Today’s Tech Tool Tuesday post is about a tool for leaders who want to build stronger teams, called Actionable Books. Full disclosure – I liked this tool so much that I became an “Actionable Coach”, which means that I have been trained in the philosophy, tools, and how to use them successfully, and that I sell this tool. This post should explain why I liked this leadership and team development tool so much that I invested my money and time into it.

My simple overview of Actionable Books

Actionable Books provides an online catalogue of approximately 45 workshops, each inspired by a business book, for Managers who care about developing their team but have little time or resources to invest in it. The workshops are categorized into a model similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy, where teams start at the bottom and work their way to the top, building what Actionable Books calls “The Salaried Entrepreneur”.

Why I think this is Awesome

You don’t have to read the book.

I love business books. My bookshelves are full of them. I am constantly buying them, starting them, skimming them, feeling inspired, but truth be told, I don’t always finish them, and I rarely actually implement ideas from them. That’s where Actionable Books comes in. Each workshop includes a summary of the book highlighting one or two actionable ideas from the book. The facilitator’s guide and video train the trainer provide enough detail that the Manager of the team never has to read the book.

It combats the traditional “send ’em to training” approach that leads to minimal results.

The workshops are meant to be led by the team leader. And they are approachable and simple enough that leaders at any level can use them. Having the team leader facilitate the workshops helps to embed the learning into the team and hold everyone accountable. The entire team is on the same page.

The Workshops are Actionable

Each workshop includes real actionable ideas to implement in your work. As Chris Taylor, the CEO and Founder of Actionable Books says,

“Ideas are only valuable when applied”.

Because each workshop is only 45 minutes to an hour long, you can do them regularly, building on what you’ve learned and put into action.

Fifteen minutes to prep means an hour of valuable discussion and longterm impact

Managers are busy. While I know, and think many managers would agree, that developing your team should be your highest priority, I also know that we work in a world where we are constantly doing more with less. Finding time for formal people development or even to plan your next team meeting can be difficult. With the tools Actionable Books offers, once the leader gets the hang of it, they only need a few minutes to review the guide, read the summary and watch the video, and they’re ready to lead an hour of deep, team-building discussion.

They’re flexible

Once you have a membership, you can use the workshops as you like. Do one a month, two a month, choose the ones you think will have the best impact for your team. Need more support? As an Actionable Coach, I can help you select workshops and ensure you are getting what you need from the program. You can also use the Salaried Entrepreneur Team Assessment (SETA) to assess your team’s perception of their skills, compared to each other and to your own. The SETA recommends workshops to start with and is a great way to measure results as you continue the training. Contact me for more info on the SETA and Actionable Coaching.

How it Works

It’s simple. You go to the Actionable Books site and start with a free month trial during which I’ll touch base with you to make sure you know where to find everything and to see if this tool makes sense for you. Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to go to the Workshops page and see the way they are broken into the categories on the pyramid.

Click on a category to see the books the workshops are based on, and select a book to review the workshop and view a short (5-10 minute) video train the trainer to help you run the workshop.

Print the Facilitator’s guide, review it, adding your own personal notes (I can help you with things to watch for and ideas for more impactful facilitation).

Use our email tool to invite your team to a workshop. The email will include a link to the book summary so that they can read it prior to your meeting.

Use the workshops as stand-alone 1-hour meetings or as an accompaniment to your current meetings, to make them more effective.

The bottom line

Price-wise, a membership for Actionable Books starts at $99/month, which seems like a great deal to build the priceless qualities of trust, communication, shared values, and innovation in your team.

Contact me to try it out for a month free today!