Your relationships at work can impact your productivity and job satisfaction. In this episode, Amy reviews the Four Ps of the People First Framework, her framework for internal communications strategy, and then talks about the first P, people. She discusses the significance of these work relationships and gives key tips and strategies for how to improve them. 

Want to learn more?

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

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Check out the website at: www.lovemymuseum.com

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Hey today on the podcast we are talking about you.

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Yes, you, the museum employee.

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We're also talking about how

your coworkers can impact the

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work that you do and vice versa.

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And I'm giving you tips on how to

work on those relationships so there

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is more productivity and less stress.

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I want to make your life better.

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Let's get started.

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Hello, and welcome to the

Love My Museum podcast.

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I'm your host Amy Kehs.

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I'm a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums,

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and I'm so glad you're here.

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Last time on the podcast, we talked

about the four things that you need to

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tend to, to take care of your museum.

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The Four P's actually.

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People, planning, process, and practice.

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These Four P's are called

the People First Framework.

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It's an internal communication

strategy that I built that lays a

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foundation for creating a workplace

that people don't want to leave.

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We'll be talking about each of these

Four P's on the upcoming episodes.

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This episode is the first one of those.

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Today we're talking about people.

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Now I have a confession to make:

these first few episodes that, that

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I'm recording for the launch of the

podcast I've recorded out of order.

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This one was definitely the trickiest.

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I think it was the trickiest to

record because it was the culmination

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of everything that I've learned,

observed and experienced over the

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last 30 years of working in museums.

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It is where I've seen the

most possibility and success.

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It is also where I've seen clients that

have the most struggles, pain-points,

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stress, hurt, and honestly, heart ache.

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And so I think it's really important

first to kind of give you my first

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experience with this which really

happened just as my career was starting.

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I went to American University in

Washington, DC, and my two best

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friends wanted to do a study

abroad program in London, England.

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I honestly did not have study abroad

on my radar screen, but I also

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didn't want to get left behind.

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And so I signed up to go along with them.

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Right before it was time for

us to go I got a call from my

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advisor who said, Amy, you need

to pick a major before you can go.

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I was still undeclared at this

point, and so in order for them to

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let me go to London for the next

semester, I needed to declare a major.

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I still had no idea what I wanted to do.

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I had had a great first

year and a half of college.

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I loved living in Washington, DC.

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I loved visiting the museums and visiting

the monuments, but I had no idea how to

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incorporate that into a major or a career.

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One of my favorite classes that I took was

called Washington DC: Life in a Monument.

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And it was so great.

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We learned the history and we

visited museums and we visited

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different parts of the city.

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I loved it, but again, I didn't

know how to make that into a career.

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And so I needed to come up with

a major, and my roommate was

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a public communications major.

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And so I picked that, I copied.

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And we get to London, and one thing I

knew about our semester abroad, but I

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sort of had decided not to deal with

it, was that one of the requirements

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was that we all did an internship.

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And then that internship

would be based on your major.

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So I had to come up with a

communications internship, a PR

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internship for this newly chosen major.

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And I got an internship at

a really well-known public

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relations firm at the time.

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It was an international firm.

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And they had an office

then near Victoria station.

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They had tourism and travel

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Internships weren't really a big

thing yet, especially in Europe.

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And so they didn't really know what

to do with an intern, and I didn't

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really know what I was supposed

to do with an internship either.

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Neither of us knew what

to do with each other.

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There were probably about 10 people who

worked on this team and on the same floor.

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And they put me at a tiny desk in

a corner and I pasted newspaper

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clippings for their client folders.

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For the entire five

months that I was there.

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That was the only thing I did.

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No one really talked to me.

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No one invited me to come with them

to lunch when they went out to lunch.

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No one explained to me the

importance of what I was doing

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,or what they were working on.

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I really loved, loved living in

London and I loved my semester abroad.

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But that internship was miserable.

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At lunchtime, I would walk over to

Victoria station, have lunch by myself,

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and I would treat myself to those

little shampoo samples at the Body

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Shop just to try and cheer myself up.

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I didn't learn anything.

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And by the time I left to there, I

still didn't understand what anyone did.

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There was one person at the internship

who never called me by my name.

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Actually, nobody really talked to

me very much, but he called me the

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colonist, which was kind of funny.

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I didn't learn.

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Anything.

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And I also felt really left out.

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It just, the whole thing was

just kind of a waste of time.

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I knew when I left London, that the first

thing I was going to do when I got back

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to school in the fall was change my major.

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I had decided that public

relations just wasn't for me.

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I had made an appointment with my advisor,

but before I got that meeting, I was

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walking through our quad one day with my

roommate and there was a volunteer fair.

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My roommate picked up an application

to volunteer at the White House

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and I picked up an application

to volunteer at the Smithsonian.

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It was for their behind the

scenes volunteer program.

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And I went in to talk to the

person who did the placement.

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And she said, Oh, I see that

you're a public relations major.

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I think we have some openings in

some of the public affairs offices.

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And I said, Oh, well actually I'm

thinking of changing my major, so

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you don't have to worry about that.

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But I would love to work at

the American History museum.

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And she said, well, we actually don't

have a spot open there, but we do

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have a spot open at the Smithsonian's

National Air and Space Museum

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in their public affairs office.

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And I was a bit intimidated

by the subject matter.

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I didn't really know anything

about planes or space.

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And I told her that and she

said, oh no, I think you're

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going to like this office a lot.

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You should just go check it out.

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And so I went to meet with

the people in the office.

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And it was like night and day

from the London internship.

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They were warm and welcoming and I

could tell immediately that I was going

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to learn so much and that they were

going to take really good care of me.

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And so of course I said, yes.

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And on my first day there, they

had an agenda, I went around and

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met with each person on that first

day to talk to them about what they

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did and what their job was like.

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We had lunch together.

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I quickly knew that this

was the place for me.

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And it was because of the people.

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It ended up being the most

amazing experience ever and

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it set me up for success.

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It was the people.

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It was the people that made the

difference from the beginning.

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I was a volunteer for all of my

junior and senior years of college.

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And after I had that first great

introduction to the public affairs

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office, I then started meeting

the other people in the museum.

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And I watched and learned how my

colleagues and the public affairs

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office worked to maintain relationships

with the other departments.

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And I watched how they supported

each other, and how they had amazing

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success with museum projects because

everyone was doing their part.

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Of course, there were still differences

of opinions or personalities that

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didn't quite click, but for the most

part, everyone was working towards

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that common goal and everyone was

supporting each other and collaborating.

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By the time I graduated, I was offered

a job in the public affairs office and

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it was my first job out of college.

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I still keep in touch with the

people that I worked with then.

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They are my first work family.

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They're my biggest cheerleaders and I

know they are listening to this podcast

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episode and cheering the loudest.

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When I met them, I was their 20 year old

intern and they have watched me grow up.

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Since I left that job and started my

own business, I have seen clients over

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the last 24 years struggle with the

relationships with their coworkers.

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And I've often thought about and wondered

what made that environment so special.

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Now while my Air and Space crew

is my first work family, I have

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another work family and they have

taught me just as much about this.

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Being an entrepreneur can be a

bit lonely at times, and so I

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have a work family of other small

business owners and entrepreneurs.

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Some of them in the group

have also been my clients.

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We trade advice and we

teach each other so much.

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And in this group, I have quite a few

friends who specialize in leadership,

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coaching, and also team building.

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And I've talked to them a lot about

how museums, unlike businesses or

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corporations, don't have the luxury

of calling in these specialists

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to help them, usually because

of budget constraints and time.

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And I've watched how the breakdown

in internal communications affects

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the outcomes and the output of the

work that the museum is trying to do.

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Once I started working on that public

communications major in college, we

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had to take classes on everything

from public relations writing

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to interpersonal communications.

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And since I graduated 30 years ago,

I've continued to learn about how

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coworkers can strengthen those work

relationships into something that helps

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them get work done more efficiently

and with less stress and turmoil.

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I would guess probably around 80% of

delays failures, shortcomings that I've

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seen have been due to communication.

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And as I've implemented some of the

things that I've learned with my

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clients, It doesn't surprise me that

I look back and see that many of these

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elements were in place at my first job.

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And I hope that some of these tips

and tricks that I'm about to share,

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you can start implementing now.

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Number one.

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Open up those lines of communication.

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Each person knows what they need

to do to get their job done,

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but do your coworkers know?

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Do they know what you do?

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Make time to meet with the other

departments and tell them what you do

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and how you could use their support.

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I recently had a client and we met with

a new employee in another department.

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We just wanted to kind of see how

we could support her and also make

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sure she understood what our role

was and what we were already working

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on and how we could help her.

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And during that meeting, she was

pleasantly surprised to find out what

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we were already doing to support her

and that there were things that she

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thought she needed to do herself that

were instantly taken off her plate.

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And you could visibly see a weight lift.

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Number two is to be consistent.

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Once you have those lines of

communication open, be consistent.

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Let me give you another example.

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A lot of times in the communications

office, we put together a media calendar.

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So every month we're putting

a media calendar together of

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what's going on in the museum

and sending it out to the media.

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Well, of course we need the information

about what's going on in the museum.

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Lots of times these things are being

planned but people forget to tell us.

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So one simple fix is to email your

colleagues, to ask them what they're

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working on and what they have coming up.

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We'll talk more about this in the

episode where we talk about processes

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and systems, but being consistent

means that you stay at top of mind.

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Eventually they'll get into the habit

and it may become second nature.

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But everyone gets busy, and so

if you commit to sending out

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that reminder, it will help them

so much and it will help you.

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Number three.

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Okay, I don't know a nice way

to say number three, so I'll

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just come out and say it.

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Stay in your lane.

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Know your expertise, know your

coworkers expertise and do your part.

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This is a huge pain point for

all communications professionals,

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not just at museums.

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When you try to do someone else's job

for them, it creates more work for them.

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In the case of communications, it can

have a lasting effect on your brand, the

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museum's reputation with journalists.

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As a communications person, I would

never dream of designing an exhibit.

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Or calling a school to arrange a tour.

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Or putting on some white gloves

and picking up an artifact.

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That's not my job.

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My job is communications.

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My job is coordinating the messaging

for the museum, staying on brand and

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reaching out to all of the different

audiences that the museum has.

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Stay in your lane.

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If you want to offer help,

do it in a respectful way.

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And don't take it personally

if they say No, thank you.

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When you're in those meetings,

opening up those lines of

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communication, be a good listener.

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Listen to what their job actually entails.

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And offer your support.

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But please don't try to

do their job for them.

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It makes more work.

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Okay.

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So what's a good starting point to

get all of these things in motion?

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I would say, start with the list.

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List, all of the people that you

work with, how you work together.

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What are some of the things

that you collaborate on?

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And think of the ways

that they can help you.

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And what you might be able

to do to support them.

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And then next schedule a meeting.

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And during that meeting, tell

them what you do, how you work,

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and how they can support you.

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And ask them the same.

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How can you both make a positive

impact and not a negative impact

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on the work that you both do?

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Usually this will be something that

happens between departments whether

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you have a department of one or many.

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If you work in a larger museum, this

might be something that you need to

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do within your department as well.

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Like my example, if there's a new

employee, ask for a meeting, maybe even

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create a little information packet about

your team to give them that tells who

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does what, contact information, et cetera.

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The key is to collaborate

and to be a good listener.

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And find ways to work

smarter and not harder.

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I hope this episode has been helpful.

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Please check out the show

notes and download my free PDF

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on my people first framework.

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Thanks so much and I'll see you next time.