Here
are a few tips that have made my life less crazy:
Understand
that the best general is one who has the best trained and equipped troops. You
need to cultivate volunteers who will “own” various events and
programs. In my museum Living History Events, the Lecture Series, and various
fund raisers are all “owned” by volunteer chairmen. While I’m
involved in and oversee all of those things I’m not locked into every
committee meeting, etc. I try to stop by any event we host, but I try to stay
in the background, giving all public credit to the volunteers. (This affects
fund-raising too. People seem to contribute to volunteer run programs faster
than those run by paid staff.) And of course the more you praise the
volunteers, the more volunteers you’ll attract. While cultivating
volunteers takes time and energy, it really pays off. I’ve also found that
our volunteers are terribly protective of me, now that they know how hard I
work.
Calendar
Management
My
big challenge concerns phones. Due to the limited space at our museum I gave my
museum office to my assistant, while I do administrative work out of a home
office. I was a volunteer at this museum for years before I was hired as
director, so all of our folks are used to calling my home phone number,
although I maintain a business line in my office. I’ve managed to train
most of the younger volunteers to use my office phone number when calling on
museum business. But the older volunteers are cagy! When they get voice mail on
my office line, they hang up and call my home phone. When I gently remind them
to call my office line, they say, “I tried, but you didn’t answer
it.” My husband and I are trying to condition them. During the first
stage he is answering our home phone and telling them that the best way to get
a message to me is by leaving it on my office voice mail. In a few months we’ll
step up the campaign when I’ll resume answering the phone occasionally
and saying, “Gosh, I’m off right now…completely beat and the
brain is fried. Do me a favor and call my office line and leave me a reminder.”
The
other phone tip is that if you are inundated with long winded callers or are
trying to complete another task, let voice mail pick up. As long as you are
prompt in returning calls, voice mail is a great tool.
I
think part of the joy AND the difficulty of small museums is that they’re
much more personal. The community and volunteers become almost family so you tend to work harder to please them, and
everything you do seems to be viewed through a critical magnifying glass.
Finally,
you don’t have to the BEST at everything…that will make you nuts. I’m
cut out of the same cloth, and one of the hardest things I’ve had to
learn is how to let things go. As an experiment choose one task and do it “half-assed.”
My guess is that no one will notice, and/or it won’t make a difference
anyway. J Also, NEVER apologize
for putting your family first. And never hesitate to say, “Gosh, I’d
love to ___, but it’s my Cub Scout day.” (I was in a meeting where
Thursday evening work sessions were being proposed. I spoke up and said that
one of my great joys was singing in our church choir, and its rehearsals were
on Thursday evening. The group was very supportive and never suggested another
Thursday.)
Becky Fitzgerald
From:
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005
12:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A question of balance
My apologies for posting a personal question.
I am the executive director of an historic site. I am trying
to be the best at everything that I do, but am having trouble finding a balance
between work and family. How do you participate fully in the community, attend/
run all public programs offered by
your site, and still have time to devote to your children?
Does anyone have insight into finding balance? (I have one
other full time staff member and some day hope to expand staff further).
Sarah Y. Smith
Executive Director
(804) 537-5050
A Future Worthy of Its Past