Solving museum problems is a bit like working on a jigsaw puzzle when different people hold the pieces.¹ To make matters more difficult, those holding the pieces may not work together or even know one another! Many are unaware they hold pieces to "your" puzzle. The more complex the problem, the larger the number of people likely to hold the pieces.

Unfortunately, "owning" the puzzle (or problem) doesn't mean you have all the pieces required to solve it. Faced with this situation, the irresponsible manager attempts to solve the puzzle using the pieces nearby. He can then say truthfully: "I've done my job." The responsible manager, in contrast, takes the time and effort to understand who holds the various pieces before attempting to put the puzzle together. This requires sophisticated institutional literacy: comprehensive knowledge of how museum departments, the public, the volunteers, and the donors interact to produce value, growth, and financial stability.

From this perspective, the responsible staff person or director can orchestrate a successful solution by bringing the puzzle piece holders together to solve the problem. They may require only a one-time gathering in the hallway. Or it might take a year-long series of formal meetings. In any case, the team formed will increase the likelihood of efficient problem solving and implementation.

Security guards don't usually have responsibility for education in a museum. But one educator we know asked the security guards which exhibits engaged the visitors. Without hesitation, the guards said, "The ceiling." The museum's historic interior and unusual ceiling was the first thing that caught the visitor's eye. So the educators explained the history of the building and the technology that created the ceiling to the guards, who in turn educated the public.

When you attempt to design a responsible team, you may find that the organization's structure acts as a barrier to bringing together the people who hold parts of the puzzle. First, organizations divide work into functional specialities called departments or divisions. Second, the work is layered into hierarchies of authority. All significant museum work cuts across these artificial structural boundaries. As a result, problem solvers must also cross functional boundaries and hierarchical boundaries. This means learning to manage areas where you do not have official authority. Here's a few examples where the problem cut across departments, but the problem solving team did not.

When the board and newly appointed director decided to expand the museum's public service offerings, they failed adequately to define and integrate a new role for collections management and research into the new vision. In less than four years, all serious curators left the museum's employ. One third of the board (many of whom had been big financial supporters) decided not to stand for reelection. Without the necessary content expertise, the museum's programs lost their intellectual rigor which turned out to be highly valued by the museum's core audience. Within six years the museum's local visitation and attendance at special programs began to decline alarmingly. The director found a new job. The board was baffled and regained its equilibrium with great difficulty.

One week before installation was to begin, the brilliant, temperamental curator delivered a bomb to the director: the rental space was too small by half. This immediately after the director had learned that the museum's sister institutions—partners in the exhibition—were furious because of inaccurate marketing materials. The director began to spend money hand over fist to correct the brochures and print ads, smooth ruffled feathers, contract for additional space and art handlers. The exhibition was a popular and critical success, but the relationship between the curator and his colleagues was irrevocably damaged. Collaborative potential between the museum and sister organizations was set back a decade. The museum closed the year with a $400,000 deficit.

When a museum structure separates problem definition, problem solving, and implementation into three different activities, done by different people (board, director, and staff) it is very hard to get the desired results efficiently. The entire organization can benefit if people work together and provide feedback.

Organizational Culture Can Block Teamwork

The decision making culture of a museum often reinforces structural barriers. We could once characterize museum culture as "build it and they will come." This approach focuses on and forces the museum to explain its decisions in, essentially, one-way communications. Managers using this strategy are responsible to identify and solve problems and staff simply show up and implement—an excellent way to nurture irresponsible executives, managers, and staff.

The cost of poor implementation has led many museums to explore a more collaborative mode. This approach seeks to include the key puzzle piece holders earlier in the process. Noted business writer Peter Senge characterizes collaboration as the process that produces the highest amount of energy and commitment to a solution.² These two factors—energy and commitment—are critical to the effectiveness and efficiency of implementation. Even when collaboration is not part of the day-to-day organizational culture, it can become the climate on a problem solving team. This helps solve the problem and demonstrates the effectiveness of collaboration. This is the primary strategy for change to an organization's culture. Invariably, a strong culture of collaboration is based on high levels of mutual respect and honesty that, in turn, builds trust. Such a culture significantly reduces structural barriers.

1 Adapted from Responsible Managers Get Results, Gerry Faust, Dick Lyles, and Will Phillips, American Management Association, 1998.
2 Senge, Peter et al, The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday Currency, New York, 1994.