From the Fellow: Report from the 2018 NEMA Conference: Cultivating A Mission-Driven Mindset

Amanda Wastrom is the 2018/19 NEMA Fellow. As part of the fellowship Amanda is writing a series of articles for the NEMA community.

2018 marked my seventh trip to the annual NEMA conference. What is it that keeps bringing me back, year after year? The sessions. Every year, I come away with at least one gem—a tool, an approach, a nugget—that I can immediately implement in my work. My best NEMA takeaways over the years were actionable, easy, and still in my head months later. A great year is marked by several takeaways and a notebook full of inspired scrawl.

For me, 2018 was a great year, complete with the full notebook and an armload of actionable ideas. By far, the homerun session was “Uncovering Your Inner Compass: An Interactive Values Workshop to Navigate Your Career and Your Leadership.” Yes, the title is a mouthful. But stay with me. This one resonated. It got to the core of who I am as a human in the world.

So often in our jobs, we take the 20,000-foot view. How does this program/exhibition/etc. forward our mission? We dutifully draft strategic plans and management policies and use them to guide our organizations into the future. Can you apply that same strategic thinking to your own work and your career?

As facilitator, Carole Ann Penney, a strategic career coach and founder of Penney Leadership, LLC, guided participants through a streamlined (and thoughtfully honed) exercise in self-reflection. Despite the short time, we all came away with insight into who we are, having identified our core values.

Why was this important? Carole Ann believes that synergy between your personal core values and those of your organization are key. If your core values are not being satisfied or honored, problems ensue. You know it when you see it, right? THAT feeling. The Sunday evening dreads. The anxiety about going to work. The feeling of being in a rut or that you just don’t fit in.

Where are you now? Where do you want to go? How are you going to get there? These are simple, fundamental questions. Yet perhaps a bit intimidating to tackle alone. Where do you start?! What I loved about Carole Ann’s session was how skillfully she facilitated a process that allowed us to access these questions. That 90-minute session was not enough! I recently followed up with Carole Ann to delve deeper into her story and her process. Here are excerpts from our conversation:

Tell me again how you got started? What’s your story?

I’m from Chester, Vermont originally, went to Brown University, and put down roots here in Rhode Island. I’ve been a certified professional coach for 7 years. I did that on the side while I worked at the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH). But for anyone who has ever felt a calling for their work, that calling started for me like a whisper and it got louder and louder until it was shaking me by the shoulders. In 2017, I left and started Penney Leadership full-time.

Why NEMA?

I really feel like museum folks are all my people! I got my start in museums and that’s what led me into the world of mission-driven work. My first job was at the Providence Children’s Museum. 

This concept of mission-driven work—that we NEED to feel like we are making meaning through our work—resonated with me and, from what I remember, a lot of my museum colleagues. How did you develop your philosophy? 

It’s been such an interesting process. When I was the Associate Director at RICH, I was the steward of the strategic plan. It was my job to operationalize it. I was looking at that document all the time. We didn’t have focus. We were trying to do too much. I realized that was also true for myself as an individual. I had a lot of roles and committee assignments. I needed that same focus. What is the vision that I want to bring in to my life? How can I say yes to the things that forward that? How can I say no to the things that detract from it? So, I wrote a strategic plan for myself. I started using it with some clients and trying it out.

And it worked?!

It was really powerful for three reasons. First, it gives people focus and clearer direction. Second, it serves as a decision-making tool or a filter. When an opportunity comes my way, what do I say yes to? Third, it gives people the words to actually talk about their professional identity. Even just meeting someone at a conference, what do you do? Do you just say what’s on your paycheck? How about job interviews? Or your LinkedIn summary? For a recent client, we defined her leadership style as part of her strategic plan. She’s a collaborative pragmatist. Then, in an interview, she was able to talk about her style and what that means.

I remember you talking about the ways in which the modern workplace is changing and evolving. Can you talk more about that?

In our session, we talked about a bunch of shifts in the career landscape and how work works. One of those shifts was towards meaning and purpose. The key to employee engagement is not recognition and reward. It is giving them a way to use their strength.

What are some of the other shifts going on?

It used to be that you got on a track and just went. Those tracks don’t exist anymore. We can pivot. Create our own tracks. Piece those things together. One of the things that was so interesting at NEMA was how the museum world is SO built around those tracks. Think of how it’s a HUGE deal to move from the curatorial track to education. For museum professionals, these are new ways to be thinking about your career.

One idea that has become really important is professional resilience. This is what I believe we all need to navigate the modern career landscape. A clear understanding of who you are, what you stand for, and what you bring to the table. No matter what. Job opportunities are shifting. If you lose your position, what do you do? You need to own your professional identity. If you know who you are and your impact, you can feel stronger and more confident.

I have heard a lot more about coaching over the past few years? Does this reflect any sort of boom or surge in interest?

Coaching as a field is quite new, within the past 20 years. There’s definitely a boom happening right now. I think the biggest reason is that it is really effective. It’s a very positive, future-oriented way to pull you forward.

How is coaching different from other roles?

A coach is not a consultant. Consultants have an expertise and you pay them to come in and tell you what to do. A coach is also different from a mentor. A mentor says “this is what I did and this is what you should do.” They’re giving you advice. A coach is not a therapist. Therapy is focused on fixing a medical issue or problem. A coach is different from a friend or family member, who have opinions and know you. They’ve got skin in the game.

Coaching is about your future and your goals. A coach is a thought partner. They are objective—a sounding board to help you synthesize and understand what you want and how to get there. A coach doesn’t correct, fix, or advise you. They help you access your own inner and outer resources to guide you forward.

It seems like your strategizing process would apply easily not just to individuals, but to organizations too.

Talking about values is really personal so I find that it builds trust and cohesion in a group. It engages people and reconnects them with their own sense of meaning. It helps you get to know each other on a different level. The same tools can serve the same purposes for individuals and organizations. They’re both living organisms.

Where do you go for career/leadership inspiration?

One of my favorite podcasts is: Hidden Brain: You 2.0 - How Silicon Valley Can Help You Get Unstuck, which explores a design-thinking approach to creative career building. One of my favorite books, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One by Jenny Blake, offers a great step-by-step method for changing careers. And I have to give a shout out for my newsletter. I think of myself as a curator of these practical resources.

I will second that shout out. I love your newsletter—I have found it so helpful! What should people know about working with a career coach?

One thing to keep in mind is that coaching is an unregulated field. If you are looking for a coach, look for their certification. The gold standard is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). They’ve created the ethics and the standards for the process of coaching. You want someone who is either ICF-certified or has completed an ICF accredited program.

For more about Carole Ann Penney, check out her website. Amanda Wastrom is Assistant Curator at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.