Several years ago when I was thinking about changing careers and leaving academia, I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work developing a set of core values.
Without that work, I’m not sure where I would have landed. All I had known then was that I desperately wanted a change.
Only after I set down those foundations did I have a compass to guide me as I developed what is now Art Nature Place with my co-director and spouse Mike Murawski.
These core values have since helped me through some pretty tough spots, and I still return to regularly them whenever I’m faced with a decision to make.
And the more I work with others in the cultural, nature, and environmental related professions, the more certain I've become that having a core set of values can make the difference between getting stuck and moving ourselves toward positive, meaningful change.
Digger Deeper in Core Values
I’m talking about values this week instead of my usual posts about nature because my partner Mike and I are running an online workshop on this very subject starting February 15 called the “The Value Blueprint: Mapping Your Path to Meaningful Work.”
This online workshop will be broken into three parts, each 90 minutes long. We will also have asynchronous components and are planning a “make up” check-in meeting for anyone who can’t come to every session (and we are flexible to your schedule, should this include you).
Mike will be leading the workshop, and he’s well-versed in this kind of work.
For many years, he’s been either working in museum education as the head of a team, or running workshops and trainings focused on leadership, community partnerships, strategies for positive change, and setting core values for yourself and/or your team.
He’s written often on these subjects in a variety of platforms (previously for 10 years here, and now on his Changemakers community), as well as in his 2021 book, Museums as Agents of Change.
This workshop is designed to expand beyond museum professionals to include anyone, and is especially useful for those who work in fields where a set of core values can help both them and their team make important decisions.
Our own work at Art Nature Place often partners with cultural, environmental, or parks & recreation related professionals, and we had all of these groups in mind as we designed the workshop.
Often in these kinds of fields, making decisions become especially challenging when pressures of deadlines, budgets, or external funders’s desires get in the way.
But we also imagine there are many others who read this substack - like small business owners, nature-loving parents, and anyone and everyone who loves to go outdoors - who would also benefit.
The 3-part workshop (run through zoom, with reflections, small group breakouts, and asynchronous support), is designed to help:
Create a strategic blueprint for the year ahead aligned with your values
Gain strategies for integrating your core values into your daily work
Learn to prevent workplace burnout that often comes with values misalignment
Connect with others, share insights, and build a supportive community committed to growth
Th registration also includes:
reflection prompts, practical tools, and ongoing resources to support values-driven practice beyond the workshop.
Registration for is limited to a small group, so that this time can include lots of discussion, reflection, sharing, and asking questions that are immediately relevant to each participant’s experiences and challenges. And because registration opened over a week ago, it’s already beginning to fill up.
If you are interested but aren’t sure you can make all the sessions — or if you might have questions about how to do something like this at your organization — please don’t hesitate to email Mike Murawski at murawski27@gmail.com.
We would love to have you there!
Finally, do you know someone else who might be interested? Please share to help us spread the word!