Year's End: Taking Stock and Looking Forward
DeFacto - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45298142
Every week when I sit down to write this blog I suffer a twinge of imposter syndrome. Yes, I've co-authored some books. I teach in the Johns Hopkins Museums Studies Program and I've given some lectures. I lead a staff; I care for a collection, trying to encourage a dialog between it and my school community. But, that doesn't stop me from feeling as though I've said it all before or I really don't know what I'm talking about, or if I do, I'm not saying it well enough.
In the northern hemisphere, this weekend is the Winter Solstice, the moment when the days are the shortest. Particularly this year, it's the time when the calendar, seasons, and current events conspire, making us all ready for a little light and some hope. This is the last Leadership Matters post of 2020. I will be on hiatus from December 21 to January 3. Like me, you're probably glad to see 2020 come to an end. Disruptive, downright dystopian, and disappointing it pushed us all in ways we never imagined.
With over over 52,000 views in 2020, Leadership Matters turned eight years old December 13. What started as a way to promote and enhance the first edition of Leadership Matters morphed into 416 posts, most by me, some by guest writers. The favorites this year were Looking for a New Leader: Putting Equity into Action, which garnered so many views I am still convinced Wordpress made a mistake. It was followed by Leadership and Workplace Bullying and The Silent Treatment (and What to Do About It). That saddens me. Those posts were written in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and yet they are among the most read on this blog. What does it say about the museum workplace that discussions of bullying and non-speaking marathons draw so many readers?
And speaking of readers, you come from 159 countries around the globe. While most of you live here in the United States, there are many of you from Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and India. And you are joined by individual readers from the Isle of Man, Aruba, Haiti and St. Lucia, and many more. This year your numbers grew to 994, with more who find Leadership Matters on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. Wherever you are, thank you. Thank you for reading and thank you for being part of the museum/non-profit world that cares about its workplace, and recognizes how leadership as a practice, as a way of being, changes individuals and ultimately the organization in which they work.
And speaking of work, many museum folk aren't working. The pandemic stole their jobs, furloughing them or eliminating their positions altogether. For those of us who are working, whether from home, museums or heritage sites or some hybrid of the two, we are the lucky ones. However damaged the field is, and there is a lot of work to do, those of us still lucky enough to be employed, do work we love, which brings me to this: If you are working, and can afford a gift, make one. Here in the United States you can always give to the Museum Workers Relief Fund, supporting those who've lost their jobs. You can also give to your favorite museum or heritage organization or to a national, state or regional museum service agency.
Much as we all want to demonstrate our love by just showing up, and wandering unmasked through our favorite site, that's not possible right now, so we need to figure out how to support organizations that mean a lot to us, by being present in different ways. You can shop from the comfort of your home at museum shops, take an online class, listen to a lecture or go on a virtual tour. So, if you have the means, give. If money is short right now, give in other ways. Support your colleagues and your friends. Put five museum pals together at 5 o'clock one evening on Zoom and gab. Support one another. Create a Get-A-Job team, and work together on polishing resumes and Linkedin pages. Or sign the Gender Equity in Museums Pledge and make a personal commitment to ending sexual harassment in the museum workplace.
Whatever you do, make sure it constitutes actual change, however small or personal, not the sort of global ranting social media invites. Here is my list for change in 2021:
Be the point person for a director search that starts by recognizing implicit bias, conducts an equitable search, resulting in a diverse, creative candidate who challenges us in new ways.
Continue to diversify our collections, art, photography and rare books, through acquisition and in cataloguing language.
Continue to shift our organizational lens so white privilege isn't always center stage.
Grow empathy.
Nurture creativity.
What's on your list?
Make 2021, not the year for change, but the year you change.
Be well. Stay safe. See you in January.
Joan Baldwin
