Appendix Three Colleagues’ Comments The following comments are shared from a facilitated pilot of the Discussion Framework held at Brant Museum & Archives in March 2009. From the museum director While we distributed the pre-readings prior to the day of the discussion, we decided not to provide copies of the Discussion Framework in advance so that participants would not write their “answers” before discussion. People tend to “defend” what they have written/decided before discussion or other information can be shared thus defeating the purpose of the discussion framework approach. On the other hand, I should have reviewed the Framework myself well ahead to identify and prepare any information that would be needed by the group during the discussion e.g. sources of visitor feedback, our marketing plan, sources of museum income, board roles i.e. evidence of what we are doing currently. In hindsight I wish we had planned for board and staff follow-up and momentum. This wasn’t included in the board meeting schedule and neither staff nor board had an opportunity to “debrief” either the approach or actions. I will take copies of the Discussion Framework to the board for their current strategic planning process so they can review the sections of the discussion framework that we didn’t have time to address during the one-day pilot. We will establish a core team from those who were particularly engaged in the day to have a meeting to move recorded outcomes forward. This team will include a community member. From the board chair We want this [facilitated discussion] to be a “transferable process” so we can take the approach and apply it to our future planning. From community participants • I was flattered to be asked to participate (staff of local library) • Everyone was speaking the same language. It was exciting. (staff member from Brantford YMCA Immigrant Settlement Services) From the facilitator I used an Appreciative Inquiry approach for facilitating this workshop and we began the day with some exercises designed to move the participants towards identifying their vision for community involvement. It was beneficial to the process that the historical society board and their museum director had just worked through the development of a mission statement that placed community front and centre.
The Learning Coalition: Building Responsive Museums
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