Purposeful Decision-Making
Intentional action improves personal and organizational practices. Our picks this month highlight using reflection, alignment, and purposeful decision-making to enhance effectiveness and well-being.
July Coffee Break Picks
HANNAH’S PICK
When Does Conference Learning Impact Practice?
“Rebecca Shulman of Museum Questions Consulting's recent e-blast about conference learning really made me stop and reflect on what I’ve learned from this most recent conference season. I’m sure many of us can relate to the challenge of converting our copious session notes into actionable shifts in practice once back in the office. The post lays out a four stage model––acquire, assimilate, transform, exploit––for not just sharing what you’ve learned but also implementing organizational changes as a result.”
EBONY’S PICK
Mapping Community Assets
“This month, I’d like to share a reading that highlights a key part of the co-design process: discussing and mapping community assets. In Leanlab Education’s ‘What are community assets? Here’s how to map them,’ they detail a process of sharing and aligning community assets, which are ‘collective knowledge, skills, talents, or resources that belong to the community and can help solve its problems.’ Given my art and literature background, I appreciate how Leanlab uses storytelling to identify community needs and harness collective strengths to tell a new community story.”
KATIE’S PICK
Embracing the Joy of Missing Out
“I came across this Washington Post article that suggests reframing FOMO (fear of missing out) into JOMO (joy of missing out). While this article focuses mainly on the value of setting personal limits and disconnecting from social media, the broader idea I took away was the reminder that sometimes saying ‘no’ or turning down an opportunity—whether at an individual or organizational level—can be the right thing to do, especially when it means you can better focus on (and find joy in) being present and living your values.”
New on the Learning Hub
What’s New At Kera?
Amanda, Rachel, and Stephanie are headed to the Visitor Studies Association Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota from July 16 to July 18! On July 16, Stephanie will present a session titled “Defining and Redefining Audience Impact on an Organizational Level” and Amanda will co-present “Questioning the Status Quo of Learning Goals and their Evaluation.” Check out their sessions if you’re attending!
We have quite a busy summer lined up! We’re kicking off new projects with the Baltimore Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and the National Museum of the American Latino.
We’ve uploaded a new project summary to our website! This time around, we completed a strategy project for Vesterheim, where we helped support the museum in building their capacity for impact-driven thinking.
Moment of Wonder
“For over a year, I’ve been growing a night-blooming Cereus (scientific name: Epiphyllum oxypetalum). It’s a type of flowering cactus that only blooms at night and produces a fragrant, perfume-like scent. My plant will take a few more years before it starts flowering. Therefore, I’ve been diligent in caring for it to ensure that it can reach the flowering stage. I've never had much of a green thumb, so it's a pretty big accomplishment for me that my plant is still thriving! Thank you, cactus, for being so resilient, and here’s to future blooms.🌸🌱”
— Rachel
