Lisa,
Interesting question. So much depends on personalities.
I see a conflict of interest in the area of authority. If you as executive director and curator determine what's included in a tour, and also manage docents and evaluate their performance (that's a lot of ifs), then a board member as docent seems like a clear conflict if the board member in turn has any say, in their other role, in your position or evaluation. It's a role-switching authority inversion that can become uncomfortable unless there's a very good personal relationship and common understanding underpinning the situation.
A note on this "authority inversion" from experience -- I'm probably preaching to the choir, so skip this if it's old news! An authority structure, influenced by relationships, also depends on what kind of authority is involved: statutory (these are the rules, follow them as I direct), moral (do the right thing as we all should do, and as I expect), and earned (follow me and do what I want you to do because you respect my judgment). If you have a very good and open relationship with both people involved, you might discuss who's in authority in what ways and when, and head off any problems with clear agreement.
Another angle to consider is how you receive input from docents -- is anyone full of good ideas you can't or shouldn't do, so they go straight to the board member, their fellow docent, and try to influence the operation by going around you? It's possible (i.e., it has happened elsewhere).
One potential solution is that you might switch your docent/board member to another status -- say, a very engaged board member who loves to give a tour now and then, according to established docent practice, but who is not a member of the group of docents evaluated on that performance. That way they get to stay involved in tours, they understand your concerns and your responsibilities, and the potential for issues of authority inversion based on role-switching is eliminated.
Those are just a few thoughts from my perspective in a large institution. I'm curious to see others' points of view.
Cheers,
Doug
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Doug Lantry
Curator & Historian, Research Division
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
douglas.lantry.1@us.af.mil------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2021 07:39 PM
From: Lisa Hastreiter-Lamb
Subject: Docent Volunteers as Board members
Our museum has two board directors who are trained docents. One leads tours in addition to her board service. The other, who is also an officer on the board, feels it is a conflict of interest to lead museum tours while serving on the board and likes to state this regularly. Our organization does not have a policy against doing both. Is there any reason to believe there is a conflict of interest here and it should be avoided?
Lisa Hastreiter-Lamb
Executive Director & Curator
She, Her, Hers
The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures
4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive Tucson, AZ 85712
p.520.881.0606 ext.102 f.520.881.9307
www.theminitimemachine.org
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