Reshaping visitor experience through radical hospitality
BROOKLYN MUSEUM
Strategic plans often live in boardrooms, not visitor experiences. When The Brooklyn Museum received their ambitious 10-year strategic plan, the Visitor Experience team faced a familiar challenge: how to transform inspiring vision into daily reality. Through strategic facilitation, we helped seven team members bridge the gap between abstract concepts and concrete action, creating sustainable momentum that continues to shape visitor experiences today.
From strategic vision to actionable implementation
THE CHALLENGE
The Brooklyn Museum, a 200-year-old trailblazing institution known for broadening art narratives and centering creative expression, had just received their ambitious 10-year strategic plan. The Visitor Experience team faced a pivotal moment: how to translate high-level strategy focused on "radical hospitality" into actionable projects that would transform every visitor touchpoint.
With limited time and resources, they needed to bridge the gap between strategic vision and practical implementation while ensuring their team of seven could meaningfully participate in shaping their future direction.
THE QUESTION WE ANSWERED
How do we activate the concept of "radical hospitality" across all visitor touchpoints in ways that align with our strategic plan and energize our team for implementation?
Transforming abstract concepts into team ownership
OUR APPROACH
We began with our Question Catalyst process, conducting discovery sessions with leadership and reviewing strategic documentation to understand the intersection of organizational goals, team dynamics, and visitor needs.
Rather than treating this as a traditional planning exercise, we recognized this as an organizational alignment challenge that required both strategic thinking and team engagement. We designed a concentrated workshop experience that would transform abstract concepts into concrete action.
Strategic facilitation to energize the team
THE STRATEGIC SOLUTION
We facilitated a targeted 5-hour workshop with seven strategic exercises designed to:
Connect daily work to strategic vision through structured alignment activities
Build visitor empathy by exploring diverse audience needs and touchpoints
Transform "radical hospitality" from concept to practice through actionable project development
Create team ownership by enabling the Director to participate as a peer rather than facilitator
Generate prioritized roadmap with explicit next steps and implementation timelines
The workshop balanced high-level strategic thinking with practical project planning, ensuring the team could move from ideas to action immediately
Unlocking momentum through collaborative clarity
THE IMPACT
The workshop transformed how the Visitor Experience team approached their strategic priorities. We created a prioritized project roadmap that directly connected to the museum's 10-year plan while generating genuine team excitement about implementation.
Most importantly, we helped the team understand how "radical hospitality" could ripple through every visitor interaction, giving them both the conceptual framework and practical tools to create more inclusive, engaging experiences that reflect the Brooklyn Museum's pioneering spirit.
The success led to continued collaboration, demonstrating how strategic facilitation can unlock organizational momentum during critical transition moments.