Museums can only support people's goals.

We can't support a demographic, so starting with a different set of assumptions is progress.

In The Prioritization Workshop, we redefine an organization's audience based on behaviors and goals. It sounds simple, but it can be disorienting or frustrating for participants because it's an unfamiliar way of thinking about the people the museum hopes to support.

Workshop participants know they can't prioritize everyone (maybe the ultimate oxymoron). They have to choose if the organization is to have the impact it hopes to achieve. Still, it's hard to choose, and defining people in terms of their behaviors and goals doesn't come naturally.

I'll know we're hitting a wall when I see someone in a session who looks like they've contracted a bad case of lice. They'll say something along the lines of:

“Aren't we making an awful lot of assumptions about people when we group them based on their goals? How can we know if these are their goals?”

They're right. We are assuming that the distinguishing behaviors we identify in the workshop correlate to goals. And we can't be 100% certain that all the goals we identify in the vacuum of the workshop describe people's motivations.

But what's the alternative?

Is it less presumptuous to define people in demographic terms?

Young Families. Seniors. The Latinx Community.

Why do we feel confident (or at least at ease) when we define people by their income, age, or ethnicity — all qualities that often just reinforce stereotypes? Why do we feel adrift when we try to define groups of people based on behaviors we can observe?

We feel okay talking about Young People (demographic) but uncomfortable talking about People Who Use Our Museum as a Place to Bring a First Date (behavior). Why?

Is it because we can search the internet and find answers to questions about Young People (demographic), but nothing turns up when we search for People Who Use the Museum to Find a Partner (behavior)? Of course, the people we work with already know that museums can't get different results by doing the same thing over and over again. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the workshop. But the exercise can be difficult even for them.

I know one contributing factor is that behaviors are more specific than demographics. It's easier to imagine what tactics we might apply to support a behavior or goal than it is if we're speaking in demographic terms, and there may be an expectation when we all come together for an Important Workshop that we should remain at a 30,000-foot altitude.

But we can act on specifics. A strategy that isn't operationalized is just another toothless strategic plan. We want to choose a group that we can actually learn about and support. Otherwise, the only value in deciding is a feeling of having decided. That's not nothing, but we can do better.

We can support “People Who Use the Museum to Find a Partner”. We can't support “Young People” or any other demographic, and if we try, we risk undermining the relationships we're trying to build with the people we hope to support.

What behaviors and goals can your museum support? What goals can your museum support better than any alternative? Which behaviors and goals are of strategic value to your museum today? What assumptions will work from when you decide who to support next?

Have a specific week,

Kyle