In this episode, Amy tells the story of her first summer at a museum how her co-workers helped her with homesickness, and how they did a summer reset for fall. She shares 8 Summer Vibes tips for your summer.

Sign up here for this summer’s email series: https://bit.ly/lovemymuseumbrandcamp



More free resources:

Museum Metrics Tracker Template: https://bit.ly/amysmuseummetrics

Planning Calendar for Museums: https://bit.ly/2024museumcal

People First Framework Guide for Museums: https://bit.ly/4PSguide_lovemymuseum

Check out the website at: www.lovemymuseum.com

Hey there!

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Today we're talking about taking

breaks and avoiding burnout.

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And I'm going to share with you a story

about my first summer working in a museum.

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And how my museum co-workers

helped me deal with homesickness.

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And how we eased through the

summer for a much needed rest.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to the Love my Museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Kehs,

and I love museums.

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I also happen to be a brand

strategist and communications expert.

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Today, we're talking about summer vibes,

taking breaks and avoiding burnout.

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A 2022 study done by the organization,

Museums Moving Forward, found that while

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the overwhelming majority of the art

museum workers polled found a sense of

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meaning and purpose in their work, they

are more dissatisfied with their jobs

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and workplaces when compared with U.S.

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workers overall.

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The study also told us that two thirds

of those art museum workers are thinking

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about leaving their jobs and that low

pay and burnout are the top reasons.

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I'm recording this

podcast a few weeks early.

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It's actually summer solstice weekend.

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Thinking about this study and

the approaching summer, I thought

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I'd tell you the story about my

first summer working at a museum.

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I volunteered at a public affairs

office of a museum while I was in

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college and a few months before

I graduated, I was offered a job.

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That summer was the first

summer I spent away from home.

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I grew up in a small beach town and

so living in the city that summer

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was a bit of a culture shock.

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When you grow up in a beach

town, summers are pretty unique.

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Families in beach towns don't go on

summer vacations because your town is

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summer vacation for the rest of the world.

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So everyone is pitching

in and working hard.

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Over my summers as a teenager and

a college student, I worked on

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the boardwalk, in restaurants as a

waitress and hostess, in the office

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of a condominium building, and my

favorite, an ice cream shop in the

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lobby of a hotel where I looked out

the window at the ocean every day.

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My family would take our vacation

at Christmas and some families

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would vacation in February because

it really was all hands on deck

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to help out in the summertime.

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Living in a beach town, also meant

that from Memorial day to Labor day

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I was in flip-flops and shorts and

there was always a beach towel and a

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beach chair in the trunk of my car.

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Beach time usually meant going to sit

with friends who were working their

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beach stand to keep them company.

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You get the idea.

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So living in Washington, DC, being in

an office, wearing a suit and high heels

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was really hard that first summer, it was

really hard and I was definitely homesick.

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My office mates that summer were

very sympathetic to this adjustment

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and they tried to help me ease

into this new summer lifestyle.

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They showed me that even in the city,

even at a museum, there is some room

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to slow down and go easy on yourself.

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That kindness helped me so much and taught

me that it was okay to take it easy.

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The work still got done.

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And don't get me wrong.

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We had a lot of big things

going on that summer.

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But we also took some time to slow down.

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And rest.

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Now fast forward.

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Each summer now I put together

a special email series for

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the people on my email list.

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Last spring, I was thinking about what

my summer series would be, and I was

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talking to a client and she was really

tired and she was definitely burnout.

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We had just had a really busy spring.

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We had one more event before things would

kind of quiet down a bit for the summer.

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So I was telling her about my first

summer at a museum and this summer vibe.

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How we eased through that summer so

that we all could regroup and rest.

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As I was telling her about that,

that was the inspiration for last

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summer's email series to my email list.

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So I thought I'd share

those tips with you.

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The email series was called Summer Vibes.

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I have eight summer vibes tips, i nspired

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And also how I helped my client

rest and regroup last summer

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and get ready for the fall.

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Because while it's a good

idea to rest, it's also a good

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idea to set up some habits.

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So that you can be proactive and t

ry to avoid burnout in the future.

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So the first thing that we did

that summer was we tidied up.

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We cleaned our office space.

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We filed all the papers from

the spring exhibit openings.

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We made new folders and labels

for the filing cabinets.

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We stapled the business cards of

journalists into our Rolodex that

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we had met during those openings.

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And we made sure that those

contacts were on our media list.

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We cleaned out the office supply closet.

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Some people moved their furniture around.

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Now you probably don't

have a Rolodex anymore.

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You may not even have a filing cabinet.

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But take some time to clean

up your computer desktop.

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Empty your downloads folder.

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Dust your desk.

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So that is Summer Vibes tip number one.

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Tidy your space.

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Now number two.

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We're going to do some planning.

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Take a look at the next 90 days,

both for your communications

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team, but also for you.

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Yes.

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Yes, you heard me.

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I want you to focus on you too.

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90 day planning changed my career and my

life as you've heard in previous episodes.

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And I can't.

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Say enough good things about it.

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So here is a simplified version

of how I create a 90 day plan.

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And this is something that I

now do with clients as well.

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So map out the next 90 days by

first putting holidays vacations.

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Other big events so that, you

know, they're on the horizon

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and you can make time for them.

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I really encourage you to put

both your work events and your

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personal events all in one calendar.

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Now create three to five goals

for the quarter and make sure

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that they are measurable.

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These three to five goals can be as a

team or personal goals or they can be

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goals for your own career development.

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And now for each goal, write a list

of action steps that are very specific

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and then take those action steps and

plan the days you'll be doing them.

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I recommend Mondays.

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Be sure to give yourself some

grace, if things have to slip and

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plan catch up days if they do.

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So, first was tidy.

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We've tidied up our space.

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Number two, we've planned

out our next 90 days.

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And number three, you probably

won't be surprised, is measure.

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Set up a metrics tracker because having

numbers, having measured proof of what's

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working and what's not working at your

museum is going to help prevent burnout.

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You can begin doing this

with a simple spreadsheet.

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Set it up as a shared document,

you can have each team fill in the

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part that they are responsible for.

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Track your visitor numbers,

website visitation, special event

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registration, social media metrics,

media stories, email subscriptions,

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museum memberships, gift shop revenue.

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And then every Monday, take a few minutes

to record the metrics in the spreadsheet.

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It is important to do it on

the same day, every week.

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If you choose to give your team the

responsibility of filling out their

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section you may need to send some email

reminders until the habit is established.

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You could also set it up as a recurring

task in your project management tool.

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I do this in my own business.

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I've been recording my metrics every

Monday for about three years now.

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I have a recurring task every

Monday in my Google calendar that

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tells me to check my metrics.

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I also use the project

management tool, Click up, to

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remind me to check my metrics.

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With the help of those two reminders,

every Monday, my assistant goes into

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our spreadsheet and records some

of the metrics, and then there are

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also a few metrics that I record.

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After everything is in it, I do a

quick check and review the metrics.

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I also take some extra time at

the end of every month to review

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the metrics for the month.

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And so I'd like for you to do that too.

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Record your metrics

every week, every Monday.

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And at the end of every month,

Review your metrics for the month.

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Do you see trends?

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Is there room for improvement?

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And after you review, set

some goals for the next month.

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The fourth tip is to have a standing

weekly team meeting and that

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meeting should be on a Tuesday.

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Let me tell you why.

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So let's say, like most people

that right now you have.

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a Monday morning meeting.

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And everyone comes in and that first

thing they have to do after the weekend

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is go to the Monday morning meeting.

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No one has even had a chance to look

at their calendar for the week yet.

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No one feels prepared.

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They aren't sure what support

they need from their colleagues.

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And so they start the day and

the week off feeling stressed.

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Now, if you have your team meeting

on a Tuesday morning that gives

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everyone on staff all day Monday to

plan for the week, and get organized,

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to actually get some work done , and

most importantly, to figure out

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what they need from their coworkers.

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And they can ask for that during

the weekly meeting on Tuesday.

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The fifth tip is to work

on your relationships.

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It is very possible that each

department has developed its own set of

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responsibilities and goals and objectives.

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Everyone might assume that these are all

aligned, but that's probably not the case.

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Not only are they probably not the same,

but everyone is also probably making a lot

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of assumptions about what each other does.

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Those assumptions can lead to

confusion, more work ,stress, l ots

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of times it means that there are

multiple people doing the same thing.

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When you take the time to talk to

your coworkers about how you work and

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what you do, the results are amazing.

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I have seen it lead to

collaborations, for an easier.

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and less stressful work environment.

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When departments are working

together, it creates a cohesive

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and efficient organization where

everyone is working towards a common

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mission and vision for the museum.

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It leads to improved productivity.

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Innovation.

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Take some time this summer

and make those connections.

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Talk to other people in your museum.

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about what you do and how you work.

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And maybe you find new

ways to work together.

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The sixth tip is to look at

things that you do repeatedly.

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Can you document those procedures?

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Can you document them into

standard operating procedures

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so that you aren't the only one

who knows how to do these things.

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So that if you go on vacation this summer,

someone else can take care of it for you.

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It takes some pressure off.

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It is another way to prevent burnout.

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Make sure that you have all

of those in a shared folder.

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A lot of times we get to the point

of burnout because we feel like we're

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the only person that can do our jobs.

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So if we leave these, you

can share the workload.

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Number seven is habits.

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This might require a bit of work,

but trust me it is so worth the

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time and effort and the summer's

the perfect time to work on this.

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So now that you've developed and

documented your procedures, you need

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to establish them as habits and habits

take time and everyone will need

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some help and friendly reminders for

awhile, but please stick with it.

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For your team, take your SOP, your

standard operating procedure and put

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it into a project management tool.

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I use Click Up and also

Notion in my own business.

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The eighth tip is to take a break.

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It could be just getting out

of the building at lunchtime.

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It could be a long weekend.

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It could be a week off.

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It could be just giving yourself

some time in the middle of the

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day to w alk around your museum.

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But be sure to take a break.

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And that's it.

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Those are all of my summer vibes tips.

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I really hope you found this helpful.

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My summer email series for this

summer just started last week and

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it is not too late to sign up.

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This summer, we are talking about

brand messaging we'll be going over

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the different parts of brand messaging

and I'll be giving the people on

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my email list simple action items

to work on throughout the summer.

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I'll leave the link in the show

notes if you would like to sign up.

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Thanks so much for listening.

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I'll see you next time.