To-do List for Hiring a New Museum Director
Like dairy products, nuts, and tortilla chips, museum Directors have short shelf-lives. The glow begins to fade after six to eight years of tenure, signaling it is time for a change. What comes next is always a slog: by-now, comfortable relationships, cherished memories, familiar quirks, and well-trodden ways of thinking and doing things must all go out with the baby’s bath water. It’s “back to square one” once again, the dreaded blank canvas and the re-inventing of the wheel. But change must happen and be managed well. Choosing the “right” Director is, after all, the most important duty of any Board and the most important decision a Board member will make for the museum they care for.
The process begins with some soul-searching for the Board.
Is there full alignment in the Board —a shared and clear sense of purpose, priorities, and strategic direction — about the way forward?
Is the present a time for radical change or continuity? Should one think of revolution or evolution?
Are the skills and talent of the Board and staff up to snuff, or is some significant housekeeping required?
What does the “strategic horizon” look like? Turbulent and uncertain, or full of promise and bright?
Is the internal culture strong with shared values and beliefs, or is there frustration and anxiety in the trenches about decision making and priority setting?
Was the exiting Director beloved or …not so much?
As the Board answers these questions, a rough profile of the ideal next leader's character, skills, and experience for this moment in the museum’s history should begin to emerge. With that thumb-nail sketch coming into focus, the Board can get down to the nuts and bolts of selecting a new Director.
Chora can help at every step. In our experience, a Director search is vastly more likely to lead to a good fit if a Board does the following:
1. Agree on a realistic job description for the new Director: The description must be complete and compelling. This first step is often taken for granted, and the list of a prospective Director’s roles and responsibilities is formulaic and generic. A new Director’s competencies should match the real, on-the-ground job, not some generic standard for “effective leadership” cooked up by an executive search firm. Pass the job description by key staff as they know what is needed. Be sure to include in the job description the expected relationship to the Board. And don’t forget to include the current mission and strategic priorities as agreed upon by the whole Board and staff.
2. Provide a comprehensive museum snapshot: In approaching candidates, include a detailed overview of the museum —its history, its collections, its programs, and its main achievements. Information about the museum’s governance structure, staff, and stakeholders should also be provided.
3. Talk about current strategic priorities: Prospective Directors should be fully aware of “where the museum is going.” Share with them the museum's current strategic plan or vision document. As the selection committee screens applicants, it should highlight key objectives, priorities, results, and initiatives for the coming years. Be sure the staff and Board are on the same page in this matter. The key points of the conversation should be vetted by the interim CEO and the CFO to avoid (unpleasant) surprises, post-hire.
4. Be transparent about the museum’s financials: The search committee should offer candidates budget summaries, and relevant financial reports. This will give a prospective Director insight into the museum's financial health, funding sources, and budgetary constraints or opportunities. Often, a quick comparative look at peer institutions can give both the Board and candidates a sense of where the museum stands in the industry. (Chora has a large database that can easily benchmark metrics of a museum's past performance against its peers).
5. Help candidates understand the museum’s context: Most museums attract regional audiences, so information about the local context can be critical for a candidate to understand your museum's particular situation. Candidates should be briefed on the state of play with the local art market, trends, audience demographics, and the competitive landscape.
6. Share views about challenges and opportunities: Candor about the strengths and weaknesses of your museum gives a first opportunity for a truly strategic conversation with candidates — a harbinger of future conversations between the chosen Director and the Board. The search committee should discuss how the future Director will be expected to address the challenges it identifies and capitalize on opportunities. Listen carefully to how candidates react. The “chemistry” of this conversation may speak loudly about a candidate’s suitability for the job.
7. Set out clear guard rails and rules of engagement between Board and Director: In approaching candidates, clearly define the expectations for the Director’s role and outline performance metrics for success. This could include objectives related to financial sustainability, audience engagement and development, community impact, artistic excellence, and thoughts about diversity and inclusion. This is an area where projecting the image of a data-driven and result-oriented Board can set the stage for no-nonsense conversations with the chosen candidates for years to come.
8. It is not all about money but…: Be quite explicit about the salary, benefits, and perks associated with the Director position. Misunderstandings in these areas invariably backfire. Candor on money matters helps attract top talent and manage expectations. The primary reasons for the loss of talented staff are often (real or perceived) compensation unfairness and (real or perceived) toxicity of the work environment. It is often wise to “stretch” a little with the package on offer to be sure to attract and retain the “best-fit” Director. They are hard to find.
9. It takes (Board size +1) to tango…: In leading a museum, the Board and Director are locked in a complicated dance. The relationship between the new Director and the Board Chair sets the beat. There is no Arthur Murray pattern to follow, but much can be learned about the likely Board/Director dynamics in the context of a Director search. Character, humility, listening skills, flexibility, and the willingness to be influenced by the ideas of others all these traits will matter down the road, so the search committee must pay close attention to its feelings and first impressions in these areas. Forging a bond is a two-way street, of course, so it also pays to introduce to aspiring candidates key Board members, including their backgrounds, areas of expertise, and their own expectations for the new Director.
10. Be frank about the museum's organizational culture and values. Help candidates understand what it is like to work at the museum and how their leadership style may fit into the existing organizational culture. By the time this conversation takes place, values and beliefs must be aligned between the Board and staff so that there is ONE organizational culture to discuss. Communication, coordination, decision-making, and priority-setting must be generally perceived as consistent, fair, and well-managed. The search committee must be aware of any work environment issues that affect performance or productivity — and not sweep them out of sight. Respect — and pragmatism — calls for all candidates to know about the organization's inner workings so that the chosen one can take on his or her new responsibilities with confidence and purpose.
The choice of a new Director is a recurrent event in a museum’s history. Far from being an unavoidable hurdle, this should be seen as an opportunity for renewal and growth that museum Boards can leverage. In the last analysis, choosing a “best fit” Director is what Boards are for. The list sketched here has just about everything a Board search committee needs to do to maximize the chances of success.
