Breaking Barriers to Cultural Change & Engaging Community with Dr. Mary McMurray
Oct 31, 2023
William Gladhart
Curious how reflecting on historical events and community engagement can influence organizational culture change?
Dr. Mary McMurray, Director of the Johnson County Museum shares her expertise and experience. As a cultural historian, this gives her a unique perspective on the importance of healthy culture, the power of collective action, and the role of leaders in impacting systemic and cultural change.
In the first half of our conversation, Mary shares about the hurdles leaders frequently encounter when initiating cultural change - including the rigidity of big institutions and the need for businesses and leaders to stay relevant in their communities.
The second half of our chat with Mary is all about leadership strategies and how to set up your team for success. Listen as she discloses her blueprint for great leadership: -Listening to your team -Creating a nourishing environment -Remaining focused on the organizational mission -And lastly, show compassion and empathy.
Join us as Dr. McMurray brilliantly links leadership, culture, organizational change, and community engagement - offering valuable insights for those leading the charge in cultural transformation. Don't miss it!
Seeking to discover additional insights on how to strengthen your company culture, improve performance & impact your company's bottom line? Book a time to chat with us. No sales, no strings...just a candid conversation about company culture.
Curious how reflecting on historical events and community engagement can influence organizational culture change?
Dr. Mary McMurray, Director of the Johnson County Museum shares her expertise and experience. As a cultural historian, this gives her a unique perspective on the importance of healthy culture, the power of collective action, and the role of leaders in impacting systemic and cultural change.
In the first half of our conversation, Mary shares about the hurdles leaders frequently encounter when initiating cultural change - including the rigidity of big institutions and the need for businesses and leaders to stay relevant in their communities.
The second half of our chat with Mary is all about leadership strategies and how to set up your team for success. Listen as she discloses her blueprint for great leadership: -Listening to your team -Creating a nourishing environment -Remaining focused on the organizational mission -And lastly, show compassion and empathy.
Join us as Dr. McMurray brilliantly links leadership, culture, organizational change, and community engagement - offering valuable insights for those leading the charge in cultural transformation. Don't miss it!
Seeking to discover additional insights on how to strengthen your company culture, improve performance & impact your company's bottom line? Book a time to chat with us. No sales, no strings...just a candid conversation about company culture.
Welcome to the Leadership Levers podcast. I'm your host, Will Gladhart CEO of Connect2Metrics. At Connect2Metrics, we help organizations strengthen their culture, one action at a time. We're here today to learn about the actions leaders have taken to address cultural change. Our guest today is Dr. Mary McMurray, who is the Director of the Johnson County Museum. Thanks so much for joining us today.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well, thank you.
William Gladhart:
I thought we would start by having you share with our audience a bit about yourself and also your organization or background.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well, so I am a historian by training. I have a doctorate in 20th century US History and I specialize in cultural history. I studied the development of Army Family Policy, with the families in the center of it, really looking at how you create systemic and cultural change in large bureaucracies, and so that was really an interesting topic to explore, and I am the director of the Johnson County Museum, which is located at 8788 Metcalfe Avenue in the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center or, if you're from here, the old King LoLouieuis. So we are in the old ice skating rink downstairs and we are a nationally accredited, nationally award-winning museum really focused on telling the history of the people throughout time who have joined together and sometimes worked against one another to help Johnson County become what they want it to be, and on our best days, people leave here with that idea that they are part of that story and they feel like they have learned from the history and been inspired by the history and can take part in that action, that ongoing effort of helping us become a great county.
William Gladhart:
That's awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that and a little bit more about yourself. So we will be discussing three questions today, and I know from your background you definitely have done research, but also have put a lot of thought into this as a fellow leader. So, to warm our conversation, would you share why you believe a healthy culture is critical?
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well, it certainly is critical and, as I've already kind of shared a little bit, I am a cultural historian, so what that means is that I know the power of ideas and words to shape our hopes, our dreams and our realities. And some really incredible things throughout history and some very terrible things have come from people rallying around an idea. So when you think about a healthy culture, I think about meaning is critical to all we do, and it's how a healthy culture starts. Who we are, what our core values are, our shared meaning, how we respect each other that all defines the outcomes that happen in your workplace. And when I think about it, I'm really informed by this great book called Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Marie Brown and, really whittling it down, what you want to see on a macro level whether it be your sales goals or for us at the museum or civic mission fulfilled, whatever it is, it's really defined on how you show up.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
On the micro level, there's this direct correlation between how we listen, how we speak, how we care for one another, how we are accountable to one another, and the outcomes we want to find. And when I think about that, I also think it's very important to note as a student of history and a leader in the field, that the more voices you have at the table, the better the outcomes are. So Adrienne Marie Brown talks a lot about how you can't make a single decision by a single person. That's better than we have more voices at the table helping you build it. She looks to nature, to ants, who are not smart as individuals, but do amazing things as collective action. And so how can we do that? How can we incorporate more voices to help us shape the future and help us get to where our big vision is, whatever that is, and so that's, I think healthy culture is the heart of it all.
William Gladhart:
Yeah, absolutely. S. What do you see as the biggest challenge leaders face when addressing cultural change within an organization, or what specifi a challenges have you faced in your own journey or in your own organization?
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well, I think I'm pretty well versed to talk about the museum world, and it's a very dynamic and changing world for a place that studies the past you know but it's kind of hard to think about what our biggest challenges are, but when I was thinking about it, I thought of two things, and the first is really about our relationship outside of the walls here, and that's about the challenge. There is institutions, large institutions, flexibility of mind, their willingness to change as the commission conditions really demand. And there's this incredible book it's about museums, but I think it's applicable to all industries called the art of relevance, by Nina Simone and she I'm sorry, Nina Simon, I went incredibly to a jazzy moment.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
But it's Nina Simon and she's also awesome, and so she really looks at how museums have become relevant, meaning how they matter more to their communities, and throughout the book she says it's not just enough to invite someone to a party and hang a banner on the wall.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
You have to be willing to remodel your spaces, to transform your institutions to continue to have that relevance, that mattering to your community.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
And, as I know from my dissertation and all of the work I've done, institutions are often very, very slow to change. But you can't imagine changing if you don't know these stories of amazing connections with the community's inspirational outcomes. And you have to know those so that you can overcome the limitations we often have fear of the unknown, the limits we put on our thinking over amplifying naysayers, all these things that will help keep you in more of a fixed position. But really, for museums, it's critical that we're relevant, that we matter to our communities, because within our walls are these opportunities to inspire people, to empower them, to embolden them with history, with art, so that they can make a better future. And when we look at what all the challenges we face now and the challenges that are coming in the future, it is more critical than ever that museums become flexible in their mindset, to matter more to the community, that we fulfill our civic mission, because the answers to the problems we seek are here.
William Gladhart:
That's really powerful. So love that you shared this challenge. Not only about the museum, but I think the nugget here is thinking about beyond your walls, beyond the walls into the community. It doesn't matter whether you're, whether you're a civic entity, whether you're a CEO running a business. Your impact actually matters because you hire people in the community, you have people that work for you, you go out in the community and volunteer. So I think that's something really great to think about for leaders is don't necessarily be stuck inside your four walls and step outside and see what else is out there.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Also I wanted to add on, there's an internal component to that because remember that I said that how you show up in a micro level affects your macro, and that includes how you show up internally as externally.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
And I was thinking about this from the museum field too, and I'm not for sure how this is relevant in all fields, but in the museum field we've really had some institution centered leadership practices.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
I would say for the long history of museums, there's a real history of having the people who work here sacrifice themselves to the mission, and I am a mission focused person and I believe in that 100%. But the goals we want to achieve, the great social good museums can provide, the relevance to our community all starts with how we treat our teams, and there needs to be a movement towards human centered leadership, because we have real high rates of burnout happening here, increasing frustration with pay disparity, and so this is where we're seeing that there's this need for us to really focus on our people, because how we show up for our people and our community affects who we are Absolutely and you touched on this a little bit in the second question but what do you think leaders can do to address the challenges they are facing, or what specifically have you done to address those challenges you just mentioned?
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well with the external, with the partnerships, I think the critical issue is to listen. I always thought when I started as a leader that my job would be to talk a lot, and it's surprising how much it is to actually to listen, and so that's critical. Having courage is critical, being open to criticism and being willing to change and then having a laser focus on measuring the impact and sharing the stories of what comes from that change, because stories make meaning and that matters to what ultimately comes from out from that. For the museum, I'm hoping some of your listeners saw our National Award-winning exhibit, Redline Cities, Suburbs and Segregation, and there was a partnership there with the African-American artist collective, specifically Sunny Thompson Ruffin, and she was adamant that before she partnered that we reconsider a place where we talk about the 18th and Vine District, which we call the 18th and Vine District and which everyone knows as the 18th and Vine District.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
But it's not the 18th and Vine District, it's the 12th to 18th and Vine District, and to include that fuller history allows us to see and ask the question what happened to 12th and Vine, what was there before and what changed? And it actually became one of the most powerful tools we had when offering public tours, because people started to ask yourself why are you saying 12th to 18th and Vine, mary? And I'm like, hold on, we'll get to it. And it turns out it was actually a highway.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
It was part of urban renewal, which is a legacy of redlining, and it made that meeting so much more powerful because we had a partner that highlighted to us something we were ignorant of and made the exhibit better. We transformed the exhibit because of that and we were better because of that.
William Gladhart:
I'm really excited for next steps for that particular exhibit as it moves to, not only online, but as continues to gain relevance and awareness, because it is such an important topic to address, because, again, it's a big cultural impact not only on our city but also on many cities in other parts of the country.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
So I would say every city for sure, you know for sure. And then I think also William, for the internal issues with the staff people. I mean, I think about this a lot. I have an exceptional team here at the Johnson County Museum.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
I'm just so proud to work with them every day and I'm proud to see in the museum field that there are more and more leaders coming up that are doing human centered leadership, that are our field. Now the American Alliance of Museum requires that you post the salaries so that we are able to empower people to make their negotiations. We're seeing a lot of sharing power and identifying core values At our team. It really starts again, like it does with public partnerships, with listening. You have to listen to your team. Like I said, that's what I learned.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Leadership was I set the vision. I help work on setting the vision, informed by our community and our team, but then it's all about switching to setting conditions to thrive and then sharing the impact of that, making the meaning of that. So that's really critical. So is obviously being mission focused. As I've told you, I studied the military for my dissertation, so if you don't walk away with that, with the idea that the mission matters to the ultimate outcomes, well, I shouldn't have gotten my doctorate. I guess I should say but it also.
William Gladhart:
You hear, people hear it a lot like Simon Sinek's.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Know your why? That's mission first. It's the same exact thing, and so when we were in COVID, I started on April 6, 2020. We were close to the public and COVID was happening and we, the team, we were all responding on how do we safely reopen? And we knew we'd have camps, which mean we'd have children, and we worked through all of this and the team started to lose connection to their why, to the mission, and I realized that four hours of time cleaning and project planning for each staff member we wasn't too much to give to have them connected to their why, and we were created something called the bubble, which was an uninterrupted space where people got to work on things that were outside of COVID, and it kept us going, like each one of us that took part of that.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Okay, two or three more things, and then I'll stop and I won't give examples on each. But in addition to the listening and the mission focus, clarity is critical. I learned that from my boss here during COVID. Compassion is critical, and so is, as a historian, I would be remiss if I didn't say reflecting and growing. You have to be obsessed with analyzing the past to see how you can make a better future.
William Gladhart:
I love that you kind of identified those specific pieces that leaders can take, from communication to empathy, to listening. I think you have a unique challenge because not only do you have the listening on the internal side as the leader, but you also are listening into the external, into the community, into the greater Johnson County, into the greater civic area around Kansas City, and I mean that's that's. That is like three people who are required to do that. So I think you do an amazing job with connecting those dots for other leaders. So is there anything else you'd like to share, add or final thoughts as we wrap up today?
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Well, one. Before I was a leader, I got to lead classrooms, so I'm going to have to leave you all with a reading list and I think that's kind of critical. My very favorite leadership is the culture code by Daniel Coyle, and it's all about creating high performing teams and he just says culture is something you do. It's not something you say, you do it. You have to build safety on your team, you have to share vulnerability and you have to establish purpose. It's a lot of the stuff I've talked about here, and if there's anything people do, I hope that they read that book. It's so amazing.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
I also think it's critical that you assume positive intent with people. There's so much that can come from not assuming positive intent and meeting that's made from that. Or, in the words of one of my favorite leadership guides, Ted Lasso, be curious, not judgmental. It's a great way to help move forward. And then, with big ideas and things that are seen as inherently true or or sacred structures and things like that throughout history, be a historian. What do we do? We say, what do we think? So you define that, you look at the sources and you understand what that is from that verifiable sources.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Why do we think this, and then who says or who benefits A lot of the things were created by certain people for certain outcomes, and so asking yourself those critical questions helps you become a better leader, not just in studying the whole past, but in in managing your day to day operations.
William Gladhart:
Well, Mary, I've enjoyed having you on today. Thank you so much for your insights.
Dr. Mary McMurray:
Oh, thank you.
William Gladhart:
Thank you for joining the leadership levers podcast. You may find all our leadership levers episodes on our website at connect, the number two metricscom forward slash podcast. Tune in weekly as we invite leaders to share their experiences in strengthening culture, one action at a time.