Introducing the ION Zoom Book Room

In our latest blog, Leadership Development Specialist Kim Talbot introduces the ION Zoom Book Room.

At ION Leadership we are all about engaging with people, sharing knowledge, skills and experience and always giving individuals space to lead in a way that works best for them, their people and their organisations. In fact "it depends" has become somewhat of a programme motto over the years; so whilst delivered by a small group of business experts, our success has been down to the quality of our delegates, the practical experiential way we approach leadership development and our ability to bring groups of leaders from a wide range of businesses together, to develop their trust and peer accountability and to focus on finding real solutions for issues that leaders, at all levels, face every day.

Missing our delegates (badly!) due to the current Covid-19 lockdown, we wanted to continue the leadership conversation, knowing we still have ways to bring groups of leaders together, even if it's virtually. We decided to run a small pilot of a brand new concept - the ION Zoom Book Room. Bear in mind that a couple of weeks before most of us had never heard of Zoom, or tried it for that matter!

But we did it. And judging by the feedback it was a huge success. "What's the next book?" was just one piece of feedback. 

Following the success of the pilot, we are happy to announce that the bookroom is now open to all.

How does it work?

• We share a book title with you, one that is easily obtained from a well-known shopping/ delivery service, but one that is also available as a free audiobook download, and definitely a hard copy.
• This is done as early as possible after booking to give everyone time to read/listen to some or all of the book.
• This isn't a test of how much anyone can read. If you want to join in because the topic is of interest to you, and are prepared to listen to brief points from those who have read the whole book, we will then open it to a wider discussion of experience/examples etc from your own world of work, that connect with the book's content. 
• We are not critiquing the book! We are simply using relevant texts as jumping-off points to generate conversations that focus on finding real solutions for issues that leaders, at all levels, face every day.
• Groups are kept to a maximum of 12, so everyone has the opportunity to contribute.

The next book we have selected is DO/LEAD/Share your vision. Inspire others. Achieve the impossible" Les Mckeown

Yes, the title is long, but the book is an easy read -  "DO Lead is part of a series of books designed to help you learn something new and motivate you to do it". We have purposely not chosen an academic tome. As you will recall, there's no required reading with the ION leadership programme and we think we all need to read things that we feel equally able to agree/disagree with. We don't think in terms of good and bad leadership, it's all about starting the conversation, the rest is over to you!

The first open ION Book Room takes place on 30 June between 2.30pm - 4pm. Book your place. 

Below are just a few reasons why we believe learning, reading and therefore these book rooms, are a vital element of leadership development:

• Why learning is a leaders most important skill
• For those who want to lead, read 
• 3 ways a book club can boost employee performance
• Implement a book club at work 

We look forward to welcoming you to the club!