Kiersten,

Interesting question!  First of all, every organization has problems, both
with the efficacy of the museum and with the organization/politics.  That
said, I have worked at three places that I think are exceptional as far as
people *wanting* to come to work and being productive at their jobs.  Here
are a few commonalities that I have been able to distill- most relate to the
administration of the staff:

   - Don't micromanage.  No one appreciates having someone looking over
   their shoulder all the time.  This may get things done *your* way (see next
   point), but will cause a lot of stress and a loss of productivity.
   - Acknowledge that there may be more than one "right" way to do things.
   Ideally, staff should know their job well enough to mostly make good
   choices.  If that isn't the case, set concrete perameters and encourage
   people to be creative within them.  Unless the stakes are very high, let
   people try it their way before correcting them.  "Different" is not
   necessarily "wrong".
   - Mitigate personality conflicts among staff.  Staff that can't get along
   will not be happy.  When hiring, look at personality as well as
   qualifications.  If you "inherit" a staff, acknowledge people's strengths
   and weaknesses (not necessarily out loud) so that you can help other staff
   work within those confines.
   - Don't just make staff feel appreciated, *actually appreciate them*!
   Cultivate respect for all the special skills the staff has and acknowledge
   it whenever it comes up.  False praise is easily dismissed, but real
   appreciation will make the workplace a much happier environment.
   - Allow for socialization, as long as it doesn't significantly impact
   productivity.  Letting off steam on a bad day, chatting with a volunteer,
   even taking a long lunch with a spouse now and again goes a long way toward
   boosting morale.  This can be a hard line to walk, but worthwhile if you can
   do it.
   - Encourage staff to practise these same skills with each other!

Now that I am a director myself, I have been trying to impliment some of
these things (at a museum that had been known as a terribly stressful place
to work), and have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the staff, board,
and volunteers about how our museum is such a fun, relaxing place to be.
Even the visitors have noticed that people smile more and take more pride in
their work.  I am still (after 6 months on the job) trying to strike a
balance between warm-fuzzy and high productivity- I have not seen a decline
in productivity, but also have not really seen an increase.


On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 8:11 PM, Latham, Kiersten <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
>
> I am looking for examples of healthy, happy museums. In other words, do you
> have any examples of great places (museums) to work; places that function
> well internally, are structured such that staff WANTS to come in every day,
> loves their work, and (dare I say) likes their boss(es). I have
> found--anecdotally--that most museum staff are miserable in their jobs,
> mostly because of politics and organizational issues. Not a surprise, people
> still love their jobs because they love museum work. But the love and
> passion that they had going in has been blunted by internal dysfunction. I
> would like to find an example of something that works, where staff are happy
> with their work AND this results in an effective museum for the public. If
> you have examples, you can write to me privately if you choose. I would like
> to know more about why it works--people, structure, policies, internal
> programs, etc?
> Thanks,
> Kiersten
>
>    Dr. Kiersten F. Latham, PhD
> Assistant Professor
> School of Library & Information Science
> Kent State University
> 314 University Library
> Kent, OH 44242
> 330-672-5846
> http://kentstate.academia.edu/KierstenLatham/About
>
>
>
>
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