@changeberkshireculture: What's the Prescription for Workplace Contentment?
For those of us who live near Western Massachusetts, the Berkshires loom large. Long a cultural phenomenon, it's an area beloved for its good food, good coffee, great music, theatre, and, of course, museums. This February, however, a new voice from the 413 area code appeared on Instagram. A cousin of @changethemuseum, @ChangeBerkshireCulture debuted on Valentine's Day. Posting pastel hearts with messages like "I love you as much as museums love empty promises about prioritizing diversity," it was clear from the get-go the writers were angry. There is now a collection of almost two dozen. Many posts are disturbing. Some name names--not people, but institutions--so it would be impossible for Berkshire museum leaders not to wince, but at a meta level, what's most upsetting is these posts indicate a disregard for staff, and a deep vein of workplace discontent. But wait, you say, I don't work in the Berkshires, and besides my staff isn't like that. Are you sure? Do you check in regularly? And when you do, if you ask the questions, do you want to hear the answers?
Two things to think about, both for yourself and your team: The idea that there is work and there is everything else in your life, and the two are separate, is nonsense. It's all your life, and some days are more messy and more complicated than others, but the notion that when you've reached some pinnacle of success you'll have time for yourself--to swim, to walk, to meditate, to read--and until then you suffer, is also nonsense. The second thing to consider is that it's not your job to make your staff or team members happy. You can't. That's their job.
So what's the answer? Clearly, a half hour up the road from me is a group of distressed, angry current and former museum workers. Here are some things to think about. If you're a longtime reader, you've likely heard some of them before, but here goes:
Not surprisingly, a number of the @changeberkshireculture posts are COVID related, questioning how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' rules have or have not been applied. As we've said a million times here, COVID exacerbates just about everything, so acknowledge it. Ignoring it, increases staff stress. For front-facing employees, it's hard to be upbeat when you're worried whether the group you are greeting is playing by the rules. For staff working at home and on site, work may feel as though it never ends and the stress build-up is very real. Does your organization have a COVID task force? Does it include staff from all levels? Do they update staff (and you) regularly? A staff who understands why a museum is doing what it's doing may be less anxious, and less frightened of job loss if the museum is transparent from the beginning.
Update your job descriptions. With COVID layoffs many staff took on additional jobs. Acknowledging the extra work is a much-needed measure of transparency. No, it doesn't put food on the table, but coupled with a genuine thank you, it's kind, and that's something we can all use. Further, it confirms extra work took place, which could convert to a raise when things right themselves,.
Update your disaster plan. Many of us have taken our organizations through fire and flood, but if COVID taught us anything, it taught us that disaster comes in unexpected forms. Does your disaster plan include a pandemic? Do those plans include how-to's, not just for leaving collections untended, but for how staff will be down-sized if that's necessary? The perception from some of the posts in @changeberskhireculture is that plans were entirely quixotic, reactive, and rarely equitable.
And speaking of equitable, what about your workplace? You can't make your staff happy, that's their job, but you can create an equitable workplace from the top down. When employees perceive that others are privileged in ways they are not, it leads to anger and dissatisfaction. Conduct a workplace equity audit. Doing so will help your museum or heritage organization think about how you hire, how you mentor and promote, whether your current HR policies invite implicit bias, and how your museum is governed, and the culture it creates.
Stop worrying about happiness. Maybe whether we're happy at work isn't the question. Happiness, after all, isn't a virtue, and yet we treat it as such. How often has someone stopped and told you to smile as if that would fix everything? Perhaps what we should strive for is a staff who is content because content staff think deeply about their work, approach it with enthusiasm, and look for creative answers to questions.
Last, remember Nina Simon's words from last week that prioritizing the safety and welcome of people with less access to power, means you are working for equity and inclusion.
There is something shaming and hugely wrong in asking staff, many of whom need to be intensely positive for visitors, not to be negative or complain, when so much about their workplaces is murky, inauthentic, and inequitable. That's what comes through in @changeberkshireculture. And that's what needs fixing. @changethemuseum and @changeberkshireculture are enough to scare anyone away from the field. We're in a challenging time, and because of these challenges, we need to be mindful about those who work for and with us, and to constantly ask who we are empowering and why.
Try making one decision for equity and kindness this week and see what happens.
Joan Baldwin
