For a More Creative Workplace, Foster Collaboration and Respectful Engagement

For a More Creative Workplace, Foster Collaboration and Respectful Engagement

Though we often think about creativity as the production of an original work of art—a painting or a novel, perhaps—creativity is also the ability to synthesize and build on information. Creativity is innovation and problem solving; it’s seeing patterns and learning to explain them. When we say that something provokes creativity, we usually mean that it is in some way inspiring or that it encourages people to think outside of the box.

New research on creativity at work, however, indicates that creating the conditions for creativity might be less about inspiring an individual than it is about creating good teams and a space for respectful, common dialogue.

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The Meeting of Minds: Safe Spaces at Work

The Meeting of Minds: Safe Spaces at Work

We talk a lot about the powers that literature seemingly holds in our world. Literature can inspire, bridge gaps of time, place and experience and offer perspectives into people’s lives that are far removed from our own. As a Books@Work instructor, I have come to experience the power of literature to equalize and humanize.

The first Books@Work session that I led was for a well-established downtown law firm. As I walked into the imposing art-deco building, the faces of partners from decades past gazed out at me from gilded frames.

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A Year in Reflection: Looking Back at 2015

A Year in Reflection: Looking Back at 2015

At Books@Work, we recognize (and constantly emphasize) that the opportunity for reflection with others shapes our learning and our performance. We are always learning—about our participants, our company and community partners, about the books we use to spark reflective conversation and the benefits of reading and talking together. In this spirit of self-inquiry, we’d like to take moment ourselves to look back and reflect upon what we have observed in 2015.

Over the past year, Book@Work did not slow down. On every metric, we have grown, from the number of programs (50% growth from 2014) to the number of companies, participants, books and professors (and the colleges and universities in which they teach).

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Recognizing Others and Ourselves Through Literature

Recognizing Others and Ourselves Through Literature

In everyday conversation about the state of the world, we often hear folks lament that some people want to learn while lots of people are just not interested in growing or advancing their education. Books@Work believes that this assumption is faulty and that a spark of learning exists in most people. Now that hundreds of workers have participated in Books@Work seminars, it has become increasingly clear that the spark of learning becomes a flame (or even a fire!) when individuals of all backgrounds and job categories come together to discuss important ideas through literature. And the results have helped illuminate the importance of recognition as an element not only of personal growth, but also of positive outcomes in the workplace.

Often we think that recognition comes from rewards or pats on the back, but research has shown us that real recognition comes when people engage in experiences that promote self-confidence and self-respect as well as mutual respect for others.

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