Each institution will have its own timeline for planning out, actioning, and implementing their DEAI goals, all of which depend on a number of determining factors. DEAI plans, therefore, require an enormous amount of staff time, resources, and energy to see through, and the pace at which DEAI work occurs generated lots of roundtable conversation.

Tension between “going too fast” and “going too slow”

The phrase “going too fast or too slow,” in reference to the pace of DEAI progress, came up in every session in one form or another, with participants expressing concern that it might signify complacency within their institutions. It relates to a section in the Excellence in DEAI report, “Virtue Signaling and Humility,” which discusses, in part, the reality that some museum stakeholders will view the pace at which their institution’s DEAI journey as “either too fast or too slow.” This is important to name, as staff within and across institutions will not always agree on a starting point; directors, managers, staff members, board chairs, etc., will have different views of their museum’s pace. Acknowledging that can be a crucial step in the DEAI journey at any stage, which is why it is all the more critical to establish how your museum’s journey will look.

It can be helpful to consider examples of DEAI work at a slow or fast pace, alongside some pitfalls that an institution may find itself in.

• Spending time on definitions and planning is important, as developing a shared language and assessing museum needs and goals can be a helpful start. However, if you find yourself repeating this process over and over to “get it just right,” this can move from being thorough to stalling.
• Identifying quick wins and going after them can help increase momentum for your museum. At the same time, if your institution finds itself trying random activities or copying from other organizations without taking the time to evaluate what its actual needs are, you could be rushing through the work and risk wasting resources and eroding trust when efforts needlessly fail.

Moments along a museum’s DEAI journey where the work will feel overwhelming, or the pace will feel too quick due to decision-makers wanting to “show results” to the board and public, will occur. Equally possible is the sense that not enough is getting done to show progress, and the phrase “this work takes time” might come from management. Viewing the concerns around a museum going “too fast-too slow” as a spectrum may be helpful in managing expectations around your institution’s DEAI plan.

Additionally, reminding oneself that there is no one right way to start or engage in this work can help. DEAI work means “tackling some of the biggest challenges of our time,” says Dr. Candace Warner at the DEAI consulting firm people3, and doing that work will not happen overnight. She recommends keeping momentum by “intentionally tak[ing] time to track progress, and regularly celebrat[ing] the wins.” While there is no step-by-step process for achieving your museum’s DEAI goals, defining and tracking momentum for your institution can help set a pace that is realistic for you and, potentially, help avoid “making the work feel more overwhelming and making people feel scared,” as one roundtable participant shared.

Time Allocation for DEAI-Related Work

DEAI programs, initiatives, and goals require continual investments of time, energy, and resources from your institutions to ensure meaningful progress and change, as reflected in the core concepts “DEAI is an ongoing journey without a fixed end point” and “DEAI demands an ongoing commitment of resources” from the Excellence in DEAI report. Aside from the right pace for your museum, how much of your staff’s time is dedicated to DEAI-related responsibilities is just as important to consider. Depending on the reporting structure of your institution and how those responsibilities are delegated, timelines for measuring departmental progress will vary widely. This work is, as one roundtable participant noted, “not something that ‘gets done,’ but must be…a part of our [organizational] DNA.” It is “ongoing” by its very nature: as staff members, board chairs, management, programs, and other museum elements come and go, DEAI work must change alongside them.

Progress will not come immediately, as well. The investments needed to push the needle on DEAI issues at your institution may require a fair amount of trial-and-error and back-and-forth as you gather input from various stakeholders throughout, and multiple times. This aspect of the work is what can make goal-setting and -achieving seemingly take a long time—quite often it does, but that does not mean progress isn’t happening. “Getting it right” means spending as much time as is necessary for your museum to lay the groundwork for transformative change.

A key component of that is building lasting trust and deep, long-term relationships. This is foundational to successful DEAI work, and as the museum field is moving beyond transactional relationships, that will take more time. Roundtable participants’ thoughts on this topic suggested that museums build in time to experiment, learn from their actions, and try again. If we as museum professionals are moving away from perfectionism, many said, then we also need time to make mistakes and grow and learn. All of this slows down the work and takes more time than we are probably used to.

Setting realistic timelines is important when considering how much time we as practitioners need to be engaged in these efforts. Integrating this work into a museum’s DNA necessitates a collective effort across departments, so it may be helpful to consider what time commitments each department can contribute and which staff members will be responsible for actioning their team’s DEAI goals. If your museum’s DEAI plan involves gathering data on what progress is being made, this can be a strong quantifiable indicator. However, it is important to also acknowledge that time commitments alone are not necessarily reflective of an individual’s or department’s overall commitment to pursuing their DEAI goals.

Impact on Staff Working on DEAI Initiatives

Just as important is recognizing and understanding the impact of decisions about pacing and timing on staff members—not only those who are directly engaged in DEAI work but those who will be most impacted by it, as these are not always the same group. This involves:

• Creating a work environment where staff feel like their basic needs are taken care of in the process of implementing their institutional DEAI goals
• Understanding different perceptions of the timing/pace at which your museum is realizing its DEAI goals
• Accounting for historical or generational harm that has been caused, intentionally or not, by your museum’s actions and the influence on DEAI work
• The psychological, emotional, and physical impacts of your museum’s DEAI work and the pace at which it occurs

Going “too fast” or “too slow” in DEAI work are not objective markers of time or pace within, and across, institutions. For example, longtime museum staff who have experienced the different forms of oppression within the field may feel a sense of urgency in working to achieve the institution’s DEAI goals. It is important to not rush through the crucial steps of building trust and forming lasting relationships across museum affinity groups.

At the same time, there is still real harm in the process being stretched out across months and years. Ensuring that carrying out your museum’s DEAI plan does not lead to mental, emotional, or physical harm, or mitigating that harm as much as possible, is also an important element of the conversation around pacing and timing. Fatigue and burnout are common reasons museum professionals leave the field, which was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and social upheaval that began in 2020. The psychological and emotional impacts of DEAI-related work, especially following the racial justice uprisings of summer 2020 and the focus on museum work in wider society, became more pronounced as there was increased pressure to “get results.” That pressure can lead to museums incentivizing a “rush” to get those results without investing the necessary time and resources to achieve long-term progress towards DEAI goals, which in turn can lead to burnout and exhaustion. Additionally, in subsequent years pressure has given way to “disinterest,” as one participant shared; they continued, “[there is] a sense of fatigue around having these conversations…still, [it is] important to continue the work and be someone in the room.” The pressure to “get results” is thus placed at the feet of museum staff who may already feel the impact of inequitable and oppressive systems.

How can decision makers care for museum staff so that they feel supported and can stay in the work over time? Participants from every roundtable, especially among the emerging museum professional and DEAI professional groups, shared that each institution can recognize the work its staff is carrying out and determine how to best mitigate the negative impacts that arise. Some approaches, however, can also be applied throughout the ecosystem. For example, incorporating time for all staff to rest, rejuvenate, and reenergize into everyday schedules or providing more paid time off gives staff freedom to pursue their own forms of self-care. Increasing access to healing spaces and mental health services that promote wellbeing, or supporting new parents through childcare benefits, signals that your institution is willing to spend the time, money, and resources to see its DEAI goals through. These approaches will impact the timeline of your museum’s DEAI journey, but prioritizing the wellbeing of staff members—especially those with marginalized identities—are strategic DEAI decisions in their own right.

Timing: So now what?

Museums at any stage of their DEAI journey take on a massive responsibility to “do it right.” What that means for each institution will vary, but the need for concrete action is universal. Roundtable participants across each session expressed frustration at how long conversations around DEAI can take, echoing the phrase “DEAI needs to be seen as more than an add-on.” They also acknowledged that while it should not go “too fast or too slow,” it is not enough to name that reality and take little action to make the process a meaningful one.

There is an inherent tension in DEAI work when considering the pacing and timing that will work for each institution, as there is no one “right” strategy to follow. Both slower and faster paces can be both true and the “correct” way to go, which can be difficult for museums just starting out in DEAI work to navigate. Getting comfortable with multiple truths can be messy, requiring constant evaluation and adjustment. Recognizing the accomplishments of individuals and teams within your institutions; assessing what each department within a museum is capable of achieving and supporting them in that process; and making sure that those doing DEAI work are properly supported are just a few potential steps institutions can make throughout their journey. As individuals and institutions, we all start at different points; what “doing it right” means does not have one answer, but figuring out what it looks like for each of us is an important part of the journey.