Considering Small Museum Leadership

As we reflected on the publication of the Toolkit, we recognized that one of the major challenges facing small museum leaders was not addressed directly in the text. 

How do you choose where to put your time, effort and energy?

The Toolkit provides a broad view of all the work you might tackle in your museum, but it doesn't tell you where to start. That choice depends on each individual leader and museum.

So we decided to do a series of conference sessions called Small Museum Leadership Considered to provide a quick way to make choices.  (Our next session will be at the American Association for State and Local History conference, Friday, Sept. 20, 4 p.m.)

We developed a four-part prioritization tool to be used in those sessions that asks you to consider how the projects ahead of you will help you to...

• Develop audiences

• Build an internal coalition
• Solidify your reputation
• Assessment and planning

When we used this tool at sessions at AAM in 2012 and 2013, we found that a majority of the audience identified developing audiences and solidifying your reputation as the key areas they needed to pursue and wanted to discuss with their colleagues. Many fewer people wanted to discuss building an internal coalition or assessment and planning.

Hmmm…why were those externally-focused priorities of greater interest that the internal ones? 

• Did we push people to think externally by asking leaders to think about concrete projects instead of their overall organization?
• Do small museum leaders really need to reflect more on external issues?
• Are the internal issues just too challenging to face?

What do you think?

If the pattern holds out at AASLH, then we have an interesting conundrum. Do we give you more of what you want? Do we put you in touch with more resources to help you with your audience and your reputation? Or do we try to help you face the tough stuff – working with your volunteers, staff and board to pursue a united vision? Or do we focus on the balance among these four areas as the best way to move small museums forward?

Stacy Klingler currently serves local history organizations as the Assistant Director of Local History Services at the Indiana Historical Society. She began her career in museums as the assistant director of two small museums, before becoming director of the Putnam County Museum in Greencastle, Ind. She was chair of the AASLH Small Museums Committee (2008-2012) and attended the Seminar for Historical Administration in 2006. While she lives in the history field, her passion is encouraging a love of learning in any environment.

Sector 4: Assessment and Planning

Getting the answer to this question is
goal of the fourth sector.

Recognizing that the prioritization strategy Stacy Klingler and I have laid out over the past four weeks is technically an assessment process, there is still much more that can be done to assess your situation and plan future goals.  And, much has been written about strategic planning, including my chapter in the Small Museum Toolkit.  But in short, to move a museum forward, you need to know what assets you have, understand the gaps, identify what you want to accomplish, and outline the steps to get you there. 

Lucky for small museum folks, there are three organizations who want to help you in this effort and propel you to meet best practices.  The American Association for State and Local History, the American Alliance of Museums, and Heritage Preservation have developed assessment tools that help you put work in perspective, educate board and staff, kick start planning, and provide funding leverage. 

The Standards and Excellence Program for History Organization (StEPs) “is a voluntary assessment program for small- and mid-sized history organizations. The program, created by AASLH with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), encourages awareness and achievement of national standards.” This self-directed assessment process is a great way to get the ball rolling.

If you feel like the opinions of an outside professional and a more intensive self assessment process is what your organization needs, then you should look at MAP and CAP.

The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) “helps small and mid-sized museums strengthen operations, plan for the future and meet national standards through self-study and a site visit from a peer reviewer. IMLS-funded MAP grants are non-competitive and provide $4,000 of consultative resources and services to participating museums.”

Heritage Preservation’s Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) “provides a general conservation assessment of your museum's collection, environmental conditions, and site. Conservation priorities are identified by professionals who spend two days on-site and three days writing a report. The report can help your museum develop strategies for improved collections care and provide a tool for long-range planning and fundraising.”  CAP provides over $7,000 in consultative resources and services, sending a conservator and historic preservation professional (if applicable) on site. 

Ultimately, with an assessment in hand and an organizational commitment to keep moving forward, you will have board, staff, and volunteers on the “same page” which promotes efficiency and strengthens your chances for successful implementation of goals.  You also have a good benchmark to help you see when you’ve arrived at a goal.  You can look back and demonstrate for others where you’ve been which will fuel the new momentum you have.

And, you have a case to make to funders.  Do you need collections storage shelving? A new computer?  Funding for a museum educator?  Any one of these formal assessments offers excellent justification in a grant application, foundation proposal, or case statement for a potential donor.

With just one of these formal assessments in hand, you will know what kind of institutional planning you need – strategic or operational – and you will have a sense of what planning time frame you need.  To take the next planning steps, read “DIY Strategic Planning” in the Small Museum Toolkit, or tap the rich library of planning publications.  Here are a few to get you started. Good luck!

Recommended Resources

Alliance for Nonprofit Management

 

Bryson, John M. and Farnum K. Alston. Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan: A Workbook for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 2^nd Edition. San Francisco: Josey-Bass, 2005.

How To Do Traditional Brainstorming

Lord, Gail Dexter and Kate Markert. The Manual of Strategic Planning for Museums. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press, 2007.

Merritt, Elizabeth E. and Victoria Garvin, editors. Secrets of Institutional Planning. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2007.

McNamara, Carter. Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation. Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC, 2003.

Skramstad, Harold and Susan Skramstad.  Handbook for Museum Trustees. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2003.

Strategic Planning for Smaller Nonprofit Organizations

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service.  

How to Be a Facilitator

Leading the strategic planning process as the director of a small museum is challenging enough, but if there are no funds available for hiring an outside facilitator, the director has an even greater role in the process.  Keeping in mind what the role of a facilitator truly is, the director can comfortably wear the hat of plan coordinator AND facilitator. 

What is Facilitation?

Very simply put, facilitation is helping a group accomplish its goals. There are a wide range of perspectives about the ideal nature and values of facilitation, much as there are a wide range of perspectives about the ideal nature and values of leadership. For example, some facilitators may believe that facilitation should always be highly democratic in nature and that anything other than democratic is not facilitation at all. Others believe that facilitation can be quite directive, particularly depending on the particular stage of development of the group.

Whatever your belief about the best type of facilitation, the practice usually is best carried out by someone who has strong knowledge and skills regarding group dynamics and processes -- these are often referred to as process skills. Effective facilitation might also involve strong knowledge and skills about the particular topic or content that the group is addressing in order to reach its goals -- these are often referred to as content skills. The argument about how much "process versus content" skills are required by facilitators in certain applications is a very constructive argument that has gone on for years.

A Facilitator Will:

-Control the meeting

-Set rules and enforce them

-Ensure participation

-Allow for flow of thought

-Keep the ball rolling

-Keep meeting on topic

-Act generally as a “non-participant”

-Be a subject matter expert

-Accurately sum up discussion

-Smile as much as possible

Hopefully this check list will help you lead your board and stakeholders toward a shared vision for your museum.  Good luck!

Working in museums for nearly 20 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has been a museum director since 2001. Cinnamon became CEO of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2009. Before that, she was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008.  Cinnamon is the co-editor of the Small Museum Toolkit from AltaMira Press.