At ACTN Strategies, we design and implement solutions to our clients’ toughest challenges. This is the first installment in a four-part series where we’ll present three case studies that highlight real-world challenges that our clients have faced and the approaches we took to solve problems and make an impact. The final installment in our series will focus on lessons learned and strategic planning ahead of the next disruption.
Our first case study, Building a Resilient Culture within Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture – Grand Opening to Present Day, presented a multipronged challenge that included comprehensive crowd management, security, and emergency planning for a high visibility grand opening with historical significance and a host of dignitaries, including President Obama.
Using a holistic approach of integrating People, Process, and Technology, we deployed our “Implementation Lifecycle” methodology to create a custom solution to Design, Deploy, and Sustain a tactical and strategic plan to mitigate risk and address capacity and crowd management, as well as emergency awareness. Ultimately, the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) was heralded as a “mini-inauguration,” and our counsel, planning, and preparation proved invaluable for the success of the festivities.
Once strategies for mitigating the risks to the physical structure were complete, the NMAAHC retained our team to lead change management efforts and transition the workforce to the Museum Operating environment and ultimately, to design a flexible, distributed operating model that allowed for operations to ramp up or down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, government shutdowns, and widespread social justice protests.
As a result of our partnership, NMAAHC has developed a resilient culture that’s prepared to withstand both foreseeable and unanticipated disruptions.
To learn more about how our strategies impacted the successful and secure grand opening of NMAAHC and how we worked together to create a resilient operating model that has allowed the museum to thrive throughout disruption, check out the complete case study here. Up next, we’ll dig deeper into how we’ve created resilient cultures within NMAAHC and other organizations.