creating a culture of staff emboldened guests...creating a culture of staff safety in the face of...
TRANSCRIPT
Creating a Culture of Staff
Safety in the Face of
Emboldened GuestsWednesday, November 14, 2018
Kate Higbee & Carla Thacker; Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago
Sarah Cole & Joseph Hernandez; Adler Planetarium, Chicago
This customer is not
always right
Museum of Science &
Industry, Chicago● Largest science center in the Western Hemisphere
● ~1.4 million guests annually
● Mission: To inspire the inventive genius in everyone
● Vision: To inspire and motivate children to reach
their full potential in science, technology,
engineering and medicine.
Adler Planetarium● The first planetarium in the United
States
● ~600 thousand guests annually
● Mission: To inspire exploration and
understanding of our Universe.
What started happening● Rise in incidents:
○ “This one time”
○ “Guest first”
○ “I can handle it”
What we needed to do:
● Start conversation with HR,
security, museum leaders
○ More radios so no one is
alone
○ Language on maps, building,
website
○ New radio codes
● Regular meetings for leaders
Institution-Wide Support
Measures● Implemented Radio Codes:
○ Adler: I need pencils
○ MSI: Code Orange
● Staff Response
○ Adler: nearest available Manager responds and
escalate as necessary.
○ MSI: Manager, security, HR respond.
Training - Providing a
Toolkit● Setting clear expectations
● Role play in safe environments
● Both supervisor and staff trainings
○ You may react differently than someone else, listen to
your gut
○ The institution will support your decision.
Reflection on Phase One
What worked well:
● Started conversations
● Gave staff immediate support
● Got VP’s and leaderships’ investment and commitment
● Ongoing practice
Reflection of Phase One
Lessons learned:
● Apprehension about calling
● Who knows, who needs to know
● How many people respond
● More attention to training responders on respecting staff feelings
● Setting expectations of what should/might happen
Phase Two
MSI
The need for a middle - ground: Staff Assist
● Recognizing that sometimes you don’t need protection, but you do
need a moment, a break.
● Provide a middle ground between “I can handle it” and “bringing
out all forces.”
Adler
● Change code to S15 form
● Additional training
Still working on...
● Preventing victim blaming
● Leaving your position
● Correcting people’s call
● Instilling it in culture takes time
Sample Training Activity
Setting Limits
Sharing and Questions