Breaking Away from "Stupid": Maybe It's New Staff, Not New Data?

"Are History Museums Stuck on Stupid?" you can't help but wonder if, as Coleman says, "too many are stuck in pedagogical or operating models that simply don’t work well anymore." And, if you didn't read it, you should. Coleman chastises the field for wringing its collective hands as visitation declines; for meeting locally, regionally and nationally to hear about whatever the next big thing is when there is no one-size-fits-all cure; and for believing data is the magic elixir that will send visitation soaring. She concludes by offering an example of visitor engagement from The American Civil War Museum where she is the CEO. No surprise, its visitation has grown slowly and steadily over the last five years as Coleman and her staff engage their community in its own story. (We profile Coleman in our book, Leadership Matters, BTW.) One of the smartest things Coleman says is "Museums want to be taken seriously, but often the biggest mistake is framing exhibits and programs for other colleagues." In other words, don't preach to the choir. What she doesn't mention--at least overtly--is museums may be stuck on stupid (or mediocre) because their staff (and boards) need a shake up. We know there's no shortage of eager, optimistic museum graduate students trying desperately to break into the field. Why then, especially in the world of history museums and heritage organizations, are so many museums trapped doing what they've always done: the roped off room; the docent-led tour; the exhibit of like objects with brief, yet grave, labels? What would happen if these same museums broke with tradition and hired an English major, an art major, or a psychology minor? Would our careful world implode if we looked at things differently? What if the English major's charge was to figure out a house museum's narrative and the places where it intersects with today's world. Today the word revolutionary can have a slightly nasty tinge, but what about when it's applied to 18th-century Boston? How are those revolutionaries different? To ask these kind of questions you have to have a staff who is creative, non-judgmental, and whose primary concern is making their narrative resonate in their community. And to be clear, their community is the place where their historic house, heritage organization or museum is located. It's not where the board lives or where the staff lives. If this is the staff you want, then your interview techniques not only have to suss out whether job applicants are vain and lazy, but whether they think in original ways, what books are on their bedside table, what was the last movie they saw, and when was the last time they took a risk, and whether it paid off. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that rule- or tradition-bound cultures drive creative people away. Here's Lolly Daskel on why they leave: 10 Dumb Rules That Make Your Best People Want to Quit. To break out you have to want to break out. I'm fond of quoting David Young, Director of Cliveden in Philadelphia (and another Leadership Matters interviewee), who said organizations have to "allow leadership." I would alter that and say organizations have to want change, and that begins with who you hire. How is your museum breaking out of the loop? Joan Baldwin