MasonicMinute.com

aedifico42| Losing the Junior Warden…

Posted at: 4:53 pm

The dificulty is making the decision.  What’s best for the Lodge?  Your friendship?  How will the brothers react?  Are your expectations too high?  How did it get to this spot in the first place?

Masonic leadership is not often challenged with very difficult decisions.  Mostly, Lodges get along and make things happen.  We may not always get to do everything we like, but generally the inertia of the fraternity makes things happen. 

But what about when you raise the bar?  What happens when you discover that there may be some in your ranks who are really not cut-out for the job (I am speaking of being a pillar officer in your lodge)?  What do you do when you are constantly preaching the highest performance and expectations, but one of your core officers is not meeting muster?

You get rid of him.

That’s right.  The cold hard facts are that leadership must demand more from the members, and the membership must demand more from the leadership.  This is the harsh reality we must deal with as we re-build our neglected craft.  It is a reality that many would rather avoid because that’s the easy way-out.  Just ignore the problem and wait-out that guy’s term in office…he will go away eventually.  But at what cost?

As the Master of my Lodge, I am currently in the middle of this type of situation.  Our JW was not meeting up to our raised expectations.  And while I am far from perfect, there was too great of a gap between where he was and where the Lodge expected him to be.  He decided to do everyone a favor.  He quit.

I take responsibility for it, as I should.  I write about this not to blow my horn or to try to impress.  I am writing about this real-world experience because it is important to Freemasonry.  For too long our leadership has not been corageous enough to put their foot-down.  Grand Masters are afraid to close lodges that are nothing but a drag on the craft.  Deputy Grand Masters and Deputy Grand Lecturers give a “pass” to too many where ritual requirements are concerned.

We are not being vigilant in our own back-yard.  Mediocrity has become normal, and the highest performers are somehow shuned as if they are fanatical weirdos. 

Leaders must make hard choices based on all the information they can get.  The leader must seek wise counsel, and then execute a plan.  Otherwise, the same thing keeps happening over and over again.

We lost our Junior Warden almost two weeks ago.  We will adjust.  But in the end, it was the best thing for the Lodge and for our Fraternity.

Are YOU in a place where your higher expectations are helping you clear the deck?  Are YOUR leaders making tough choices, even if one or two men get their feelings hurt?  (by the way, the split was very agreeable and mature…no hurt feelings were expressed - in case you were interested)

This fraternity must raise the bar.  We must clear-out the weeds and get back to our roots.  Thinking men will agree. 

Courageous men will act.

MasonicMinute.com