Key Benchmarks on Team Motivation and Feedback

The Advisory Board for the Arts surveyed leaders at arts organizations — including operas, symphonies, festivals, theaters, venues, schools, advocacy organizations, and museums — about the impacts of coronavirus on their institutions as well as other relevant topics of interest. This online survey covered managing remote staff, feedback and performance reviews, and plans to return to the office. It was fielded September 25–October 1, 2020. This is the sixteenth survey of the series.

Relevant findings include:

• "Resolved" is still the prevailing arts employee feeling, but there has been a small drop over time.  Many are still overwhelmed or frustrated, but there was also a small uptick in "energized."

• Arts leaders report their staff is doing an excellent job keeping their mission/higher purpose front and center in their work and productivity and efficiency are high. 

• There are some cracks showing in keeping employees motivated. Coaching and development are suffering in the high-stress environment.

• Leaders are relying heavily on transparency and over-communication to keep their remote teams engaged.