OFFICIAL VISIT –
ALGONQUIN LODGE
January 19, 2016
(edited for posting)
Brethren:
As most
of you already know, my theme for the year deals with membership, attendance
and participation.
Tonight
I want to focus on an aspect of this theme… that being SUCESSION PLANNING. I want to talk about this in relation to
officer progression… that being the journey from Junior Steward through to
being Worshipful Master and what prepares the Mason for this journey.
So to
clarify…..what is Succession Planning?
Wikipedia
defines it as……..
a process for
identifying and developing people within the organisation with the potential to
fill key leadership positions.
Succession planning
increases the availability of experienced and capable people that are prepared
to assume these roles as they become available.
Taken narrowly,
"replacement planning" for key roles is the heart of succession
planning.
Fundamental to the
succession-management process is an underlying philosophy that argues that
talent in the organisation must be managed for the greater good of the body.
Brethren, I look around me and I see
an experienced Master who is serving his lodge as a Master should….. and I see
a group of officers that are also a credit to their lodge. So did this just magically happen or was
there a process that allowed or encouraged each of the officers to become
skilled in their positions. AND….through
experience and gaining knowledge in each chair were they prepared for the next
chair, their next step on the Journey to the East?
In the business world, succession
planning prepares the person for positions requiring greater skill, ability and
in particular, greater leadership. And
it is this last item that is most applicable to the Masonic progression through
the chairs….the Mason is being prepared to take on progressive leadership, culminating
in being the Worshipful Master. …the LEADER of the lodge.
So how does this leadership get
developed? The development of these
skills does not happen by itself! Yes
there may be natural talent, but even this talent requires polishing.
So before I comment to the how…..I’d
first like to talk a little about leadership.
There are several skills
required to be a leader. The Mason must
demonstrate confidence; he must motivate himself; he must be sympathetic to the
needs of others; he must be strong enough to give others certain freedoms and
responsibilities and yet be able to retain control; he must be able to praise
good work and apportion merciful blame where necessary; and finally he must be
loyal to Grand Lodge, his lodge and the members therein.
What makes a leader? A dictator is the top man in a country, but
he cannot by any stretch of the imagination be classed as a leader. He leads by brute force and fear. We are a volunteer organization….a real
leader has to direct those over whom he has very limited control, and therefore
must do this by force of character.
One of the most important
offices in Masonry is that of the Worshipful Master.
This does not mean that the
first instance of being a leader arises at the time of being installed as
Worshipful Master. The challenge to a
member’s leadership skills comes much earlier in a Mason’s life with his
appointment or election to a Lodge office.
He suddenly is situated in the limelight with everyone in attendance
watching and noticing his every move, whether it is good or bad. Although a junior officer in a Lodge is not
usually called upon to make that many decisions, he still can exercise and
develop leadership.
So let’s now discuss to some extent
how we get there...how we prepare for leadership and in particular the
leadership expected of a Worshipful Master.
Some topics come to mind...
·
Mentoring
·
Gaining experience
·
Developing one’s skills
·
Being allowed to do things and take part
·
Planning
To properly cover these topics could
be a long speech in itself, and given that I have already been talking for some
time I’d like to limit myself to providing an overview and throw out some ideas
that will I hope give you something t think about.....so in no particular
order...
The junior members and junior officers
must be allowed to gain experience in the workings of the lodge and to develop
skills and experience therein....
When I became a junior officer in
Nickel Lodge some 15 years ago, the Worshipful Master at that time, W.Bro.
Grant Boyce developed a comprehensive succession plan for the officers and
those that might become officers that involved progressive ritual delivery,
committee membership, leadership in those committees and other endeavours that
were designed to develop those skills that would allow them to be a credible
Master of the Lodge. Most of the ritual
work was done by the Officers or members with only select pieces done by the
Past Masters.
The point here is that W.Bro, Boyce
planned the years ahead....note I say YEARS in that his plan was designed to be
carried on by his successors. We need to
plan for future leadership not just by year, but a multi-year plan that trains
and provides experience.
We need to develop confidence and competence. This can only be done by allowing the officer
to experience progressive responsibility, at the same time ensuring the safety
mechanisms exist to guide and assist the development.
The
development of the leadership required for the Masters Chair starts before you
even become an officer, and for some, even before you become a Mason. In terms of being a lodge officer the
intenseness of the preparation increases the moment you take a chair.
The
development of leadership involves the need to learn to think differently; one
has to start to look at the bigger picture; to think not only about oneself,
but to develop the habit of thinking of others…you are being developed and are
developing others.
This
brings me to some comments about Mentoring.
We talk about it a fair bit, but I believe we do not do it to the extent
that we should. I have been mentored by
many people throughout my Masonic journey and they have all had roles in
developing the skills and knowledge I have today…..and in addition they have
contributed to the Mason I am today.
(please no witty comments here as to my
skills….I have opened the door andI know some of you are thinking of things to
say)
I
cannot overstate the value of Mentoring…..the Mentor is the provider of
knowledge, the guide…. the friend and is an indispensible factor in developing
both the Mason and the leader of the future.
Who can
be the mentor?......the answer is easy…anyone that has the commitment and the
necessary skills and drive to be one.
Mentoring has so many different facets that all of us have something we
can offer. I believe that we should all
be mentoring in some way. Look at
yourself, if you are not providing some mentoring to someone….and remember this
can be done on so many levels and to varying degrees, we are missing out on one
of what I believe are the great responsibilities of Masonry….the chance to make
a brother a better Mason.
Returning
to the focus of leadership…..
I
believe we should be identifying those with the potential to assume greater responsibility
in the organization. We must offer developmental
experiences to those that can move into the future leadership role. We need to ensure we develop long term
commitment and retention. Appoint people
to work on a project, to lead a committee, to organize an event…all of these
will develop their leadership skills.
One thing to remember, you can provide guidance but you need to allow
some level of autonomy to allow for the development required.
Another
important point I want to make….not everyone has the ability or more
importantly the desire to be the leader of the lodge. Does this make them a lesser
Mason…categorically NO….their role within Masonry just takes a different path. Some of our brethren have skills/contributions
that are of value elsewhere within the organization (William Mercer Wilson
Medal)
When
the lodge is deciding on who should be the next in line for the starting
officer chair, I believe this should be done predominantly based on merit
It
should not be solely based on seniority….the next guy in line based on
membership. Not the warm body
approach. The new officer should be
someone with talent and that WANTS to assume the position. A healthy lodge is one where there are a
number of possible new officers.
We NEED
to take more interest in the development of our officers, our leaders of the
future. We often let them develop on
their own….they need our help….it ALSO helps enforce the …esprit de corps…the
working together.
So…what
was the point of tonight’s talk?
The
main thrust in the talk in terms of my ongoing theme is towards Participation
and that the Mason progressing through the chairs towards the East needs to
prepare himself for the ultimate leadership within the lodge, that of Worshipful
Master.
With
the right leader the lodge will flourish, the brethren will be guided through
the year meeting goals and advancing our craft until the Master passes the
gavel onto the new Master, the new leader.
But the fundamental message here is that the development of that leader
starts years before and MUST continue through the Masonic journey to prepare
the Mason for the position of Worshipful Master of the Lodge. This needs to be planned for.
Worshipful
Master....I thank you for your indulgencies this evening and my Brethren I
thank each and every one of you for your kind attention.
R.W.
Bro. Clive D. Stephenson
District
Deputy Grand Master
Sudbury-Manitoulin
District
Tuesday
January 19, 2016
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