Creating a Culture of Staff

Safety in the Face of

Emboldened GuestsWednesday, November 14, 2018

Kate Higbee & Carla Thacker; Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago

Sarah Cole & Joseph Hernandez; Adler Planetarium, Chicago

This customer is not

always right

Museum of Science &

Industry, Chicago● Largest science center in the Western Hemisphere

● ~1.4 million guests annually

● Mission: To inspire the inventive genius in everyone

● Vision: To inspire and motivate children to reach

their full potential in science, technology,

engineering and medicine.

Adler Planetarium● The first planetarium in the United

States

● ~600 thousand guests annually

● Mission: To inspire exploration and

understanding of our Universe.

What started happening● Rise in incidents:

○ “This one time”

○ “Guest first”

○ “I can handle it”

What we needed to do:

● Start conversation with HR,

security, museum leaders

○ More radios so no one is

alone

○ Language on maps, building,

website

○ New radio codes

● Regular meetings for leaders

Institution-Wide Support

Measures● Implemented Radio Codes:

○ Adler: I need pencils

○ MSI: Code Orange

● Staff Response

○ Adler: nearest available Manager responds and

escalate as necessary.

○ MSI: Manager, security, HR respond.

Training - Providing a

Toolkit● Setting clear expectations

● Role play in safe environments

● Both supervisor and staff trainings

○ You may react differently than someone else, listen to

your gut

○ The institution will support your decision.

Reflection on Phase One

What worked well:

● Started conversations

● Gave staff immediate support

● Got VP’s and leaderships’ investment and commitment

● Ongoing practice

Reflection of Phase One

Lessons learned:

● Apprehension about calling

● Who knows, who needs to know

● How many people respond

● More attention to training responders on respecting staff feelings

● Setting expectations of what should/might happen

Phase Two

MSI

The need for a middle - ground: Staff Assist

● Recognizing that sometimes you don’t need protection, but you do

need a moment, a break.

● Provide a middle ground between “I can handle it” and “bringing

out all forces.”

Adler

● Change code to S15 form

● Additional training

Still working on...

● Preventing victim blaming

● Leaving your position

● Correcting people’s call

● Instilling it in culture takes time

Sample Training Activity

Setting Limits

Sharing and Questions