How to run a reading group for new managers: a six-week plan
A simple structure for a group of first-time managers reading together, with what to read each week and questions that get people talking about their own teams.
Updated 2026-10-07 · 2 min read
The short answer
Keep the group small (six to twelve people), meet once a week for an hour, and choose short books. Spend most of each session on what people are dealing with at work, using the book as a way in rather than as the subject. Six weeks is long enough to build habits and short enough that people stay with it.
Before you start
Pick books people will finish. A reading group dies when half the room hasn't done the reading. For new managers, we suggest books under 300 pages, and we'd rather run one book over two weeks than rush.
Mix experience levels carefully. A few people who have managed for a year or two help a lot. A senior leader in the room usually makes new managers quieter.
Agree one rule: what people say about their teams stays in the room.
The six weeks
Week 1: what is a manager for?
Read the first half of [How to Lead Others](/book/how-to-lead-others).
- Adair says a leader has to keep the task, the team and each individual in view. Which of the three do you naturally neglect? - What did your best manager do in their first month with you?
Week 2: finishing the basics
Finish How to Lead Others.
- Pick one person in your team. What do they need from you that they aren't getting? - What is one thing you will do differently this week?
Week 3: authority
Read the first part of [Gym of Leadership](/book/gym-of-leadership). The subtitle describes leadership as muscles you build.
- Where do you feel least sure of yourself as a manager? - What would practising that look like, in a small way, every day?
Week 4: being understood
Read [Stories at Work](/book/stories-at-work), or its first half if time is short.
- Think of an instruction you gave that didn't land. What happened? - Bring one short story from your own work that explains why your team's work matters.
Week 5: the judgement calls
Read [What I Did Not Learn in B School](/book/what-i-did-not-learn-in-b-school), choosing the chapters most relevant to your work.
- Share a decision from the last month you weren't sure how to make. How would the group have handled it?
Week 6: looking back
No new reading.
- What have you changed since week one? - Which idea from these books will you still be using in a year?
Running the sessions
Open each session by asking one person to share something that happened at work that week. Use the questions above when the conversation needs a push, not as a script. Close with each person naming one thing they'll try before next week, and start the next session by asking how it went.
If you're organising this for a company
Our [programme for first-time managers](/for-teams/first-time-managers) covers choosing the books for your group, sourcing the copies and getting them delivered. We send a quote before anything is ordered.