Dear Ellen, Julia, and other Listers,

Ok, here's a question about Volunteers at Museums.

What do you do when you have a long-established volunteer or several
volunteers who you've inherited from past administrations, and they are very
negative about the Museum?     They come to work on a regular basis,  but
they like to gossip and sometimes they gossip about staff with patrons!!!!!


This situation was recently described to me by a friend who is the executive
director of a small Georgia history museum.    The volunteers seem to be
angry that they are not in charge of running the museum anymore since it now
has a few professional staff people.

It seems to me that the situation is a kind of power play on the part of
certain volunteers, including by the president and vice president of the
volunteers group.  I advised my friend against "firing" these volunteers
because it could create bad feelings in the community.     I suggested he
talk to them and try to get to the root of their problems, which he has done
in the past, but it seems they just like to complain.

What can my friend do?  He has inherited this situation.   It's not of his
making.
It's a SMALL museum so there is no paid, professional volunteer director.
The events/ membership staff member handles the greeters or front desk
volunteers.
The educator ( a paid, staff position) is in charge of the docents.    The
volunteer
organization is supposed to be in charge of making their own schedule and
supporting the staff by handling basic visitor services activities and
helping out at fund-raising events.

What do you suggest?

Cordially,
pamela sezgin

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