Sector 2: Building Your Internal Coalition

In at nutshell: "Leadership is relationship."

How do I get board members more engaged? How do I motivate my staff and volunteers to change?

"Leadership is relationship," according to James Kouzes and Barry Posner (social scientists who have been systematically studying leadership for 25 years). So they might (and I would) claim that you engage and motivate one of your most valuable resources – the people who make up your internal coalition – by focusing more on your relationships with them and less on short-term end products.

The pressure to produce – exhibits, attendance, funds – is strongly reinforced by our visitors, our funders, and the bills that show up in the mailbox. And establishing and achieving goals (as Cinnamon will describe in Sector 4) is a key component of success. But rarely is there an outside pressure that reminds small museum leaders how foundational creating trusting and empowering relationships is to long-term success. Harvard Business School recently redefined leadership: "Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence."

So how do we make this happen?

Begin with the heart of your museum and clarify or establish your mission with board, staff and volunteers. Talking about mission should not be about "wordsmithing." Encourage conversations about what your museum does and why your work matters to your community. Be sure to share (or better have someone else share) the stories that make your heart swell. Arm your coalition with stories of children returning with their parents after a school tour, or the visitor who shed a tear over the painting that reminded him of his mother, or the genealogist who discovered the first photo she'd ever seen of her great-grandfather in your collection. Use your mission to refocus and remind your board, staff and volunteers about what is most important.

In working with your board, consider asking board members to share their "passion stories" about why they joined. Then tie those stories back to aspects of your mission and use them to motivate discussion about what kind of board members your museum really needs. If your goals require the museum to raise money, forge connections to new audiences or partners, or develop expertise in construction, marketing or management, then you can recruit board members to help you meet your goals. Encourage those in leadership roles on the board and those involved in nominating to recruit for those skills and connections and to lay the groundwork with board members who don't meet those needs to transition into a different relationship with the museum. And as you move toward a more engaged board, include board development and education as a part of the conversation. Most board members would like to learn how to fulfill their role even better, so provide them with small doses of museum standards and best practices. Serving on the board shouldn't be about attending a few meetings: that is not a relationship. Instead, board service should be about developing a stronger connection with a valued organization that knows what it wants each board member to bring to the table.

In working with your staff and volunteers, think about building a team. If a sports team is a useful analogy for you, then think about your role as coach or quarterback. But if sports teams are a bit foreign, you might think about a weight watchers group or a chess club. These groups push each member to be more successful and provide camaraderie, even if their pursuits are individual.  Host regular staff and/or volunteer meetings that have a professional development component (museum standards, customer service, topical education) and also a social component (food, sharing mission stories, etc.). If possible, consider field trips to other museums with follow up conversations about what effective and ineffective and could apply to your site. And in your daily interactions, be aware of how small acts of encouragement reinforce the kind of work you want to see (and how being ignored or dismissed does not).

When you focus your interactions with board, staff, and volunteers around NOT ONLY reaching goals BUT ALSO about cultivating relationships, you help create a long-term foundation for ongoing success. Next week, we turn our focus outside the museum to consider your reputation in the community.

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.

Successful Visitor Service Training

Some quick tips for creating a successful visitor service training program -

Plan a series of meetings with as many of the staff and volunteers as possible throughout the year. Create an open environment where meaningful interaction can take place. Because you are asking everyone to participate and give honest feedback, be sure to set up ground rules for the interactions that will occur during the meetings. State that everyone will have the opportunity to discuss ideas, that the meetings are not a forum for criticizing other staff and volunteers, but they are a way to use visitor, volunteer, and staff feedback and suggestions to improve the institution. The training sessions should be conducted with the same type of respect you would show visitors to the site. In the end, the sessions will be worth any effort that is expended on them.

Think about the interactions from both museum and visitor perspectives. Ask for participants to share experiences they have had with visitors both inside and outside of the institution. Talk about what went well and what didn’t go so well. Encourage honesty without cruelty; talk about interactions, but don’t mock visitors. Everyone needs to vent; we have all had difficult and/or odd visitors and days when we don’t really want to answer any more questions. Assure your staff and volunteers that it is okay to share their frustrations and stressful situations. Venting can lead to new ideas and solutions, but what is said should be kept confidential and as respectful as possible.
      
Good training sessions can be lengthy and mentally exhausting, but they should also be opportunities for growth and social interaction. Emphasize that the things the staff and volunteers learn can be used outside of their jobs and in their personal lives. It is important for the training sessions to be in comfortable and relaxed settings. Your staff and volunteers should receive the same type of consideration as your visitors. They won’t be able to focus on learning if they feel uncomfortable or insecure.

Tamara Hemmerlein was the director of the Montgomery County Cultural Foundation for thirteen years and the Montgomery County Historical Society for eight years. She is now the Hoosier Heritage Alliance coordinator at the Indiana Historical Society. She serves on the American Association of Muse- ums Small Museum Administrators Committee and the American Association for State and Local History Professional Development Committee. She is a Museum Assessment Program peer reviewer and a graduate of the Seminar for Historical Administration.

Train Everyone! Even the Janitor!?!

In many small institutions, the staff and volunteers who are installing exhibits, working with collections, etc. also function as the front-line staff. Individuals trained for specific jobs within an institution are catapulted into visitor service and should feel prepared to help visitors. Small museum staff and volunteers learn to multitask; their focus can rarely be on just one thing happening at their sites. Projects are in progress and a visitor needs help in the museum shop. The doorbell or the telephone rings in the middle of a tour and there is not always a second person on site to handle the interruption. The seemingly constant interruptions can lead to frustration and annoyance especially when the staff and volunteers already feel as if they are spread too thin.

In spite of any frustration at being interrupted, the staff and volunteers should make the visitor feel welcome and important. Staff and volunteer perceptions of visitors will shape the way visitors are treated. Encourage staff and volunteers to think of the visitors not as interruptions but as opportunities to share information with others. Also, encourage them to openly communicate with each other about their experiences with visitors and to talk about what is going well and what may need to be improved. Improving visitor service is an ongoing process and involves dialogue and discussion among staff and volunteers.

Visitor service training should take place with all museum staff and volunteers regardless of time in the institution, staff or volunteer tasks, or physical location within the museum. It is essential for even back-of-house personnel to be able to interact meaningfully with any visitor they might encounter, not just on site but via e-mail or telephone. Visitors want to be treated with respect and care; they want to feel acknowledged even if they are just asking for the location of the museum shop or directions to the next site they are visiting. Providing all staff and volunteers with good visitor service training will help to ensure a good experience for everyone including the staff and volunteers.

Tamara Hemmerlein was the director of the Montgomery County Cultural Foundation for thirteen years and the Montgomery County Historical Society for eight years. She is now the Hoosier Heritage Alliance coordinator at the Indiana Historical Society. She serves on the American Association of Muse- ums Small Museum Administrators Committee and the American Association for State and Local History Professional Development Committee. She is a Museum Assessment Program peer reviewer and a graduate of the Seminar for Historical Administration.