Book and Learning Circles

What makes us feel good about our work? [Learning Circle]

What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.

• Facilitator: Li Guan, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 12:00pm – 1:00pm on April 15
• Location: Zoom Meeting

Delivering Employee Feedback [Learning Circle]

Employees at all levels benefit from a work environment where feedback can be given and received in a transparent, supportive, and effective manner. We are all charged with helping our fellow employees stretch and grow their skills. This is largely accomplished via the feedback we provide. In this learning circle, learn how to create a culture driven by meaningful feedback and deliver coaching and suggestions to help your team move forward. Discover the characteristics of helpful feedback and learn about different feedback types, how to adequately prepare before delivering feedback, and how to refocus difficult employee reactions.

• Facilitator: Andrea King, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 11:30am – 1:00pm on April 20
• Location: Zoom Meeting

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents [Book Circle]

In the book Caste, author Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Join us as we read and discuss this eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.

How to Access the Book: Upon registration close, a complimentary Amazon Kindle copy of this eBook will be emailed to participants.

• Facilitator: Lanaya Gaberel, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 1:30pm – 2:30pm on April 21, April 28, May 5, and May 12
• Location: Zoom Meeting

Does Civility Pay? [Learning Circle]

Dr. Christine Porath studies how workplace culture impacts individuals with the goal of creating organizations that thrive. The little actions we take can make work a better place. Do our actions lift people up and make them feel respected or hold people down, and make them feel small and disregarded? Dr. Porath’s research has demonstrated that uncivil behaviors have a major, negative impact on wellbeing, creativity and productivity. She also found the effects of incivility are far-reaching; witnesses to incivility are also significantly impacted. Learn why incivility can take such a stronghold, how incivility affects our culture and how we can address it.

• Facilitator: Lisa Gray, Human Resources
• Time and Date: 2:10pm – 3:00pm on April 21
• Location: Zoom Meeting

The Self Care Prescription: Powerful Solutions to Manage Stress, Reduce Anxiety & Increase Wellbeing [Book Circle]

The Self Care Prescription empowers you to find balance and purpose in your relationships, work, and life. From creating a plan to spend more time with family and friends, to zeroing-in on a career that you can feel good about, the book will help you create a personalized self-care plan. You’ll also learn actionable techniques to fight anxiety, demotivation, or whatever else is holding you back from building the life you want to live.

How to Access the Book: Upon registration close, a complimentary Amazon Kindle copy of this eBook will be emailed to participants.

• Facilitator: Li Guan, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 12:00pm – 1:00pm on April 22, April 29, and May 6
• Location: Zoom Meeting

Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace [Book Circle]

Who do you want to be? Whether you know it or not you are answering this question every day through your actions. When you receive an email that you perceive as short or unkind, how will you respond? What should you do if you are the target of incivility? How do you know if you are being uncivil? In Mastering Incivility: A Manifesto for the Workplace author Christine Porath outlines more than twenty years of research across nearly every type of workplace. Join us to learn the importance of being civil to yourself and those around you, and the costs of incivility. We will make time for self-reflection, learn how to increase our influence and effectiveness, how to increase civility within organizations and what to do if you are the target of incivility. Join us for this three-part book circle exploring the impacts of civility and incivility on us as individuals and in teams, in and outside the workplace.

How to Access the Book: Upon registration close, a complimentary Amazon Kindle copy of this eBook will be emailed to participants.

• Facilitator: Lisa Gray, Human Resources
• Time and Date: 2:10pm – 3:00pm April 28, May 5, and May 12
• Location: Zoom Meeting

The Great Migration and the power of a single decision [Learning Circle]

Sometimes, a single decision can change the course of history. Join journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson as she tells the story of the Great Migration, the outpouring of six million African Americans from the Jim Crow South to cities in the North and West between World War I and the 1970s. This was the first time in American history that the lowest caste people signaled they had options and were willing to take them -- and the first time they had a chance to choose for themselves what they would do with their innate talents. Join us as we watch this engaging telling of the story following by a meaningful exchange of reactions and perspectives.

• Facilitator: Lanaya Gaberel, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 2:00pm – 3:00pm on April 29
• Location: Zoom Meeting

Lead from the Outside [Book Circle]

Leadership is hard. Convincing others—and yourself—that you are capable of taking charge and achieving more requires insight and courage. Lead from the Outside is the handbook for outsiders, written with an eye toward the challenges that hinder women, people of color, the working class, and members of the LGBTQ community ready to make change. Stacey uses her hard-won insights to break down how ambition, fear, money, and failure function in leadership, and she includes practical exercises to help you realize your own ambition and hone your skills. Lead from the Outside discusses candidly what Stacey has learned over the course of her impressive career in politics, business and the nonprofit world: that differences in race, gender, and class provide vital strength, which we can employ to rise to the top and create real and lasting change.

How to Access the Book: Upon registration close, a complimentary Amazon Kindle copy of this eBook will be emailed to participants.

• Facilitator: Andrea King, Employee and Organization Development
• Time and Date: 12:00pm – 1:00pm on May 4, May 11, May 18, and May 25
• Location: Zoom Meeting