Coaching Leaders that are shaping the Future of Museums
Museums of the Future
Museums have discovered how a coaching mindset is becoming a "must-have" for individuals and teams.
When employees are "intrinsically motivated, they are 32 % more committed to (and 46 % more satisfied with) their jobs, suffer significantly less burnout than other employees, and they perform 16 percent better." (McKinsey, 2016).
Coaching identifies and integrates effective behaviors that build agency, direction and functionality within organizations. It empowers autonomous decision-making, reduces managerial burnout and increases employee engagement, retention and satisfaction.
Today’s curators and museum leaders now work within a rapidly evolving cultural climate of the 21st century. As a cultural industries specialist, Les Joynes supports and empowers curators of modern and contemporary art supporting them in their doctoral dn postdoctoral research, through onboarding and career within cultural institutions.
We offer a flexible, inclusive work environment for talented individuals who are eager to contribute to CCL’s mission, and who respond to new ideas and initiatives within our field with insight, imagination, and sensitivity.
Coaching is an art. Coaches also engage perspective with the client engaging and aligning actions from multiple vantage points. The coach brings a professional set of tools, experience and a trustful space that gives the client agency at each step of their goal development and realization. As a coach and creative practitioner, I work with global leaders in ideation, goal-setting and strategic decisions to grow their careers and enterprises especially in today’s shifting business landscape. Coaching is so effective because it is specific to each client - a space that identifies powerful, efficient and concrete steps towards each goal. Coaching improves outcomes, and it saves time and creates time where it is better needed. Coaching is conducted in person, on Zoom or phone in 50-minute weekly sessions.
“Using the GROW model (Whitmore, 1992) the Coach works with the client to identify Goals, Current Realities. Options/Obstacles and Ways Forward.” - Les Joynes
Museums
How can museums develop diversity, equity and inclusion within their mission and deliverables? How can they enhance career satisfaction and retention in their organizations? Coaching builds cross-team functionality, autonomy and efficiency in times when cohesion is needed most.
Galleries
How can artists build sustainable and flourishing practices? Artists work at the interface of materials and ideas. They are constantly navigating in changing environments. Coaching enables them to set goals, and vision for exhibitions, work life balance, teaching and longer term life objectives.
Bio: Les Joynes is an NYU-certified professional coach and cultural industries specialist supporting curators and museum leaders in their career development. Les is a Leadership Coach at Columbia University, Academic Coach at University of Melbourne, Australia and an Entrepreneurship Coach at the New School. Experienced serving Fortune 500 organizations since 1989 in the US, EU and Asia, he has conducted museum research for the Smithsonian Institution museums and now is initiating coaching for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Sri Lanka. A member of the American Association of Art Museums he serves on the Museums Committee for the College Arts Association in New York and has led coaching demonstrations at the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries annual conference. He is a 2023 Coaching Research Scholar at Columbia University. He is founder of the Inclusive Biennial which explores building themes of inclusivity into exhibitions in order to showcase underrepresented communities.
Drawing from 35 years of interdisciplinary experience. Les combines left-brain (analytical) and right-brain (creative) thinking to explore solutions that enhance personal and professional growth within organizations. He is Senior Scholar at Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts in New Delhi, Visiting Professor at Visva Bharati University India and Visiting faculty at Renmin University in Beijing. He has lectured on intercultural collaboration at University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Peking University Institute of Cultural Industries, University of California Santa Barbara, University of the Arts London (UAL), University of Coventry, UK. He was Fellow (2015) at the University of the Arts London Research Center on Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN) and researched advanced curriculum design at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Les is a member of the ICF and IOC Affiliate of Harvard Medical School, the American Alliance of Art Museums, College Arts Association and serves as a voice on the Art and Anthropology as a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London. He is recipient of the US Department of State ACMS Fellowship for his research on International Education and the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award and is a Visiting Research Scholar on intercultural collaboration in the arts at Teachers College.
Les contributed to the First International Taipei Biennial “Sites of Desire” exhibition in 1998 and has produced museum exhibitions in Japan, UK, France, Singapore, South Korea, China and Brazil. Mongolia, China and upcoming in India and Sri Lanka.
Education: Les has an MA Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London; M.Sc Managment from Boston University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences; MBA from California State University; MA from Musashino Art University, Japan, Doctor of Philosophy from the Faculty of Art, Environment and Technology, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK and Post-Doctorate from the School of Communications and Arts (ECA), University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a Visiting Scholar on visual cultures, education and leadership at Columbia University and is recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Professional and Academic Excellence Award and has served as Senior Scholar on Art and Performance at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, India.
Selected Resources
Recommended Books on Coaching
Kimsey-House, Henry (2018) Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives
Rogers, J (2016) Coaching Skills: the Definitive Guide to Being a Coach
Recommended articles on Coaching
Hagen, Tim (2021) Why Conversation Coaching Skills Are A Must, Forbes Coaches Council
Podcasts
HBR Presents: Coaching Real Leaders
Other
International Coaching Federation
Institute of Coaching, McLean, Affiliate of Harvard Medical School
