadership by Steven Wood
  5. The 1% Solution for Life and Work by Tom Connelan

Even Easier

If you don’t have the time or resources to have your own in-house corporate library, definitely take advantage of your local one instead. If you have an admin or staff member who you can send to the library once a week, they can take the library cards for your people and check out books for them. That opens up access to a larger body of resources and saves you the time and effort of administrating a corporate library on your own.

If you didn’t check out the post on why you need an employee reading program, I encourage you to do so. It has a fantastic framework for proving the necessity of such a program to your leadership.

Does anyone else use a corporate library? How has it been going for you?

The What vs. The How

I covered the concept of the “what” and the “how” of work long ago in my review of The Pursuit of Something Better.

In the book, U.S. Cellular is going through a dramatic culture change, and a large aspect of that is the shifting mindset from focusing on the “what” to focusing on the “how.”

Here’s a good example. Many years ago when the majority of the workforce was employed in factories performing manual labor, companies dominated the “how” of work. They told employees when to be there, how the work was to be performed, and when they could leave.

But that’s obviously not the case for most work these days. Companies are realizing that giving people control of the way work is accomplished (the “how”) is a great way to get employees engaged in their jobs.

Back to U.S. Cellular. The company started putting less emphasis on the “what” (sales targets, number of calls received, and other metrics) and more on the “how” (communication, ethical behavior, etc.). Despite the critics’ belief that they would fall on their face for taking their eyes off the all-important numbers, the company actually flourished. And, in time, the numbers looked better than ever, because the leaders within the company had the courage to focus on the bigger picture.

Take a moment to think about your own workplace. Is more emphasis being put on the “what” than the “how?” Are people pursuing good numbers and letting their ethics and morals fall by the wayside? Are managers using intimidation and fear to get the results they want instead of offering a thoughtful, considerate point of view?

Sometimes it can be difficult applying these abstract concepts to the way real work is done. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Coaching managers on how to change their thinking won’t be simple, but it is worth the effort. Doing so can mean the difference between success and failure for your people!

The 1% Solution For Work and Life (Book Review)

how to make your next 30 days your best everToday I get to review the book The 1% Solution for Work and Life by Tom Connellan. I have been doing a lot of reading on working smarter, being more productive, and developing solid work habits lately. With all the balls I juggle, it is often more than a little crazy. When my friend Rebecca reached out to me to see if I wanted to review this book, I couldn’t wait. The last book review I did for them was fantastic, and I hoped this one was on the same level. Lucky for me, it certainly was.

I am a fan of business books written with a narrative story embedded. It helps to put yourself into the situations the character is facing. You can sympathize with the troubles and celebrate with the triumphs. So before I was two pages into the book, it already had that going for it. :-)

The plot

The basic storyline is this: Ken’s life is barely hanging on by a thread in some places. He is sick and tired of just struggling to maintain that level of performance, and that prompts him to start a conversation with a friend who is doing quite well. The friend shares with him an interesting phenomenon illustrated by Olympic athletes. Apparently the best athletes in the entire world are approximately 1% better then those who are just really, really good. It’s not a 50% difference or even 10%. And if they can be the that good by being 1% better, why can’t we be 1% better at lots of little things in life? Continue reading →

Perform Like a Rock Star (Book Review)

how to perform like a rockstarWith my affinity for using “rock” as a verb, you just know I would love reading the book Perform Like a Rock Star (and still have time for lunch) by Orna Drawas. Receiving this book from my friends at the Cadence Group couldn’t have happened at a better time, because my new HR job is requiring me to work smarter (and harder) than ever before. Where it fits, I added the page numbers below to help you find the good stuff.

Some of the highlights

  • CEOs rate the top two qualities they say will help someone advance in their career quickly as:
  • 1) the ability to separate the relevant from the irrelevant
  • 2) the ability to get the job done quickly
  • Don’t prioritize your schedule. Schedule time for your priorities. And make sure it’s during your golden hour.
  • Inbox zero (for your life)-Commit to using a list. Really using it. Anything that will take longer than two minutes to complete gets added onto the list. While it may seem urgent at the time, adding it to the list and then comparing priorities might shine the light on some false urgency. (p77) Continue reading →

Hire for attitude, train for everything else

I’ve always been of the opinion that companies should hire for will and train for skill. While you can train someone on how to perform task X, you can’t train them to be excited and energetic. And I’m not the only one who thinks that way. I heard this great segment on the Dave Ramsey show recently and it made so much sense from a talent management perspective that I just had to share.

We have five books that we give you when you are hired, and they\’re short, easy-to-read books. All teach a core value—a principle—that we espouse inside of our organization. You\’re required to read all of them within the first 90 days of employment. Continue reading →