Masonic Leadership 6/19/07

Today I want to talk about Leadership. Particularly Masonic Leadership. I used to work with the Rainbow Girls - I was on the Rainbow Board, Chairman of Rainbow Grand Assembly, a Grand Executive and helped start the Rainbow Foundation and was President of it for awhile. Rainbow says that it teaches leadership (among other things) and it does. When I watched the girls begin in the order as shy little 12 year olds and then blossom (yes that is the right word) into poised young leaders it made all the effort that went into Rainbow worth it. (Unfortunately Rainbow has declined over the years to the point where they can hardly fill a big room at a motel for Grand Assembly whereas they used to fill half the Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University - That is due more to a lack of adult leadership than anything else)

The girls were taught several basics of good leaders. They had to plan, preside, cooperate and push to accomplish their goals.

In Masonry, unfortunately, the leadership gets the idea that they do not have to cooperate and push. Sometimes they don't even plan. A basic fallicy of the Lodge system of leadership is that a man can hold office for seven years through a progressive line and never learn how to be a leader.

The gavel s the emblem of the Master and some of them think that all they have to do is learn how to rap the gavel one, two or three times and that is all that is required of them (Aside from the basic ritual which I have discussed earlier.

In Iowa we have several programs in place to help an officer learn to become a leader. In Texas, when I was down there this summer, I heard of "Warden's Retreats where they hold meetings with Wardens and try to give them training to become effective Masters. All well and good.

Unfortunately there is a fly in the ointment.
"You are the Master, It is up to you."

In other words, the man gets the idea that as Master he is a dictator and folks that just isn't the way to accomplish much. Even some Grand Master's have that idea. 

I have seen all types over the past 41 years in Masonry. When I first came back to Ames we had a Master who would walk into the Lodge Room from the West - Go straight through the room to his station neither looking right or left and open and preside at the business meeting. I spent most of my time that year in Eastern Star and the York Rite. 

Some Masters were "Hail fellow, well met, types of guys but they did not accomplish much during their year. Others made plans for activities but never followed through on them and did not even try to do them. When it came time for the scheduled event they just dropped it because it was too much trouble to get people involve. Others allowed degree work to take over and become the only thing that was done during the year. Degree work is a good thing but it won't (by itself) keep a Lodge active and viable.

When my mother was Worthy Matron of Eastern Star she sat the 17 officers down and told them that after the meeting they were to spread themselves out around the dining room and be hostesses and hosts to the members. After the members left the officers wold often go to a local restaurant to continue their fellowship and we had a good feeling that year. Things have changed.

Grand Lodge is that way also. I was visiting with a Past Grand Master last week-end and mentioned that one group of Grand Officers always seemed to "hang out" together. They were always off in a corner or sitting around a table together and never mingled with the Craft. Not really exhibiting the leadership we would like to see. He tole me that he was aware of that and he, like my mother, had told his officers to mingle.

Men go though the world in one of two ways according to a poem I once read and wish I still had a copy of it. You either look forward observing and planning and acting or you go through life looking backward and the only feeling you have is a "tingle in your ass" as events pass you by. Crude but true!

Some Masters have gone through the line and when they get to be Master do not have a clue as to what they are suppose to do. They are in a perpetual fog. to them the honor and glory of being Master is enough. They are not interested in making the Lodge (or Grand Lodge) better and stronger. They are not interested in cooperating and training the other officers to be the best they can be. For them doing the ritual is enough. They don't really have a clue.

I remember one of my officers complaining that as an officer he had never been involved in the decision making process of the Lodge. He was correct. Up until my year (1980) the Master did everything. And not much was done. Having been involved in York Rite and Eastern Star offices I wanted to change some things. The first thing I did with my officers was to sit them all down and plan the year. We set goals and ways to accomplish them. I came up with a tool for planning which I called Matrix planning. Later I wrote an article about it for the Knights Templar magazine called:Seven Steps for Success. The next thing we did was a complete revision of the By-laws most of which are still in force today. (One thing we put in them was a provision for an Annual Review of the By-laws - However, if you don't read the By-laws you don't follow them) We also planned and carried out a lot of activities.

The officer who complained went on to become Master and he did things as a dictator- just what he wanted with no help or input from officers or members. So, what do you do? Fortunately some of the others who followed him were better.

On a side note I have always said that the most important task of a Master is deciding who he will "start through the line." He doesn't want to just pick a good ritualist. He needs to pick a good leader and hopefully one (or more) who, when their time comes, will be better than he. Someone who will do the best job he can for the Lodge (or the Grand Lodge) and keep it growing stronger and better each year. unfortunately it doesn't always work that way.

I have always found that democracy takes time and effort. As a school teacher of fifth and sixth grade level I decided that I did not want the parents (or me) deciding everything for my students. I saw that the kids could plan and carry our and evaluate their own parties during the year so I worked to teach them. First we wrote a Constitution. I had them look over a simplified copy of the US Constitution (Thanks to the Scottish Rite for making it available in a nice little book). We 
talked about what the parts of the Constitution were and they worked to write a Preamble stating the reasons for having their constitution. Then they worked on By-laws and rules of order and when they got done they elected class officers, held regular business meetings, Made and seconded motions (I move that NEVER I make a motion that) and planned activities and carried them out.



They were gems. 

We also had sessions after the event where we evaluated the party and discussed (one at a time - please stand to make your comments) what we could do differently. Parents could provide the treats that the students decided on but they never planned the parties. My room mothers did not have a lot to do. The kids did it all and I think (hope) they learned from it. (I did exercise VETO power sometimes just because they wanted to watch a certain movie I was the one who was going to get in trouble for it if anyone complained - I learned that one the hard way)

So in conclusion I think there are several things a good leader must do - including, but not limited to:

PLAN - Think your ideas through and then bounce them off from some people who you respect. Then take them to the next step.

INVOLVE - Get as many people involved in the planning and carry out as you can.

ORGANIZE - Put your plans down in a systematic way so that they can be carried out with the maximum involvement with your membership.

PUSH - AKA - Follow through. You can't expect things to just happen You must stay engaged and keep on top of those responsible for accomplishing whatever task is agreed upon.

EVALUATE - After the event do a "Postmortem" with those involved. It will help in setting in their minds the pitfalls for the next event and will give everyone a sense of accomplishment.

This does not even address the all important issue of remembering that the Lodge is a big business. As such there is a fiscal responsibility necessary. You receive a lot of money from the members. (My Lodge dues are $80. a year and likely to go up.) You have to pay for the running of the lodge (lights, gas, telephone, garbage pick-up, routine maintenance, supplies, etc.) and the activities of the lodge. All of this costs money and dues (at the current level) aren't going to pay for all of it. So the Master, officers and members need to plan a budget and then follow through on expenditures to make sure that the Lodge stays within the budget. 

All of this involves work and major balancing act for the leader. Plus the fact that he MUST keep the membership interested and active and be a gentleman at all times. You may want to call some of the Past Masters (and others) old poops but ou had better not. They will give you more support than any other group in the Lodge besides your officers. They've "been there and done that" and they know what you are going through. good Luck.