One doesn’t need to inquire too deeply before realizing many in the sector are stretched thin, juggling multiple roles and navigating sometimes unforgiving constraints. So how can leadership alleviate the pressure when resources — both human and financial — are already maxed out? It’s a tough situation.
Piggybacking off the idea behind an article we shared in our Museum 411 newsletter last week (in which the Association for Cultural Enterprises explored ways to increase your institution’s income by making the most of what you have), the best course of action could be leveraging work that’s already happening to create change without adding extra burden. Let’s explore a few possible ways to do this:
1. Instead of creating new systems and processes from scratch, look at successful models from other sectors. The tech industry has long relied on agile project management for development — could your museum try it? Consider experimenting with shorter, iterative planning cycles (e.g., six-month sprints). That way, teams don’t feel locked into rigid strategies, and you can pivot based on real-time realities.
Recommended read: We’re Trying Agile in Our Museum So You Don’t Have to (But You Should)
2. Conduct a “stop doing” audit, i.e., identify older processes, unnecessary meetings, etc. that no longer serve their purpose. Remember, burnout can stem not just from too much work, but from work that feels redundant and inefficient. Identify which tasks are simple but time consuming. You want to get a good handle on your team’s day-to-day workload. Once you’ve identified both bloat and bandwidth, look into delegation (or re-delegation). Can interns or volunteers take on some digital content creation, freeing up others for more strategic tasks? Could a board member with fundraising expertise lead a grant-writing initiative?
3. Leaders should openly communicate what level of involvement is actually expected from staff. Don’t imply that it’s good to answer emails at night, for example, a classic slippery slope to overextending oneself. You know what good boundaries look like, but we sometimes forget to explicitly communicate them. You might also identify and encourage minimum viable initiatives, where programs are launched in phases rather than as polished, labor-intensive productions. This type of rollout can lighten the load on certain projects. You can also make strategic choices about who a project is primarily for, and allow people to focus on that without feeling pressured to meet all competing demands (audience, donor, community group, department…), which is a major factor in feeling overwhelmed.
4. Look for ways to weave learning or teambuilding into the regular flow of work so it feels supportive. If growth or morale-boosting opportunities only happen as a “bonus” to daily tasks, your team will never have the bandwidth to invest — it sadly becomes one more burden. Try to have one staff meeting per quarter dedicated to peer-led knowledge sharing or to an off-campus excursion for fun.
5. One of the biggest energy drains in museums is a relentless pursuit of perfection: that pressure for every exhibition, every program, every email campaign to be flawless before it sees the light of day. Think about “good enough” standards and clearly define what quality means for your team. Similar to point three above, you might find that not every initiative needs the same level of refinement and could be tackled as a test and learn approach. What about timeboxing? That’s a project management technique in which you assign a set amount of time to a task (either a literal time limit or something like two rounds of revisions, then launch).
We understand many museums are in survival mode these days, and that no one has the luxury of sweeping overhauls. But if things are getting dire and pay raises or new hires aren’t an option, you may be able to alleviate burdens with a few of these adjustments.
Recommended further reading:
Combating Burnout in the Museum Sector
Why Do US Museum Workers Want To Quit?
