Archivos de Categoría: Glosario

Glossary, T

Thought Leadership

Posted on by James Heaton

What it means

Thought leaders are public-facing subject matter experts, who seek to proactively influence broader opinion. It is not a permanent title and it requires that the content be at the forefront of the subject matter. Thought leaders can organically emerge from inside the museum and it is not required that they be a senior leader in the organization.

How it’s used

Museums are an excellent platform for individuals to be recognized for their expertise. The museum can empower and enable its people at all levels of the organization to develop their thought leadership capacity. Communications teams are often tasked with raising an internal thought leaders’ profile by leveraging opportunities for them. 

Thought leadership is frequently a goal of museum leadership and recognized as a strategy to utilize the talents of individuals within the organization. It positions both the individuals, and the organization as leaders, and increases the visibility of the museum’s work. Museums themselves can be thought leaders, staking out a consistent, focused, and publicly recognized position of expertise and thus become sought after when the subject arises in public and professional discussions.

Smaller museums have a brand imperative to find and keep focus as you can only be a thought leader on a few topics. Larger encyclopedic museums often struggle with focus because they are inevitably pulled in so many different directions. 

At encyclopedic museums it’s more likely that there will be individuals with niche areas of expertise that don’t represent the museum as a whole. For specialized and smaller museums however, thought leadership is an opportunity to gain recognition and public stature for the museum itself. 

Why it matters

Thought leadership translates into greater visibility, more frequent invitations to panels and conferences, and publications within the field and for general audiences. This, in turn, bolsters a museum’s public profile and funding opportunities, while also enhancing public awareness and trust. Consistent thought leadership can also help attract and keep capable employees.

Recommends

All members of a museum should be able to contribute to an institution’s thought leadership from their particular vantage point, as such it is important that all individual contributors on a museum’s team should have full bios on the website so they can be more easily sought out.

Glosario, S

Staff

Posted on by James Heaton

What it means

Staff are all paid employees of the organization from the CEO to the front line. They typically make up the largest line item in a museum’s budget. Museums also have an array of other service providers, including regular vendors, contractors, and others who are all seen by visitors in the same light as paid employees and who contribute profoundly to the organization’s success. Paid employees, however, have access to different information and are held to higher standards.

How it’s used

While all members of the museum community are expected to uphold its values and serve to engage the public, it is the museum staff that are ultimately responsible for this work and are paid to represent the museum in the eyes of the public. The museum is responsible to ensure that anyone actively working with the museum conducts themselves appropriately because they are in effect representing the museum even though they may not be staff.

Staff are thought workers who help shape the direction of the organization. They are the core team that carries out the museum’s mission and activates the strategic plan. As such, they are critical to the success of the organization and are not just resources in the same vein as facilities or collections.

Note: The majority of North American museums are small museums, many of which have few or no paid staff. In those cases, the roles and responsibilities of paid employees may fall to board members and volunteers.

Why it matters

Since museums exist to serve the public, all those who interface directly with the public are critical to its purpose. Any negative experience in the museum is a threat to the brand and thus, future visitation, membership, etc.

How a museum treats its employees has a direct impact on audience experience. The health and well-being of museum employees is thus foundational to an organization’s capacity to effectively serve the broader public and fulfill its mission.

Recommends

The word “staff” is commonly used for employees who are not part of the leadership and this, in our view, is problematic because it supports a particular mental model.

As we see it, the term staff creates a false sense of separation between decision-makers or “thinkers” and “doers.” All employees should all be both decision makers and doers.

“Team members” is a better term in our view and all members of the team should be empowered to make executive decisions within their designated area of responsibility, rooted in the organization’s Core Values and also be fully empowered to carry out those decisions. “Staff” as a term interferes with this sense of agency.

C, Glosario

Core Values

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

What it means

Core values are a focused set of guiding principles that define your highest organizational aspirations. The organization is stronger when all members honor the core values and apply them in all decisions, large and small. They operate internally and externally; this includes team behavior, colleague interactions, and how the organization interacts with the public.

How it’s used

Core values should be used in critical decisions such as board selection, hiring, training, onboarding, and program selection. They should also be used in day-to-day discussions, planning, and strategic planning as an active tool for all decision-making. Core values can serve as a type of rubric to assess the compatibility of a partnership.

Core values serve as guardrails for everyone, including the board, executive leadership, team members, and volunteers, and they should extend to expected visitor behavior. All members of the organization should take responsibility to uphold and defend the core values. This work should be regarded as part of one’s role and responsibility as a member of the organization.

Core values should address an organization’s highest aspirations rather than reiterate standard nonprofit management practices. Safety and integrity, for example, should not clutter the core values, as these should be regarded as basic prerequisites for continued operation.

Core values must be well defined, easy to understand, and ready to use by everyone involved in the museum; this puts a severe limit on how many core values any museum can reasonably have.

Why it matters

In a world where museums face an increasingly uncertain future, core values serve as critical guardrails and inspiration, protecting the organization from going off the path as it moves toward the achievement of its most aspirational vision.

Core values are a powerful tool in the development, evolution, or maintenance of organizational culture, which is, in turn, a key constraint on organizational strategy. If the culture, and thus the behavior of those inside the organization, is out of alignment with the strategy, the museum’s capacity to execute that strategy will be severely limited.

Notes

See also Purpose Statement (Purpose, Mission, Vision, Values)

Recommends

We recommend using only three core values and to avoid “values soup” with five, six, or more values. A total of three core values allows every member of the organization to keep them all clear in their heads and top-of-mind so that they can make use of them. A large collection of core values, especially those with absent or nebulous definitions, are nearly impossible to use in real-world decision-making. We see this as a significant and very common problem when an organization seeks to activate its core values in service of building a stronger organizational culture, or by extension, executing an organizational strategy.

 

Recent years have witnessed the addition of DEAI to many organizations’ list of core values. This is problematic for at least two reasons: (1) diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are actually four additional values; and (2) they should, like safety and integrity, be part of the baseline for any museum’s operation today. Reality, however, lags way behind this ideal and so the impetus to add them is understandable. Our recommendation at this time is to include DEAI in the definition of all of a museum’s core values rather than adding them as an appendage.

Glosario, T

Target Audience

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

What it means

A target audience is a group of people with shared demographic and/or psychographic characteristics that the museum has identified for a particular purpose, such as exhibition or program attendance or participation in a survey. Target audiences are often represented by a persona (see Audience Persona) with a name and detailed description, highlighting specific characteristics that are representative of a member of this group.

How it’s used

Consider a marketing campaign for an upcoming project; a broad message targeted to the general public might be seen, but is at risk of being overlooked, whereas a much more focused message that keys in on the needs and interests of a particular audience is likely to be more effective. Well-defined target audiences and research-based knowledge of what these audiences value enhance the museum’s project team’s ability to work together in a more focused manner as they seek to achieve the project’s audience-based goals.

A product, such as an exhibition, is best developed with a target audience in mind. Not doing this means that the target audience defaults to those within the museum instead of an identified external audience. Nothing is truly for everyone, but specific targeting, when done well, can have the effect of energizing the audience most likely to benefit from the program or exhibition. This, in turn, can spark word-of-mouth and thus significantly extend the reach of the museum’s marketing and communication efforts and expand the realized audience beyond the original target.

It should be noted that, in general, new audiences are far more difficult to attract than existing ones and any new target audience will require persistent and sustained effort to develop and maintain.

Why it matters

Target audiences allow the organization and its staff to focus their resources and efforts on an agreed-upon audience or community. This helps to clarify where to advertise, for example, and what aspects of the offer to highlight in the museum’s communications. Deepening a relationship with a target audience requires both focus and consistency, so having too many target audiences can diminish the museum’s ability to deliver its message.

Notes

See also Audience Persona

recommends

Narrowing your target audience will consistently have greater yield than expanding the target. This is a discipline because it is so easy to want things to be for “everyone.”

 

For examples of highly specific targeting and its positive effects, see: You Need a Target: What Makes a Marketing Plan Strategic?

 

For a deeper look at the difference between audience-centric product design and internally focused product design, see: Curatorial vs. Marketing

F, Glossary

Free

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

What it means

Free means eliminating the price for a museum offering, program, or initiative (e.g., “The program is free to attend” or “Admission to the museum is free”).

Free can have significant benefits to the public, the organization, and the community. When costs are removed for the audience, accessibility improves; however, it is important to recognize that for the organization, free comes with unavoidable costs and consumption of the organization’s resources. It is also important to acknowledge that there are hidden costs of participation for the audience as well (e.g., transportation, parking, food, or even opportunity cost of what else could be done with one’s time).

How it’s used

A museum can offer programs or admission for free on a periodic or permanent basis to support the museum’s mission or for marketing purposes.

Permanently free admissions or program offerings can also have the potential to reduce perceived value, commitment to attendance, and/or reduce the amount of time a visitor spends at an exhibition or event.

Free is not a substitute for direct invitations to a particular community to visit or attend. The museum should not assume that being free is sufficient as an invitation to participate, especially for minority or traditionally underserved communities.

Why it matters

Free admission or free programming is an important tool to increase access, particularly local community access to the museum and its programs.

For the public as well as the staff, it is important to communicate the value the offer brings despite its being free. Furthermore, appropriate public recognition should be given to the supporters that made free admission or programming possible.

Recommends

See: Museums and Race

Glosario, W

Boca a boca

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

Qué significa

Todos contamos historias. El boca a boca es la abreviatura de las historias que se cuentan sobre su museo o sus productos en el mercado. Estas historias pueden ser positivas o negativas. Por lo general, se consideran el tipo de información más fiable y poderosa que una persona puede recibir sobre su museo y sus ofertas. Las redes sociales orgánicas funcionan como una especie de boca a boca. Las reseñas en línea también son una forma de narración de historias estrechamente relacionadas y tienen un efecto similar.

Cómo se utiliza

El boca a boca es el resultado de todos los componentes de la experiencia y, por tanto, la responsabilidad de todas las funciones del museo. (Véase también Valor de marca.) El marketing, las comunicaciones y la participación del público desempeñan un papel en la preparación del escenario para el boca a boca, pero fundamentalmente, está impulsado por la calidad del producto (por ejemplo, exposiciones y programas) y la experiencia vivida. Las experiencias extremadamente buenas fomentan el boca a boca positivo. Las experiencias moderadamente buenas no suelen hacerlo. Las experiencias negativas, incluso las ligeramente negativas, fomentan un boca a boca negativo. Esta gama de respuestas a una experiencia es importante porque las historias negativas tienen más peso que las positivas.

Por qué es importante

El boca a boca es, sin duda, el mecanismo de marketing más poderoso porque puede impulsar el comportamiento. Al estar arraigado en la narración de historias, algo inherente al ser humano y, en un mundo sobresaturado de marketing, la historia en primera persona o el testimonio que te da alguien que conoces y en quien confías prevalece sobre casi cualquier otro mensaje. Este poder es el origen de herramientas tan utilizadas como el Net Promoter Score (NPS). Para un museo, la misma dinámica está en juego. Lo que la gente dice de usted y de sus productos (por ejemplo, una exposición especial) suele ser el factor más determinante para que una persona decida asistir o no.

recomienda

Véase: If You Satisfy Your Customers You Fail. (Si satisface a sus clientes, está fracasando)

Glosario, W

Bienestar

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

Qué significa

El Instituto Nacional del Bienestar (NWI, por sus siglas en inglés) define «el bienestar como un proceso activo a través del cual las personas toman conciencia de una existencia más satisfactoria y eligen opciones para conseguirla». Asimismo, el bienestar puede entenderse en varias dimensiones, como la espiritual, la emocional, la mental/intelectual, la social/relacional, la medioambiental y la física.

Hoy en día, no es raro que las empresas, organizaciones e instituciones académicas consideren dimensiones adicionales o elementos basados en el bienestar para sus instituciones. Tanto si la organización se plantea el bienestar desde las seis dimensiones del NWI como desde una oferta más amplia, el bienestar ofrece una visión más profunda y holística de la salud de una persona, alejándose de un punto de vista particular, por ejemplo, la salud física, para adentrarse en otras consideraciones como las conexiones sociales, las relaciones o la espiritualidad.

El bienestar de los museos inspira una visión y comprensión más completa de su personal, su público y su comunidad.
Como señala la red International Audience Engagement (IAE), «»los museos tienen un papel activo en la propuesta y seguimiento de las diversas necesidades de bienestar de nuestras comunidades».

Cómo se utiliza

El bienestar puede considerarse tanto una perspectiva como un marco para los museos, ya que les ayuda a implicar y entender a su personal y voluntarios, al público y a las comunidades a las que sirve el museo.

El concepto de bienestar proporciona al museo un horizonte amplio, que va desde una visión personal hasta una más plural. Un ejemplo de la inclusión del concepto de bienestar podría animar al museo a considerar el impacto negativo de la soledad durante la pandemia en los individuos y sus relaciones con sus amigos, familia y vecinos (social). Considerando otros aspectos, las actividades físicas de las personas se vieron obligadas a cambiar durante la pandemia (físico). Si consideramos otra perspectiva, muchos ya no pudieron asistir a actividades religiosas en sus lugares de culto (espiritual).

El marco de bienestar permite a la organización considerar, planificar y, en la medida de lo posible, abordar una gama más amplia de necesidades para el personal y los voluntarios del museo, el público y la comunidad. Un marco de bienestar alienta al museo a ampliar su oferta y crear oportunidades de participación en grupo para que el individuo pueda socializar con su familia y amigos (social). El museo podría considerar las distancias recorridas en sus exposiciones (físico). Considerar las necesidades religiosas de su público (espiritual), el museo podría plantearse modificar las opciones de alimentos en sus cafetería.

La IAE proporciona a los museos un marco basado en el bienestar para ayudarles a planificar y abordar las necesidades holísticas de su personal, su público y su comunidad.

Por qué es importante

Una mentalidad y un marco de bienestar proporcionan al museo y a su personal una visión ampliada de las necesidades del personal, la audiencia y las comunidades. Poner en práctica un marco de bienestar puede hacer que las personas se sientan nutridas y más satisfechas con su experiencia en el museo, fomentando así un mayor número de visitas e involucramiento. El bienestar lleva la discusión más allá de los conceptos básicos individuales a una perspectiva de las necesidades comunitarias más amplia. Esto permite al museo planificar mejor, comprometerse y satisfacer esas necesidades y expectativas.

Glosario, V

Experiencia del visitante

Posted on by Joyce Kwon

Qué significa

La experiencia del visitante son las interacciones que una persona tiene con el museo y que forman e informan sus sentimientos sobre el mismo. La experiencia del visitante comienza antes de que el visitante entre en el museo, pero una vez que entra, el efecto es acumulativo de cada interacción, desde la venta de entradas y la seguridad, hasta la oferta de comida y la calidad de la interpretación. La experiencia del visitante la proporcionan el edificio, su contenido y todos sus empleados de primera línea y voluntarios. También se ve afectada por circunstancias externas, como el tiempo o lo que ocurre en la comunidad circundante.

Aunque la experiencia del visitante suele aplicarse sólo a lo físico, las mismas consideraciones se aplican a la experiencia del usuario (es decir, abarca también la experiencia digital que ofrezca el museo).

Cómo se utiliza

Si bien la experiencia del visitante es altamente subjetiva e individualizada, y se ve afectada por algunos elementos que están fuera del control del museo, es una consideración crítica que debe estar en el centro de la planificación y el diseño del equipo para todos los aspectos de la oferta de un museo de cara al público. Se puede medir utilizando herramientas como encuestas de promotores, entrevistas puntuales, estudios de observación o incluso tener a aquellos que normalmente están detrás de escena, como los curadores, recorriendo el piso y observando cómo los visitantes asimilan lo que se ofrece.

Por qué es importante

Una excelente experiencia del visitante es esencial para que el boca a boca sea positivo. El entusiasmo de la historia que un visitante cuenta tras su visita, o cómo comparte la experiencia con su red de contactos, es un factor determinante para aumentar o disminuir la asistencia y crear marca. Las visitas pueden y deben fomentarse a través del marketing y la comunicación, pero es la experiencia del visitante la que determina si las cifras de asistencia aumentan o disminuyen a medida que una exposición o programa sigue su curso.

Notas

Véase también Bienestar