Squares @ Qm2

2008-04-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Prepared for a Session at the American Association of Museums, Denver, 4/30/08

SO YOU HAVE A NEW BOSS

Five Ways to Undermine Your New Boss:
Say “yes”, Do “no”
Complain to others about your boss’ poor decisions
Don’t share information with your boss
Be over confident that your new boss is not backed by management
Blame your boss when you “under-perform”

Five Errors Made When You Did Not Get Your Boss’ Job
Think you don’t have to prove yourself
Think you know more than your new boss
Think you will prove your boss incompetent
Talk negatively about your boss
Withhold information

Five Wise Steps When You Get a New Boss
Summarize your responsibilities and accomplishments
Provide a copy of your resume
Have a conversation about expectations
Learn about your boss’ preferred communication styles
Offer to help your boss and do it

References:

How to Succeed With Your New Boss, Harvard Business School, Michael Watkins, 2002 http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2957.html

Same Job, New Boss, Karen Fritscher-Porter, OfficePRO Magazine 2004
http://www.iaap-hq.org/ResearchTrends/same_job_new_boss.htm

How to Help Your Boss Succeed, John Durel, Qm2, http://qmsquares.blogspot.com/

Mary Case
Founding Director
Qm2
202-556-6439
1243 E Street Southeast
Washington, DC 20003
marycase@qm2.org

Kate Goodall
Development Manager
AAM
202-218-7701
202-289-6578
1575 Eye Street NW, 400
Washington, DC 20005
kgoodall@aam-us.org

Wendy Luke
Principal
Luke Weil Associates
202-234-3388
202-338-4477
800 25th Street NW 605
Washington, DC 20037
wendyluke@lukeweil.com

Tommy A. McPherson
Director
Mobile Museum of Art
(251) 208-5200
4850 Museum Drive
Mobile, AL 36609-1917
tmcpherson@mobilemuseumofart.com

Jill Nash
Education and Public Programs Manager
Maitland Historical Society and Museums
407-644-2451
Box 941001, 840 Lake Lily Drive
Maitland, FL 32794
jnash@maitlandhistory.org

Claudia Ocello
Associate Director of Education and Public Programs
Save Ellis Island, Inc
(908) 781-9900
500 International Drive, Suite 350
Mt. Olive, NJ 07828
cocello@saveellisisland.org

Patrick Reynolds
Senior Manager, Experience Design
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
313-982-6019
313-982-6244
20900 Oakwood Blvd.
Dearborn, MI 48124
patrickr@thehenryford.org

Monica M. Scott
Curator of Education
Amistad Center for Art & Culture
860-838-4089
600 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06103
Monica.scott@wadsworthatheneum.org

David Young
Executive Director
Cliveden
215-848-1777
Philadelphia, PA 19106
dyoung@cliveden.org

How to Help Your Boss Succeed

2008-04-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our session at AAM: Preparing for Your New Boss, I'm adding John Durel's recent article: How to Help Your Boss Succeed

By John Durel

On average, when a new CEO takes over an organization, more than 25% of the senior managers leave within a year, either by their own choice or the CEO’s.[i] New chief executives tend to make decisions about who will be on their leadership teams within 60 days.

How can you make the team? A better question, one that will help to ensure that you are on the team, is: “How can you help your new boss succeed?”

The new CEO is under a lot of pressure. The Board has high expectations. There will be a honeymoon period, perhaps six months, in which she must show that she can lead the organization forward, manage the operation effectively, and build strong relationships with all of the key stakeholders. How can you help her succeed?

Here are some suggestions.

Step Forward
Early impressions count. The new boss will rely on her instincts about you. Don’t wait to see what she wants. Rather take the initiative to talk about your responsibilities and how you see them contributing to overall organizational success. Let her know that you want to cooperate and support her.

Look Forward
Don’t talk about how bad it was, or how good it was, in the past. If you feel you were not treated well back then, forget about it. It’s a new day. Don’t deny problems that continue to exist, but present them as challenges with possible solutions.

Be Honest
When your new boss asks you to bring her up to speed on your own department or function, be positive, but don’t sugarcoat any of the problems or past mistakes. Give an honest assessment of the situation and outline what it will take to address the problems going forward.

Take on a Special Project
Offer to take the lead on a special project, one that will bring you into frequent contact with the new boss. This is a great way to demonstrate your abilities and commitment.
Adapt to Your Boss’ Style
Talk to him about the way you tend to work and ask about his preferences: How should I communicate with you? How should I disagree with you? Indicate that you are ready to adjust to match his style. Establish from the beginning a relationship that allows you to talk about your differences and how your respective styles can complement one another.

See Your Boss’ Perspective
Your new boss has a lot to learn about your organization and the universe in which it exists. She has to get to know and build positive relationships with employees, trustees, donors, community and government leaders, partner organizations, the organization’s members and other constituents. She also has family obligations. Try to see the challenges she faces from this broader perspective and offer to help in ways that are appropriate to your position and function in the organization.

Demonstrate Your Commitment
Show up to meetings with your boss on time or early. Come prepared. Be an active and positive participant. Be reliable on assignments made at the meetings. Follow through and keep the boss informed.

Create an Early Success for Your Boss
Your boss needs to be able to give the board and the public good news early on. Find something that you or your department can achieve during the first couple of months. Although the work may have been conceived and executed under the previous director, make it possible for him to present it as not his achievement, but as continuity of success under his leadership. At the very least, you should demonstrate that active projects are moving forward without delay.

Anticipate
Think ahead and be prepared for your boss. Think about what is likely to happen, or what might happen, as she learns about the organization and meets everyone involved. Clue her in on situations she might not yet understand.

Support Your Boss’ Agenda as it Takes Shape
Listen carefully as your boss begins to articulate her agenda and goals for the organization. Ask questions and seek to understand what she is thinking. Help her to clarify her own thoughts. Challenge her with respect, and offer your own perspective. Always emphasize that your intent is to help her and the organization succeed.

Help Others Understand and Support the Boss
Others may be intimidated, wary, or even resentful of the new boss. Actively help them to let go of the past and look forward. Help them to understand the boss and to see the boss’ perspective.

[i] Kevin P. Coyne and Edward J. Coyne, Sr., “Surviving Your New CEO,” Harvard Business Review (May 2007)

Wikis for Museum Directors

2007-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Embarrassing as it might be personally, having a wikipedia on the museum's director is one more way to market your institution. You can see Jack Rasmussen's (Qm2 Roundtable for Museum Directors) entry at the URL below. The page was created by an intern.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rasmussen

Kentucky Weekend

2007-05-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

We went to Oaks at Churchill Downs http://www.churchilldowns.com/ Friday. This is the local Louisville party, the day before to the Kentucky Derby hoopla. Babes in the woods, we were. Parking was the immediate problem, after the hat, the getting of which was THE hardest thing I've had to navigate since arriving in Louisville. Thank the stars for creative, kind, gay men, one of whom made me a hat.

We entered the backside of Churchill Downs where they confiscated my favorite umbrella (later retrieved) and actually frisked us! After passing through the tunnel we entered the nether world of the infield which Willie quipped was like Woodstock without the bands. Mud, crazy outfits, too much booze and drugs, and too many people hoping to get lucky.

The club house was hats and spats and sear sucker and (oddly, I thought) too many exposed, saggy boobs and cigars and mint juleps (which we don't drink), people posing achingly to have a little too much fun. We met a dear friend in the paddock area, gave him our wrist bands and went out for a lovely dinner at Mayan Café www.themayancafe.com where we sat by the window and watch it pour down rain. I am glad I went as to know this Louisvillian custom and to be assured of never having to go again.

Saturday, we went to the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill http://www.shakervillageky.org/ -- glowering clouds and sheets of rain, but my first real visit to the blue grass. The Shaker Village is, in addition to its mission to preserve the Shaker heritage and surrounding countryside, has also developed an ambitious business model. It’s the largest B&B in the state, accommodating 81 visitors on any given night. You can explore the countryside by boat or foot and they have a passable restaurant. Opening July 2003

We closed the circle with a drive to Berea, Kentucky’s. The new center for arts and crafts http://www.lenovo.com/planetwide/select/selector.html is huge! And beautiful! And beautifully situated! Right off Interstate 75 at Exit 77. Why can't there be franchises like this over the state, or the country for that matter? Instead of ghastly Big Boys and Golden Arches with bad design, why can't we have open spaces, clean bathrooms away from everything else with real flowers, authentic material from real human beings? I can only thank Victoria Faoro and her staff for all the effort they put into keeping the place up to standards so we feel welcome, comforted, even joyful. So we don't want to get right back on the road but we want to linger, learn about the artists, understand the state, what they trying to accomplish in Berea. I can't wait to get back there to see more.

Sunday, finally, Sun. We hiked the Falls of the Ohio http://www.fallsoftheohio.org/ in Clarksville, after discovering an old fashioned bakery – Jeff’s in Jeffersonville, real donuts.

Technology Planning

2006-10-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

A recent question about technology plans got me wondering how long developing a technology plan should take? More than a few months and you run the risk of the technology overtaking your plan.

Technology plans have, essentially, three parts: an inventory of your current technology status (policies, hardware, software, training, staff and consultant expertise); an environmental scan outlining hardware, software, emerging technologies, training availability; and a comprehensive plan for future development for no more than three, possibly five years.

If you don't have the in house expertise, you need to hire in the consultant help. In DC, I use a wonderful group that works exclusively with nonprofits called Community IT Innovators http://www.citidc.com./

How to write a technology plan for IMLS:
http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/grants/erate/techplan/index.php

Stephen Toney's view of your museum has technology figuring large. Toney and I worked together at the Smithsonian back in the day. The article gives a fairly comprehensive overview of the work. It's serious work, the kind of work that can drive a director crazy because it takes so much time (and money) just in the planning. The article is 2000 so it is somewhat dated but it holds, I think. http://www.systemsplanning.com/mnc3.asp

2006-10-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Michael Kaiser, CEO of the Kennedy Center, asked an important question of nonprofit educational organizations last week: What can we do for a single child (multiplied eventually by thousands) from pre-K to 12? Imagine that an arts organization (or maybe a partnership) could tell a parent, a PTA, or a funder about the programs – pre kindergarten through twelfth grad – for little Johnnie or Sally. Imagine a system of learning for a child throughout his and her student years, was his important point to consider point.

Since Mr. Kaiser arrived in Washington he’s begun a real effort to share his own considerable management expertise and that of the Kennedy Center. www.artsmanager.org

Thinking Museums Differently From Vancouver

2006-09-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the sun on North Vancouver, having spent part of yesterday with Hilde Hein’s tour do force of a book: Public Art: Thinking Museums Differently http://www.altamirapress.com. I need a place without distractions to read Hein as she works at the intersections of disciplines – philosophy, art history, history – with a long view of museums where I can easily get lost without concentration.

The first half of the book carefully builds the argument for no less than a new paradigm for museums, parsing the distinctions between public art, private art, nonprivate art, and art in public places. Precise language carries the argument along with the insistent joy of careful thinking.

I am probably the only person on the planet to do so, but I think Hildi Hein is also a laugh riot for her nuanced word choice:
· Museums…cannot shift gears without massive lubrication.
· …public art thrives in the world of bird droppings and vandalism.

I’ll review this book in full later in the year.

Museums Matter: Confirmed

2006-09-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Attending Museums Matters: A Tribute to Stephen Weil last week, brilliantly organized by Joy Davis at the Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Victoria, reprised my experienced of meeting Steve and other prominent published leaders when I went to work at the Smithsonian in 1986. I thrilled in the imperative to read, to ask questions of the source, and relished the time to think.

The assembled forty, rising stars and seasoned pros, faculty and student, museum directors and independent consultant included Australians, Brits, Canadians, Americans, and one delegate each from El Salvador, Barbados, and Germany. Papers were delivered and concepts carefully considered, for me food for thought for years ahead.

An introductory highlight:

From Peter Linett, Partner, Slover Linett Strategies, Inc, Chicago, and Books Editor, Curator: The Museum Journal.

Peter coined the term Weilean, provided a careful read of the collected works and pointed to two major themes in Weil’s work: 1) the extension of his thinking from law to art to art museums to the infinitely wider world of museums and nonprofits in general and 2) how Weil moves through a process of intellectual liberalization, beginning as more or less a private, museum professional with a traditional stance through a process of radicalization eventually to become, while always reasoned, the most public person in the museum community, constantly in dialogue, prodding us to question closely held assumptions and to move beyond what even he and we considered possible.

In Weil’s work, and also in Elaine Heumann Gurian’s www.egurian.com (a central Museums Matter’s participant) one can read the evolution of their thinking. This is a great relief as it allows me to release ideas, calcified through the unexamined passage of time. Ah, the discrete pleasure of changing one’s mind. Maybe all adult learning isn’t a blow to the ego!

A closing reflection:

Kay Larson, Managing Editor, Curator: The Museum Journal curatorjournal@earthlink.net brought the forum to a close by asking us to reflect briefly in writing, abstract our reflection, and then create a ring poem from a phrase from each of our abstractions. My reflection follows:

Gratitude for time in a beautiful place to think with colleagues, after the imperative to read. Generates new and better questions. Steve changed his mind and so does Elaine which allows me to let go of so much of that rigid bull I’ve held about museum collections because of being queen of the registrars.

I apologize to those who have written so brilliantly and whose papers we haven’t taken up in discourse. I take responsibility for inadequate facilitation. Good learning for me. Though I think particularly Bob Jane’s idea of corporatism and Hildi Hein’s press for theory have moved at least my thinking along and will do for some time.

Watch this blog in the weeks ahead for additional posts on Museums Matter and other topics of interest to the museum field. Come back, too, with a shout out or just a shout! Mary Case marycase@qm2.org