As a progressive lodge officer, have you ever asked yourself two thought provoking questions as to “What does it mean to listen to the voices of our lodge members, and Why does it matter?” Basically, listening is very different than just hearing comments from the membership, because real listening begins a process of self analysis and understanding of their wants and desires. Although it might not seem that important to analyse on a daily or weekly basis, over time the commitment to listening contributes to building a strong lodge member relationship that avoids misunderstandings, weathering challenges or other lodge relationship breakdowns.
The development of an open lodge transparent atmosphere by having two way conversations and surveying of lodge member opinions or receiving new ideas with proper analysis and feedback helps all lodge officers to monitor and understand overall member satisfaction within a specific lodge and its activities. This is an essential part of building up necessary lodge relationships, as well as, the retention of lodge members.
If we use the right tools of analysis and change, progressive lodge officers can detect certain trends or patterns over a specific time period. When paying attention to those trends or patterns, the lodge officers can act quickly to ward off potential problems; and to more effectively respond to their member’s needs, wants, and concerns long before any disillusionment or discontent begins to internally damage the lodge and member relationships.
Therefore, listening to the voice of our lodge members, tracking any lodge favourable or unfavourable trends, having open discussions with lodge officers and members concerning ideas or feedback is very important for all lodge officers, and to overall lodge growth. Some additional considerations in listening to our lodge members are:
1-Capture as much member feedback on all issues, because if a lodge doesn’t have the proper feedback, the information process is incomplete and will defeat the purpose of information gathering.
2-Evaluate the issues and feedback as a percentage of each age group within the lodge. This then provides more accurate information as to whether only a certain age group or percentage of the lodge is affected. However, if it is a common trend with more than one age group or if a larger percentage of the lodge is affected, there will be a better understanding of the issues and appropriate action can be taken.
3-Access and implement the information correctly. I.E., there’s absolutely no reason for requesting the voice/ideas of lodge members if the information is not going to be used or if lodge corrections are not going to be implemented.
4-Implement ease of feedback usage. I.E., don’t make the process of listening to the voice of the lodge members and solutions complicated. However, the solutions to any feedback must be reliable and updated from time to time. Any solution today may not necessarily be the solution for tomorrow. The best solutions are really based on the current/future needs and trends of the membership which can change from time to time.
5-Demands to be heard are rights of all lodge members. Our lodge members have the right to be heard, and any lodge officers not willing to accept comments, answer questions or receive new or progressive ideas from the members, can expect an explosion of negative reactions from the members.
We need to remember that going through the lodge officer chairs is not a right, it’s a privilege granted by the lodge members. The more professional the lodge officers are in their respective written and unwritten duties, the more key building blocks they will use to strengthen their lodges. They will use the appropriate tools to collect and analyse information, then, they will process that information/feedback from the lodge members to systematically act upon it. It then becomes a true demonstration of listening to the voice of our lodge members, and to create a win-win situation for everyone.
Source:
John Loayza, Assistant Grand Chancellor
Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M.