As the world becomes more and more technically connected, and as information sharing becomes more rapid, we begin to see our world from a different perspective than our predecessors. Furthermore, this process has been true throughout history. It is a process of progress in our lives, in our work, and in all organizations. Thus, we need to bridge the gaps between what and how we did things years ago, to what is needed today, and more especially for the future. Recognizing, learning new leadership skills, and implementing progressive changes will ultimately help to prepare our lodge officers to manage their lodges, and to ultimately become better lodge leaders. The following leadership lessons are important to understand:
1-LEADERS LISTEN: Successful lodge leaders recognize that success is ultimately a team effort. Good lodge leaders will admit what they don’t know, and it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for help. No lodge leader can have a successful lodge by doing things himself but he can destroy his lodge by not listening to any good advice from the brethren he leads. Therefore, listening and not just hearing others is essential.
Yet, good lodge leaders need to be very careful because some advice may not be as appropriate today as it once was many years ago. This is why lodges need to begin a good local management/leadership program to train future lodge officers as they begin going through the lines. Lodge officers being confident that they can make a difference is fine but doing it effectively is more important. They all need to listen more carefully in whatever organization they are in, and to surround themselves with those brethren who will challenge them and tell them when and why they are wrong. Lodge officers need to make that special effort to listen closely to their team (past or current lodge officers, and to their members in general). Moreover, the need to listen doesn’t diminish when a lodge officer becomes a Worshipful Master, it actually increases.
2-LEADERS CARE: Unfortunately, we still have many local lodge leaders who haven’t quite made it into the 21st Century. Some of them still cling to the ways that things were done too many years ago. Thus, there can be considerable differences of expectations between the younger generations who join our lodges and are confronted with lodge officers who don’t have interesting programs for their members and their families. Soon those younger members drift away from their lodges.
Pro-active lodge leaders have certain written or unwritten responsibilities to help change the relationship and the reputation that our lodges have with society. However, this is easier done in some countries but not all. Where do we start this process? Actually, it begins with our lodge members. Newer lodge officers and some older lodge officers will undoubtedly make mistakes. How the other lodge officers deal with those mistakes will actually determine how they will be judged by their fellow lodge officers and members. No matter if a lodge officer is elected or appointed, nobody wins unless the members say or think that they win. Ergo, lodge leaders have to take a macro approach to everything and care about member wants and desires, not just their own as a local lodge official.
3-LEADERS INSPIRE: A lodge’s success depends on how well it’s satisfying its members. However, changing the world goes beyond a lodge serving its members because it’s also about serving society. Therefore, a visionary lodge leader needs to be thinking and planning about more than the next position he occupies in lodge. He needs to be thinking about the future and what his lodge’s reputation and place in the world will be, whether it’s 5, 10 or more years from today.
More and more of our members desire to be connected to a broader purpose, and a higher calling. I.E., they want their lodges to make the world a better place. We can and should do both. How can this be accomplished? It’s up to our local lodge leaders to set the tone, create the visions, and to inspire the methods that motivate our lodges to serve our society in a better way. As lodge leaders, we have an obligation to act responsibly, because our actions will have a long term future effect on the generations of brethren that come after us. Furthermore, the inspirational methods will empower and contribute to others in reaching their full potential.
Inspirational lodge leaders understand that our lodges are all about people first. The only way we can build genuinely successful lodges is to build lasting relationships both inside and outside our lodges. This is accomplished by holding ourselves accountable, by doing what we say we are going to do, and by inspiring others to strive for something bigger than themselves.
4-LEADERS WORK: Progressive lodge leaders who want to change the world in a positive manner need more than talent. They also need to do the work, because hard work and dedication beats talent, especially if talent doesn’t work hard enough. Nothing progressive happens in a lodge unless the lodge officers work hard to achieve it. Therefore, there’s really no substitute for hard or dedicated work.
Although lodge education/learning will open many doors, and talent will open new worlds, it’s really hard and dedicated work that empowers lodge officers to achieve more than they could ever imagine. Thus, we live in a dynamic time when technology is changing our lives even more profoundly and rapidly than in the past. This is truly a world of unbounded opportunity for our lodge officers and lodges to become more successful.
Brethren, if we learn and practice good leadership lessons and skills, Masonry will continue to grow stronger in the future. However, the future is in your hands. What will you do with it?
Fraternally,
John Loayza
Assistant Grand Chancellor
Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M.
