To my friends in the rail preservation "biz":

There is a posting by a gentleman named Philip that was made on Sunday January 28th in response to an original question about "How Many People Does It Take..." Because it is down the list a bit I think many may miss it. I believe that it should be mandatory reading for all of us who are involved in railroad preservation! I don't know which museum Philip is talking about (and I really don't want to know.) But what he has said should be heeded by all of us.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum)

midlandblb@cs.com

Yeah Les, I wish he had been more specific about how he felt he had been abused but i am also pleased he didn't mention names. If I had more understanding about the abuse it would make orgnizational soul searching a bit easier as we begin to work on developing a volunteer program.

Also agree about choice of leadership. Benevolent dictatorships usually work best in groups with a real business plan and formal lines of authority, but there is a lack of qualified benevolent dictators to go round. Dictators who aren't benevolent can still provide leadership, especially if they can teach useful skills. Benevolent people without enough force to dictate get pushed around and burn out while no focused work gets done.

Most non profit, primarily volunteer groups elect leaders in ways which create the same problems we have with our national leadership on a smaller, more up close and personal scale. People who win those popularity contests tend to be the least objectionable but not necessarily the best for the job or most effective. Political skills aren't necessarily the skills needed to finish or carry on many years worth of project activity.

Over many years I have learned that leadership vacuums will be filled, people who understand the plan and their part of it will work on it but need to be kept up to date as things change or progress, the buck has to stop somewhere, and preferably the buck is accompanied by the authority to carry the work ahead and accountability if it doesn't.

I don't belong to any volunteer organizations anymore, for probably the same reasons Philip has also left them behind. The turning point for me was back in the days of the NS excursion program when 3.5 hours was spent in a meeting arguing about what color shirts car hosts should wear. No leader worth the name would allow that discussion to progress for more than 5 minutes.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

I guess the post was vague enough that we are all reading our subjective experiences into it.
My interperatation was he meant those stirling individuals who, yes, are always there, and work hard, and have the desire, but not the interpersonal skills to lead, whether they just don't communicate well, are tempermental, abrasive, sexist, generationist, micromanagers, or what have you.

Many smaller organizations seem to allow people with little aptitude for a particular area to supervise it, just because they were the first to volunteer rather than run the risk of having it not get done at all...while there are members who COULD perform those tasks better who often feel unwanted/unneeded because they were not asked to serve.

I guess there is more than a little voodoo in juggling volunteers. There are always jobs everybody wants and jobs nobody wants...perhaps there should be seminars given on effective management techniques...it sure couldn't hurt.

What museum managers tend to forget is that volunteers do what they do in their spare time. It's not a livelihood necessity like their full-time employment. If a sense of worth,or accomplishment, or satisfaction ("fun") is not felt, volunteers are better off pursuing other interests.
I have seen first-hand a museum leadership overly concerned to the point of paranoia in maintaining its control at the expense of keeping volunteers or preserving RR equipment. When paid museum managers are not given goals and measured expectations of performance as in real business, you end up with staff maintaining a sinecure, which usually translates to friction with hard-working, earnest volunteers. When acquisition becomes confused with preservation, you reach a unmanageable task of taking care of the older displays while taking on newer ones with same volunteer force.
Bottomline, badly-managed museums view volunteers as an expendable resource. Their distorted view is that they can always find another "sucker" to replace you eventually.

Dennis' posting sounds like the profile of a museum I have been quite close to.

> What museum managers tend to forget is that
> volunteers do what they do in their spare
> time. It's not a livelihood necessity like
> their full-time employment. If a sense of
> worth,or accomplishment, or satisfaction
> ("fun") is not felt, volunteers
> are better off pursuing other interests.

And these volunteers are motivated by above along with a genuine desire for preservation. Conversely, often times paid staff are motivated by some nebulous bureaucratic...uh whatever...ultimately I think it is merely saving their own bacon.

> I have seen first-hand a museum leadership
> overly concerned to the point of paranoia in
> maintaining its control at the expense of
> keeping volunteers or preserving RR
> equipment. When paid museum managers are not
> given goals and measured expectations of
> performance as in real business, you end up
> with staff maintaining a sinecure, which
> usually translates to friction with
> hard-working, earnest volunteers.

Sadly, even if goals are not presented to these folks, they should be smart enought to figure out their own goals. Without goals or a specific plan, as in any business, the effort is headed for failure. An effort might be started by a volunteer force to establish goals and objectives, only to be shot down by paid staff who do not understand the process.

When> acquisition becomes confused with
> preservation, you reach a unmanageable task
> of taking care of the older displays while
> taking on newer ones with same volunteer
> force.
> Bottomline, badly-managed museums view
> volunteers as an expendable resource. Their
> distorted view is that they can always find
> another "sucker" to replace you
> eventually.

Wow, I have heard that one before, and seen it happen. Sadly so many of the people that leave, take with them skills that would have been constructive to the effort.

Along with the "sucker" attitude, I have seen museum staff equate "volunteer" with "too stupid to do this for money". And nothing could be farther from the truth. Often, the volunteer force is dominated by retirees who bring skills to the effort along with time to use them and more importantly, teach them.
The noted retirees often have run their own businesses and understand far greater the challenges of keeping the doors open and the lights on.
Just my dos pesos.
Derick

fwsturke@pacbell.net

Dennis' posting is exactly what I was talking about:

>The numbers don't matter as much as:

>1) the personality cults.

>2) how many little hitlers you have hanging around, clamoring.

>3) armchair groups are essentially escapist; they PROVIDE entertainment, like viewing slides and going on fan trips, an escape from the daily grind of job etc.

>4) museum groups are anti-escapist; they TAKE a lot of hard, dirty work (like laying track or cleaning fireboxes) and don't provide the entertainment of 3). Those who join 3) type organizations do so to escape the onerous daily job grind, which category 4) falls into.

>5) 3) and 4) are usually mutually incompatible, particuarly if they are divisions contained within the same club or orgainzation.

Fan trip clubs, model rr clubs, and rr museums are all hobbies, fundamentally no different than stamp collecting. All of us join these organizations because WE LIKE TO. The all provide escape from our daily grind (employment, screaming kids, nagging wife, car payment worries, and on and on). Up until around 1980, Russia didn't have the word, not even the concept, of "hobby". When runaway, uncompromizing egotists, those who have ALL the answers, are in charge, the whole organization suffers, most likely terminally, because things cease to be "fun". There is no single formula for success which will work for all museums, and not all the eggs should be in one bakset (in other words, "grants" aren't the savior of museums, not by a long shot).

All the posts have hit the proverbial nail square on the head. I wonder if any of you folks are members of the group that I have chosen to abandon.
The line I heard our "fearless leader" utter one
day was" anyone can be replaced..."Sure-if you have money to pay them...

> Dennis' posting is exactly what I was
> talking about:

> Fan trip clubs, model rr clubs, and rr
> museums are all hobbies, fundamentally no
> different than stamp collecting. All of us
> join these organizations because WE LIKE TO.
> The all provide escape from our daily grind
> (employment, screaming kids, nagging wife,
> car payment worries, and on and on). Up
> until around 1980, Russia didn't have the
> word, not even the concept, of
> "hobby". When runaway,
> uncompromizing egotists, those who have ALL
> the answers, are in charge, the whole
> organization suffers, most likely
> terminally, because things cease to be
> "fun". There is no single formula
> for success which will work for all museums,
> and not all the eggs should be in one bakset
> (in other words, "grants" aren't
> the savior of museums, not by a long shot).


locosvcmgr@yahoo.com