There are lots of different ways you can take 10 minutes to read in your organisation and promote the wellbeing benefits of reading. Read on for simple ideas that can become part of your collective day-to-day habits, and suggestions which might take a little more planning but will help you create a culture of reading for pleasure and mindfulness.
Simple ideas to help build a Take 10 moment
To help you get started, here are a few ideas that you could use on the 10th October or beyond. These would work well in developing a reading habit and won't take much time to set up:
- Organise a book swap event: encourage people to bring in books they no longer read and set up a time and place to swap them.
- Host a book break: you could make into a coffee morning or a diarised calendar reminder for everyone to stop what they are doing and take a break to read.
- Set up a virtual mass reading moment: on Zoom or Teams so all of your employees can join in.
How to encourage a culture of reading for pleasure in your workplace
At the National Literacy Trust we share a ‘Poem of the Week’ which is sent to all our staff via email. A willing volunteer from within the organisation manages the rota and colleagues take it in turns to share a poem that means something to them. This gives everyone an opportunity to share something that resonates with them and connect with others who they may not work alongside day-to-day.
Create a sense of ownership in the team
Help give longevity to the Take 10 moment by identifying and supporting a volunteer to become a Literacy Champion in your organisation. This individual or team can continue the momentum of reading for pleasure in your workplace: by supporting on longer term, more sustainable activities, they will help to build the habit of reading for 10 minutes a day to increase wellbeing.
Here are some suggested activities that could be organised by a staff volunteer:
- Create a book club to provide opportunities to try different books. Meetings could be hosted in person or virtually, and be themed by different genres such as crime, romance, or award-winning fiction.
- Set up a bookshelf in your office for books to be donated and swapped. This could be an extension which has a longer 'shelf life' (!) for your book swap event.
- Create a notice board in your office or a virtual space for employees to share book recommendations with each other.
Whatever you decide, we hope you and your colleagues enjoy discovering new books, finding new ways to enjoy reading, and feeling the wellbeing benefits. We'd love to know how you have created your own Take 10 moments and the impact these have had. Let us know how you get on by sharing on social media!
Find out other ways to support Take 10 in your organisation.
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