Develop Your Staff's Skills

1. Invite staff from all levels and departments observe the people engaged with your program or exhibit. Ask them to take 30 minutes at their convenience to take notes to answer:
   • What are your members doing?
   • What are they talking about?
   • What seems to work well?
   • What problems or issues arise?
     Meet later to share notes.
   • What trends did they identify?
   • What surprised them?
   • What met their expectations?
   • What did they learn?
   • What other questions arose from their experiences?
     
     
2. Ask staff to "visitor role-play."
   • How does a family with young children take part in your world folklore workshop?
   • What about a young couple?
     Help staff adopt a visitor or member's perspective. Break them into groups to play the roles of various types of people that you serve. Ask them to imagine their ideal encounter with your organization and describe it in an imaginary email to a friend.
     
     
3. Encourage staff to bring friends and family. Instead of acting as a guide to your exhibits or programs, ask your staff to look at your institution with new eyes, and try to experience it as their friends or family do.
   
   
4. Involve staff in evaluation. Facilitate a brainstorming session with all types of staff focusing on your constituency.
   • What do they want to know about their community members that they never had the chance to ask?
   • What do they think are the biggest issues your people face?
   • Where can we improve the visitor experience?
     
     
5. Enlist staff in analyzing feedback. Ask staff from all departments to weigh in on the visitor or member experience by asking them to read comment cards. What patterns or trends emerge for them? Meet to discuss their conclusions and the implications for your institution. Are they surprised to find that their perspectives are not necessarily shared by our community?