The Prioritization Collaborative
Group Experiences
The Prioritization Collaborative is a six-month program that unites a small group of museums with a common purpose: To create more relevant and respectful definitions of their respective communities(1), select a group they would like to support next (2), and devise a plan to better support that group (3).
This group experience combines what we’ve learned in leading individual museums through The Prioritization Workshop with the peer learning we support in MaP’s Community of Practice. In doing so, we aim to create a more accessible program (i.e., less expensive than a client workshop) but still return value and impact for participants through peer-to-peer support and accountability.
Our first iteration of this cohort will begin in July 2024. We ask that the first cohort be deliberate in providing feedback and helping us shape the experience for future cohorts. In return, the first museums to participate will be recognized as early partners in shaping the program.
The Prioritization Collaborative is a good fit for your organization if …
You have the resources to develop partnerships and/or conduct research to act on the decisions you make at the end of the program, or you’re prepared to develop capacity through staff training to do so.
You want to learn a repeatable, intentional decision-making process for future strategic planning initiatives.
You haven’t been able to do a serious accounting of your organization’s current activities in some time, and you know an inventory of the relationships between those initiatives would be eye-opening.
You and your team are enthusiastic about collaborative learning, including other teams from other museums that share a similar profile to yours.
It is not a good fit for your organization if …
You’re looking for a firm that will conduct audience research for your organization. (We do offer done-for-you engagements —see our services for more information.)
You and your staff feel you have a sound process in place for prioritizing external relations and internal strategic objectives. Any effort to improve that process would risk disrupting a system in harmony.
You’re confident the activities your various teams are pursuing reinforce each other, contribute to your organizational strategy, and are coordinated to produce compounding, beneficial results.
You’re not interested in participating in a cohort. (If you prefer a more homogenous approach, see The Prioritization Workshop.)
The first cohort will consist of just four museums. Within the quad, each museum will have a partner museum with whom it works more closely. Each museum has a program lead, and all participants are accountable to their partner museum to participate in the process.
Month 1: Orientation and tooling. Get to know your fellow cohort members and become acquainted with the tools we’ll use to support your work.
Month 2: Redefining the people your museum (hopes to) support. This is when we shift the conversation from demographic groups to community behaviors and goals.
Month 3: Evaluating the relationships between the audience goals you’ve identified and organizational goals. Which of your museum’s goals is most important?
Month 4: Choosing a goal to support. To contextualize the decision, participants will complete synergy mapping exercises to assess the feasibility of supporting the shortlisted goals they’ve identified.
Month 5: Choosing an approach to supporting the goal (Partnership and/or Research). You can decide whether to utilize MaP’s resources (e.g., staff training or research services) or use your internal resources to support your plan. Evidence shows that people who write down their goals and make public commitments to those goals are significantly more likely to achieve their objectives, so cohort participants are invited to share their progress by presenting at our MaP & Tell Unconference in month 5.
Month 6: Reflecting on what you’ve accomplished. The final month can be used as a rest period before you begin the work outlined in your plan or as a time to catch up if you’re a bit behind.
“Six months?!”
If you’d like faster results or aren’t sure you’ll be able to stick with a six-month cohort, check out The Prioritization Workshop. Your team will complete the process in one month in a private engagement.
Get Notified
Register your interest below. We’ll send you a few updates as the cohort develops, answer your questions, and invite you to a call to discuss participation.