I have spent much of my career working for and with small businesses and organizations, all of which have required me to “wear many hats,” the theme of this issue of Museums Now. These experiences for the most part have been rewarding and fulfilling, allowing me to develop skills I never thought I’d have, exercise both sides of my brain, and learn the fine art of multitasking.
But there’s been a dark side as well. I’ve known first-hand the real and painful phenomenon of burnout. There was a time when I was killing myself with stress and anger, fear and frustration. I was driving myself to the point of exhaustion in my job. My blood pressure went through the roof. Like a lot of people, I thought the solution was to work harder, work my way through my problems. That’s the American Way, isn’t it? The Puritan work ethic. Sticktoitiveness. Elbow grease. But I found that this only created a vicious cycle: the harder I worked, the worse I felt.
As a former small museum director, I know that when you “wear many hats” in your job, you are particularly susceptible to burnout. On the plus side, you probably bring to your profession great passion, ambition, and a willingness to “go above and beyond” in pursuit of a mission that is much larger than yourself. But all of this inner goodness can make you vulnerable to burnout when a culture of stress leads to feelings of hopelessness and lack of control.
Since hopelessness and lack of control are key components of burnout, I’ve found that the remedy is to cultivate some personal empowerment strategies you can use to keep yourself healthy and motivated. Here are a few ideas for ways in which you can promote your individual self-care and how museum leaders can create a culture that mitigates stress and maximizes organizational well-being.
Individual Strategies
1) Be in tune with your body and mind. Recognize the physical symptoms of stress when they arise: these might be rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, tunnel vision, dizziness, queasiness, etc. Notice emotional symptoms too: feelings of outrage & unfairness, wanting to cry, wanting to crawl into a hole, fear, shame, unworthiness, etc. What are these things telling you at the moment? Be your own stress detective.
2) Set inner and outer boundaries. Learn to say “no” to yourself when your ambitions keep saying “yes.” Know when to say “no” to others (even superiors) when you are aware that the stress of doing so will lead to the symptoms in #1 above. You can’t do a good job if the job is making you sick.
3) Get organized. Keeping a lot of balls in the air is a very stressful thing to do if you can’t keep track of the balls. I’m fanatic about to-do lists and you should be too.
4) Adjust your attitude. Repeat after me: “I. Am. Not. My. Job.” It’s great that you care about your work, but recognize when you’re turning into a martyr. Find some refuge away from work by cultivating a sense of self that includes exercise, spirituality, and hobbies. (Volunteering for another museum doesn’t count.)
5) Develop an exit strategy. Remember that you have options, that things aren’t hopeless. For any situation, you have three possible responses: change it, accept it, or leave it. You have to pick one.
6) Remember that your career, and life, are full of twists and turns. Most people are under the impression that they’re on a linear path of progressively greater responsibilities and rewards, and that any deviation from that path (i.e., “lateral moves”) is a failure. Baloney. This type of thinking causes even more stress, inhibits creativity, and leads to “deer in the headlights” paralysis with regard to your options in #5. Be open to change. Don’t worry what others think. Trust the universe – and yourself.
Strategies for Museum Leaders
1) Remember that you’re human too, so bone up on the individual self-care strategies above.
2) Develop compassion. Your success as a leader requires you to recognize the humanity of your workers, whether they’re paid staff or volunteers. They have limits, ambitions, and emotions. When they say “no” to you, don’t take it personally.
3) Cultivate emotional intelligence as your most important leadership asset. Read the literature. Watch the TED Talks. There are five characteristics:
- Self Awareness: knowing one’s strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and impacts on others.
- Self Regulation: controlling or redirecting disruptive impulses and moods.
- Motivation: relishing achievement for its own sake.
- Empathy: understanding people’s emotional makeup.
- Social Skill: building rapport with others to move them in desired directions.
4) How do you react to failure? Are you institutionalizing that reaction? As the leader, you set the stage for developing either a culture of innovation and risk taking or a culture of blame. Make sure your team feels safe and supported when they’re vulnerable and overworked. Allow them to fail in ways that promote resilience for themselves and your organization.
5) Know your leadership style and whether it’s working for you. The “big three” are authoritative, delegative, and democratic. You are probably a blend of each, so the trick is knowing what situations require which style. (Most museum leaders, in my experience, find that the latter two styles work best for museum people, who are well-educated and self-motivated.)
6) It’s lonely at the top, so nurture your professional friendships and networks. Peer support is often the best form of self-care for leaders, so carve out time for lunch dates with area museum colleagues, museum conferences, communities of practice, and the like. (Earlier this year we created a program called “NEMA 911” for leaders in urgent need of confidential support and advice; go to nemanet.org/nema-911 for info.)
Good luck and stay happy!
Dan Yaeger