This is a worthwhile discussion with many excellent points that resonate. I will venture to toss one more variation into the mix. Museum boards and leadership staff usually mean well but tend to operate on parallel planes, and not necessarily with the same priorities. A distinction tends to be that the staff are usually hired BECAUSE they understand current practices and standards and the board members are learning how museums work AFTER they have been elected to serve. I've seen examples of great success when everyone is willing to learn, and great disasters when personality and perceived status/power/connections get in the way (applicable to both staff and board).
The AAM December 2017 workshop "Don't Raid the Cookie Jar" was a very good discussion about how to avoid the crisis of selling collections as (my words) a fundraising technique. The facilitated discussion brought out ideas about how an institution could avoid reaching that point. (Comments on the AAM website.) It showed that ineffective leadership and management of museums is THE key risk factor. The conversation was invigorating enough that the several Professional Networks are collaborating to create a general "toolkit" that identifies museum resources to help anyone better manage a museum to success. I'm glad to be involved in such a talented team.
We welcome suggestions of resources that anyone finds particularly helpful to the field of managing museums.
Also, have you seen AAM's Museum Board Leadership 2017 A National Report? I am curious about how that report might be useful in thinking about board development.
Thanks for initiating this whole discussion. It's important.
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Ellen Endslow
Director of Collections/Curator
Chester County Historical Society
West Chester PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-15-2018 11:40 AM
From: Steven Miller
Subject: Workplace Culture Starts and Stops with the Board
Too often the concept that workplace culture starts and stops with the board is wishful thinking rather than reality. I agree with Conor's points that trustees are usually removed from a museum's daily internal life. There are exceptions, of course, and they usually play out in small museums or with trustee committees that are close to certain museum offices, departments or operations. There can be many cultures within a museum, some known to trustees some not known.
American nonprofit organizations are governed by amateurs. Museums are excellent examples. Few board members have museum backgrounds. For most institutions most of the time this is an acceptable fact. Problems arise when trustees do not let competent professional staff do their respective jobs to the best of their abilities with the resources available. This can be sadly compounded by supporting incompetent staff, or, personnel favored by a particular trustee or trustees.
Museum boards can do great things or devastating things. Fortunately most museum boards are adequate and keep things relatively on track. The call for diversity and inclusion is long, long, overdue. Anne's example of women trustees being assigned roles according to their gender rings a loud bell. Who organizes the grunt work of gala events? Largely the "ladies" of a board. Who heads board finance committees? These are largely made up of men. I once directed a museum that had a male-dominated board and no trustee expressed concern. It was a "Good Old Boys" network of wealthy "landed gentry" friends who never had to work for a living and often made major museum decisions on the golf course or at a cocktail party. When I took the job I quickly observed how savvy staff had learned to ingratiate themselves with particular board members to assure job security. Other not-so-savvy staff who declined this option were either unknown to trustees or disliked by them. In time the board composition changed and the worst of the Boys departed while highly beneficial women joined the board.
When museum boards go awry it often reflects an unwillingness to recognize there is something called the museum profession (sometimes referred to as the museum industry) (wrongly in my opinion). The idea of the do-it--yourself museum, or, that anyone can run a museum, is still present in our field and it is highly damaging. Boards have to be the first to avoid this mindset. Directors need to protect against it but because their position is the post vulnerable to board retaliation, they can be perhaps a tad too cautious.
Regards,
Steve
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Steven Miller
Executive Director Ret.
Boscobel House and Gardens
Garrison NY
Original Message:
Sent: 08-14-2018 09:05 AM
From: Conor Hepp
Subject: Workplace Culture Starts and Stops with the Board
Hey Anne,
I dont exactly agree with the thought that workplace culture starts and stops with the board. Rather, the board has a responsibility to monitor and act on the results of the culture that has been created by an organizations executive team. Board members, no matter how involved, are not in the offices or the meetings on a regular basis. They don't often know what kind of culture is being created until turnover numbers grow or lawsuits arise. On the other hand, Executive team members are the ones that the organizations staff look to for guidance and behavior. If they are abusive or unresponsive to the negative actions of their staff, the culture that develops is theirs. In my experience, the great organizations are the ones that have executive teams that focus on internal culture and make changes to improve them.
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Conor Hepp
Director of Visitor Services
Barnes Foundation
Philadelphia PA
Original Message:
Sent: 08-13-2018 03:24 PM
From: Anne Ackerson
Subject: Workplace Culture Starts and Stops with the Board
Most board members and museum leaders work hard to avoid choices that lead to negative press. But never forget that boards set the tone for workplace behavior and when bad behavior is consciously or tacitly accepted, it's the responsibility of board members to step up and speak out.
https://bit.ly/2B7TzXt
Happy reading,
Joan Baldwin
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Anne W. Ackerson
Creative Leadership & Management Solutions
1914 Burdett Avenue
Troy, New York 12180
T: 518-271-2455
E:
anne@awackerson.com
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