Experience, if nothing else, teaches a skilled leader/manager to delegate
responsibility as well as authority to get the job done.  Museums are
complex organizations with such a variety of operational requirements that
may adapt from time to time to deal with external circumstances.  Among
these circumstances are funding sources, visitor markets, new technologies.

What is often lacking is experienced museum staff that will (or can) accept
that kind of delegation.  Rather, as museums are led into strategic planning
and as objectives change, museum professionals in larger institutions may
tend toward protecting turf.  Decisions get delegated upward, especially in
an atmosphere of change.

In other cases, a CEO inherits an organization that is encrusted with
attitudes and procedures that no longer mean anything, or just don't work at
all.  Those who clasp dearly those fossils of long ago are among the most
difficult professionals to deal with.  I've been there, done that.
Delegation is impossible in those cases.

Advice:  Try to persuade these CEOs to delegate and see how well it works.
If they don't already know how, it's a learning process for them.  In
advance of new leadership coming in (and it will actually "come in" from the
outside in struggling museums), learn to be responsible and accountable and
have a take-charge attitude within one's specialized field.

Ross Weeks Jr.
Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park
Tazewell, Va.
http://histcrab.netscope.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Stout" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: Mistrust (was re: Shedd slashing its staff)


> I'm with Pam on this one.
>
> I've been working with a museum that has
> virtually all power concentrated into two or three positions at the top.
> The individuals in these positions are very skilled and knowledgable IN
> THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS, but none of them has any experience with museum
> practices, let alone museum management. (Nor do they have any background
in
> the subject areas of the museum.)
>
> To their credit, these people are invested in the success of the museum,
> and I believe they do their very best. On the other hand, they seem to
feel
> that no special skills or knowledge are really needed, and are quite
> content to fly by the seats of their pants. I maintain that running a
> museum isn't like operating a lemonade stand, and that these people should
> answer to someone with solid museum experience. At the very least, a
museum
> professional should be part of the leadership. (Isn't that somewhere in
the
> AAM accreditation guidelines? About line 3 or 4?)
>
> The situation at this museum has led to many actions that run contrary to
> the most basic museum practices and codes of ethics, as well as decisions
> that could lead to major problems in the future.
>
> While I agree that top management doesn't need to know how to unclog
> toilets or classify fossils or stabilize artifacts or write good labels or
> design a safe interactive, they should understand enough to recognize the
> need for people with expert knowledge, and give those people the support
to
> do their jobs effectively.
>
> It seems my experience isn't uncommon in the museum world, and situations
> like this (along with some plain old disagreement on priorities) must
> account for a great deal of mistrust.
>
> Just my opinion.
>
> Chuck Stout
>
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