How to get staff to read material that matters
Research shows that independent reading of manuals, books, trade journals, and other professional literature remains the most fundamental, reliable, and efficient way of keeping up to date professionally. Unfortunately, many of us are reluctant readers. As a manager, you can use several strategies to promote systematic reading habits in your staff members. In so doing, you will contribute to their personal development and to the advancement of your organisation...
1. Work towards bringing about a change in attitude to reading.
Reading is essential for personal and professional development. Reading expands our interests; introduces new and challenging subjects; and exposes us to the latest ideas, trends, and issues in our field. As a manager, your main contribution will be to foster a positive attitude among staff towards reading for their own benefit and for the advancement of the organisation.
2. Encourage staff to set aside time for reading.
The time devoted to reading is a measure of its value to the employee and to the manager. The usual excuse for not doing more professional reading is that people simply 'don't have the time'. So the way around this is to make sure that appropriate reading material - journals, books, manuals, policy documents, handbooks, references - is readily accessible and that time is set aside for reading it. The question is whether you are able or sufficiently motivated, to find ways of doing this.
3. Urge employees to be discriminating readers.
If your staff can't find the time to read sufficiently, a solution could be to trim from their reading focus the unwanted and unnecessary reading matter that currently swamps the marketplace. This selection process can be accomplished as follows:
- Determine those areas of interest so important to the work task that these must, and can only, be explored in depth and thoughtfully.
- Determine those developments and ideas that must be kept up with on a broad and less intensive basis.
- Compile and consider two lists of journals and books which cater for your specified interests in 1 and 2 above.
- Decide what minimum combination of those journals and books will best serve your needs in these two areas and focus on them only.
