Just a brief entry this time. I mentioned printing Masonic business cards and having them on hand in a previous blog entry. One of my Lodge brothers passed away last week and I represented the Lodge by attending the viewing. It was such a class act to be able to pass out to the family members my Masonic "business" card, I can't begin to tell you. It was so much better than trying to write down my name and phone number on a scrap of paper or on the back of the program(!).
You don't even have to have expensive card made. I downloaded a free Microsoft Word™ resume template, inputted my information, put in a suitable Square and Compasses logo, and printed to card stock. Easy.
This reminds me of what we called in the Army the Six "P"s - Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Having those Masonic cards on hand before I needed them was the way to go.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
University-Level Masonic Education Seminar
I was lucky enough yesterday to attend a university-level Masonic seminar that the Grand Master of Masons of Virginia arranged. It was held at the Alexandria Scottish Rite Temple, with about 50 Masons attending. We were treated to three world-class living legend Masonic speakers: Worshipful Christopher Hodapp, Worshipful W. Kirk MacNulty, and Worshipful S. Brent Morris.
Worshipful Brother Hodapp spoke to us first. As quoted in the Virginia Masonic Herald, “he is the editor of the Journal of the Masonic Society and the author of Freemasonry for Dummies, Solomon’s Builders, and other works.” Bro. Christopher gave a wonderful, and at times funny, lecture titled, “Freemasonry’s Laudable Pursuit: Current Challenges and Opportunities.” He put into perspective some of the problems the Craft is facing, such as why our numbers will never be as high as in the 1950’s and how to attract good men to our Fraternity.
The second speaker was W. Kirk MacNulty, who “is the author of several books and articles on Freemasonry, most notably Freemasonry: A Journey Through Ritual and Symbol and most recently, Freemasonry: Symbols, Secrets, Significance. Brother MacNulty was recently elected to London’s famed Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, widely regarded as the greatest research Lodge in the world.” He gave a fascinating presentation on Freemasonry’s Hermetic and Kabbalistic undercurrents, leading to a look at the mystical side of Freemasonry. He concludes that Freemasonry uses a Kabbala-like approach in its teachings.
The last, but not least, speaker for the day was Worshipful S. Brent Morris. He “is the editor of The Scottish Rite Journal and Heredom, and is the author of many books and articles on Freemasonry which includes The Idiots Guide to Freemasonry.” His presentation was on a subject I previously knew nothing about: “Itinerant American Masonic Lecturers.” We learned about some of the Masonic of the characters who attempted to make a living by being a catechism coach, one-man degree team, and degree imparter.
Having such an opportunity to hear such dynamic speakers talk on esoteric topics is one of the main reasons why I joined Freemasonry and I was not disappointed by these three learned brothers!
If you ever have a chance to hear any of these brothers speak, rush, don’t walk to the seminar!!
An Often Overlooked Part of the Job of Master
An important, but not often discussed, part of being the Master of a Lodge is that of making everyone feel welcome. Call it schmoozing, gladhanding, making chit chat, or mingling – it’s all the same thing, making everyone feel welcome.
As Master, it is your job to circulate among the brothers and guests at all your meetings, regardless if you are an introvert or extrovert. Believe me, I realize the toll of being in charge – everyone wants a piece of you and asking for direction or wanting you to make some command decision or three. These things too are important. You don’t have to attend to everyone’s needs and comforts right then and there, that’s what deacons and stewards are for. But it is incumbent that as the brother in charge, you chat with everyone, if only for a few moments.
Not only do you make everyone feel welcome by circulating the room, but you get a chance to ask how a brother’s wife or children are doing, how his job search is going, etc. This is what truly matters in Freemasonry – brotherly relief and friendship.Bring a Friend Night
I can’t remember which of my Lodge officers proposed that we host a Bring a Friend night, but we had one several nights ago and it was a HUGE success.
I put Bobby, our chaplain and Outreach Committee chairman, in charge of this event and he came through for us in flying colors.
The keys to our success were as follows:
Put a brother in charge of this event who is really passionate about sharing Masonry. He’s going to go the extra mile (or ten!!) and make sure it’s a success.
Advertise the event. To be successful, Bring a Friend night must be advertised both within your Lodge and outside, for best effect. This means repeatedly encouraging your Lodge members to invite their family and friends, as well as advertise this event to the media, if at all possible. Many local newspapers will run such notices for fraternal organizations for free or for a small fee. Put up a notice on your website, if your Lodge has one, and if you use a Masonic email listserve, put the word out there, too. Our chaplain emailed reminders to our Lodge members and those on a listserve probably four or five times over the course of a month.
I really liked how Bobby put into words the event:
Anonymous Lodge No. 001 will sponsor a special "Bring-a-Friend Night" program that will explain to members of the community and our families more about the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization. The program will begin at 7:30 P.M. with refreshments and dessert to follow.
The program will feature brief presentations on the origins of Freemasonry, its ritual and traditions and how we contribute to the world today. There will be several exhibits and a chance to ask the questions you have always wanted to ask.
All are invited: friends, wives, family, girlfriends, neighbors, dads, etc.
Please RSVP to me with the number of FRIENDS that you would like to bring.
The basic agenda was to make introductions and welcome friends, brothers, and Lodge officers. Next the organizer showed a video the Grand Lodge of Virginia put together, and then followed by a short talk by our Lodge Education Officer. Jon discussed Masonic History, to include development of the Craft in Europe and the influence on America; Masonic principles of friendship, morality, and brotherly love; Masonic organization today; charity work of all the Masonic organizations; famous Masons, both historical and living; and the basic requirements and how to join the fraternity, with emphasis that we are NOT allowed to recruit but one must ask to join. We then followed up with dessert and conversation in the friendship hall.
A dynamic speaker is critical for the main presentation. You don’t want someone droning on and on, putting everyone to sleep! He needs to be a skilled public speaker, interactive, and well versed in his presentation.
Keep it brief! Our total time in the meeting was approximately one hour, with more time in the friendship hall talking before we got started, and afterward, over dessert.
The result. We had a total of 25 to 30 people attending, including the members of the Lodge who were there with their friends. While our Bring a Friend Night was just four nights ago, already two have requested petitions and have started to fill them out, and two more have stated their intention to join the Fraternity and will get their petitions shortly, out of a total of nine possible candidates!!!
I think our Bring a Friend Night was a huge success because it gave us a chance to tell our friends and family about the Craft, it is an important information tool to the community, and it has allowed the brothers in attendance to feel excited about Masonry, to share something deep and meaningful to them with their friends. And that may be the most important reason of all to host such a program.
Leadership
I have briefly touched on leadership in a previous blog entry, and now I want to expand upon the concept.
The importance of demonstrating leadership, as Master of a Masonic Lodge, cannot possibly be overstated. If you have been in the fraternity longer than five or so years, you probably know or have heard of a master of a lodge who may have been hapless, rudderless, and completely ineffective. I have heard it said, “It’s only for one year, it can’t be that bad?” But it can be. I truly believe the adage that it takes three or four years of strong leadership to rebuild a Lodge after a man who lacks leadership skills has been in the East. Do not let this rudderless man be you!!!
Here are my thoughts on Masonic Leadership.
I have been fortunate to live close to not only my close friend, mentor, signer of my petition, but also the man I followed to the East. We often carpool to Masonic events and I have found the time spent with him truly invaluable. Sometimes we complain about our wives and kids, sometimes we talk about anything other than Masonry, but most often we discuss the Craft. I acted as a sounding board for him on his way to the East, and I learned my chair from listening to, and watching, him. Now that I’m in the East, I know I can always rely on Jon to hear me out, suggest an alternate course of action, tell me I’m plain crazy, let me vent, or tell me I’m dead on. The latter doesn’t happen as often as I’d like! I’ve decided that this is a very important leadership and training component in my arsenal and it should be in yours, too.
In your climb up the chairs, be sure to watch what the other officers do and act at all Masonic functions. They will often have more “time in service” than you and will (hopefully) act accordingly. Select the good and positive attributes you see displayed and also identify the things and actions you don’t agree with. In situations that could have been handled better, try to identify what led up to the mistake, what was the critical mistake, and what should have been done differently. It is the wisest of all who can learn from the mistakes of others!
Model the Way
Inspire a Shared Vision
Challenge the Process
Enable Others to Act
Encourage the Heart
I was introduced to this book in a leadership training course offered by my agency and I can honestly say it has changed for the better my perspective on life and my interactions with my wife, family, Lodge brothers, and work colleagues. Caveat: I know don’t always live by what I learned from this book, but I’m trying!
One last thing to keep in mind during your year in the East: this is a volunteer organization and you should act accordingly! Even though the Methodical Digest says that the Master rules and governs his Lodge, the reality is that if a majority of the brethren and/or your officers are telling you something is a bad idea, you really should rethink it through and heed their counsel. You may be right in making a unilateral command decision, but if the brothers and officers don't feel like you at least heard their concerns, they will vote with their feet.
What is Freemasonry? Video
Lodge Officer Training
One of the most important things a master of a lodge is to do in his year is to ensure his officers receive not only ritual training but also officer training. Here are some ideas on officer training:
Re-inventing the Wheel
One of my pet peeves is people trying to re-invent the wheel. In my lodge, (Anonymous Lodge No. 001), we traditionally have a terrible time with officer line continuity, especially with past masters dropping out of sight. Fortunately this has turned around in the past year or three, but we still suffer from a lack of officer institutional memory and have to re-invent the wheel vis a vis “how do we plan this event,” or, “how did we do event XYZ last year?” This really drives me nuts and is a grotesque waste of everyone’s time and resources. As master, insist that all events be planned out beforehand and shared with the other officers. Most importantly, these plans have to be available to all this year’s officers as well as next year’s officers, so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel the next time around. See my blog entry titled, Web 2.0, It’s Just not for Geeks! and look at the Airset section for a great tool on how to do this.
Weekly Lodge Ritual Class
To me, one of the most important Masonic training we can do is to have a weekly lodge ritual class. There are many benefits to this, to include:
· Officers get ritual practice in their chair and for the next chair
· A common bond of brotherly affection and trust is formed among the officers
· Can be a place where grievances and differences of opinion can be aired face-to-face
Sometimes my lodge officers and I have even skipped the ritual practice and held an informal officers meeting to discuss the goings on of the lodge and have a question answer session with the more experienced Masons present.
Masonic Educational Officers
One of your first resources for officer training is your lodge and district DEOs. They should already be providing officer training for your lodge and district, but if not, contact him and set up an officers training meeting. Be sure to tell them your specific areas of concern.
Grand Lodge
The Grand Lodge of Virginia holds Lodge leadership training sessions every year around the Commonwealth, and I’m sure the other Grand Lodges do the same for their states. Be sure to go to these and strongly encourage your officers to do the same. Offer to carpool to the event – the officers will feel more compelled to attend! Carpooling is also a great time to discuss the training with the officers on the way home.
Army Method of Instruction
While in the US Army and Army Reserves, one of my units was the 91st Training Division. All members of the division were either drill sergeants, instructors, or support. I was an instructor, and as such, took a short course on how to do my job. The Army method seems to work well in addressing all modalities of learning – listening to instruction, watching the task performed, and then doing the task. Anyone who has been through US Armed Forces basic training in the past 30 or more years will remember, “Maggots, in this block of instruction you will receive an explanation, demonstration, and a practical application of...” This method works well and I have tried to adopt it into training in the Lodge, except for calling everyone “maggot” of course!
People do best if they hear what they are supposed to do, then see it done, and then under supervision, do it themselves. This makes for a more active and interesting class. My lodge has recently had to use the alternate method of instruction for new candidates, due to a dearth of catechism instructors. The primary mentor is himself an Army veteran and uses this method to good success. In addition, he also assigns readings to the candidates to do on their own time.
OJT or SOJT
On the Job training, or Supervised On the Job Training, is another method of training. As master, you really can’t be too hands-on and have to delegate tasks to officers. Give clear written instructions and deadlines to an officer tasked with something. Also give him points of contact so he has place to turn to for help. Learning by doing is an effective method!
Internet
Before going off into internet land, check with your grand lodge to see if they have online officer training resources.
The internet is full of Masonic officer training websites:
· Grand Lodge of Maine’s Hiram’s Handbook is a great tool
· So You’re Going to be Worshipful Master! is somewhat dated, but still has some good information
· Lodge Improvement Suggestions
The above links should get you started.
Model the Way
An often overlooked facet of training is that of the master modeling the way. Modeling the way is one of the five leadership practices in Kouzes and Posner’s fantastic leadership book, The Leadership Challenge. What is meant by modeling the way is for you to demonstrate to your officers how you expect a master of a lodge to act.
Please click on the comments section of this blog entry and let me know your ideas for Masonic officer training.
David
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