If they leave we're stuffed! - Succession Planning

If they leave we’re stuffed! – Succession Planning

Terry MacKenzie, South Lanarkshire Leisure & Culture

Justin Parkes, Culture NL@nlcpeople

Chantal Knowles, National Museums Scotland@NtlMuseumsScotland

#MGSConf

@MuseumsGalScot

2

Building succession planning

ByTerry MackenzieMuseum Officer

South Lanarkshire Leisure & Culture LtdT: 01698-476179

E: [email protected]

3

Succession planning

•Genesis•What we did•How we did it•What we learned•Applying the lessons•Acknowledgements

4

Genesis

•In the beginning

•The plan

•Longer term

5

What we did

•The challenge

•The funding

6

How we did it

• The team

• The work

7

What we’ve learned

• Improved selection interview process• Realignment of information

management systems• Importance of structuring data• Employee development

– TM– Project team members (slide 8)

8

What we’ve learned

• Each team member made at least one important project contribution. Without them we couldn’t have done it:

9

What we learned

• Each team member drew useful skills or experience from the project

10

What I would do differently

• I would share more of the mentoring of extra hours folk to members of the collections team to further widen the employee development benefits

11

How we’re applying the lessons

Embedding succession planning into our work– Developing a museum succession planning project policy

• Outreach to other museums which we will continue to offer• Missionary work outwith museum sector

12

Acknowledgements

• Funders:– MGS– Trustees The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

• Team members Thank you!

13

It’s thank you from me and it’s thank you from him!

Collecting & Preserving Collections Knowledge

The Monument Fellowship Scheme at Summerlee Museum

Summerlee Museum

• 1980s: mass unemployment

• Job creation scheme

• Summerlee Heritage Trust

• Opened 1988

• Late 1990s: North Lanarkshire Council

• Exhibition Hall redevelopment, 2005-2008

The Collections

• 24,000 museum objects

• Approx 8,000 accessioned industrial objects

• Approx 1,000 unaccessioned

• North Lanarkshire Council Archives: photographs, business archives

The Monument Fellowship Scheme

• 2007 to 2011

• Museums Association with funding from the Monument Trust

• Paying retiring and retired curators to share their knowledge

• Nominated successors

• Knowledge sharing activities

DanMackay

Project Aims

1.To capture the Fellow’s knowledge in three areas:• The provenance of objects in the North

Lanarkshire Council Industrial History Collection

• How these objects were used, and should be handled and conserved in the future

• Background information on British, particularly Scottish, industrial history

2.To disseminate this knowledge to the current staff and volunteers and archive it in formats that ensure it will be accessible to future curators

Project Aims

3. To disseminate this information to the wider curatorial community and to the general public

4.To assist the Curatorial team in making informed decisions with regard to the rationalisation and conservation of the collection and future collecting

5.To consider our collections in the wider context of Scottish industrial museums

How the Project Evolved

• Move from written and audio recording to video

• Collaboration with NMS• Project extension: a further 50 days• Staff changes• Project on forging sparked by a set of

unaccessioned photographs• Temporary exhibition• Archives

Planing Machine

summerlee-engineering.blogspot.com

Collaboration with NMS

James Wood,

NMS Monument Fellow

Outside Visits

Learning

Recording

Advising

Scottish Maritime Museum

Dalmellington Iron Works site

Watermill, Clyde Valley

Discoveries

What We Have Learned

• Make best use of expert’s time• Be selective• Written & audio good for recording general

information• Video much better for explaining an object• Video: sound is as important as picture• Plan for editing, storing and sharing media• Corroboration/verification important• Be flexible, but don’t lose sight of your goals• Knowledge or skills?

“Well, it’s a nice object…

…but what does it tell us?”

Sharing Knowledge

Improved Labelling of Objects

Caring for the Collection

Dan Providing Guidance on Lubricating a

Slotting Machine

Engineering Pavilion

Oral History Interviewees

[email protected]

summerlee-engineering.blogspot.com

stickssn.org

Pacific Collections review projectChantal Knowles

Principal Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa

www.nms.ac.uk/connections

SSNs

Background

National Programme 2011-15

• Take the National Collections to the widest audience possible

• Ensure sustainable frameworks exist to share and retain sector expertise

• Be a leading, future-focussed National Museum for our sector

www.nms.ac.uk/connections

[email protected]

Pacific Collections Review Project

•Develop and implement a new methodology for collections knowledge transfer between a new curator, current collections staff and subject experts (18 months)

 •The new curator will produce a ‘Review of Pacific Collections in Scottish Museums’ and ‘Introductory Guidance to Pacific Collections’

•We believe both of these products are essential tools for the future development of these collections and the project aims to combine producing these via a new methodology to develop subject expertise.

Partners

Building on previous work and refining information

Collections

Methodology

• Project Curator will keep a learning diary throughout• Initial introduction to curatorial practice and required reading• Knowledge transfer sessions with each of the 4 Partners• Project Curator will produce CLDs for each Partner• Sector Knowledge Exchange event to widen scope of Review• Review published (online CLDs and highlights)• Guidance for Future Curators based on learning diary (online)• ‘Sharing the learning ‘ events to curators, researchers• Career Development support strand for the Project Curator

The People

Chantal Knowles

Neil Curtis

Mark Hall

Pat Allan

Eve Haddow

Pacific Collection Review projectChantal Knowles

Principal Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa

www.nms.ac.uk/connections

If they leave we’re stuffed! – Succession Planning

Terry MacKenzie, South Lanarkshire Leisure & Culture

Justin Parkes, Culture NL@nlcpeople

Chantal Knowles, National Museums Scotland@NtlMuseumsScotland

#MGSConf

@MuseumsGalScot