VW Bro Jeffrey Gillyon, PGSwdB

Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master and brethren,
Rulers’ Forum Groups 1, 4 and 8 were given the task of identifying and collating best practice from Mentoring Schemes across the country.
Having done so and reported to the Rulers’ Forum, we would now like to present you with our findings over the next 20 minutes.
The Project has seen masons from 8 different Provinces working together, forming friendships, sharing ideas and, importantly, learning from each other. 

I have with me Bros James Bartlett and James Greaves and we will tell you what we found.   How a clear management structure is critical and about the toolkit we have produced in effect - a library of mentoring materials

Imagine your Lodge with a waiting list of quality candidates who, when initiated, are fully supported throughout their Masonic journey.  Each of them having an understanding of what it means to be a Freemason in the modern world.  For this to happen, we have no doubt that there is an urgent need to take Mentoring forward to levels not previously envisaged.

Why Mentoring?  Because we are not very good at either retaining, or getting the best out of, our members.  Commerce and Industry have long realized the benefits derived from a sound mentoring system and we, as an organisation, need to adapt to the rapidly changing environment in which we find ourselves.  If we don’t, we will suffer the consequences.

Some candidates are lucky enough to have a Proposer or Seconder who has not only a sufficient level of knowledge, but also the time and ability to pass that knowledge on to their charge.  Unfortunately, all too often this is not the case. And through no fault of his sponsors, care of the Candidate is neglected.  Why?    Perhaps the Proposer or Seconder

• have an active office in the Lodge that prevents them from spending  quality time with their Candidate or

• perhaps they are at an early stage of their own Masonic career, without the required level of knowledge to be able to answer the Candidate’s questions

• or even perhaps, unable to attend Lodge meetings on a regular basis, for reasons of family or business commitments.

This is where the Mentor comes into his own, as someone who can provide the time and the knowledge required to care for the Candidate and develop his understanding of our Order.

You know, there is an old saying Putting Masonry into Men – not just Men into Masonry.  A somewhat hackneyed phrase you may think.  Even so, still relevant, for we all know Masons who never bother to learn any ritual.  Perhaps even more disturbing, I suspect we all know many more that are very good at ritual, but never give a thought to its meaning and how it translates into our everyday lives.

Brethren, I am going to pose a question:
“In whose hands is the future of Masonry”
I will return to that question later in the Presentation.

W Bro James Bartlett

Many people have thought of Mentoring as an educational process.  In fact, it is in a large part about the Pastoral Care of our members. Isn’t it Best Practice to look after our brother from the very moment he expresses an interest in Masonry, by introducing him to his Lodge and the Craft, by making him more and more aware of what the Craft is and by involving him in the activities and work of the Lodge.  This will develop a lifelong Involvement and commitment to the Craft.

That is what a good Mentoring Scheme does by focusing on the Candidate. But, the crucial and sometimes the hardest part of the process is the choice of Mentor.

Why? Because he will be the interface between the Craft and the Candidate. His attitude will possibly mould the candidate for the whole of his Masonic career.

• Ideally he will be of the same generation as his charge.

• Ideally he will introduce the candidate to his own friends in the Lodge, immediately increasing his circle of friends.

• Ideally they will want to meet socially outside the Lodge.

The problem therefore arises that the Mentor may not be a very experienced Mason himself.

How do we address this problem? We address the problem by providing layers of support.

Take a look at Figure 1 at the top of the first page of the leaflet (see link at bottom of page)

You will see the new mason at the centre of layers of support

• In the first layer he is looked after by his Mentor, his Masonic friend.

• In the second layer the Mentor is supported by a Lodge Mentor. He is an experienced mason and runs the scheme within the Lodge. He should not be a Mentor himself. Why? Because he is the lynchpin of the scheme. He is the Mentors’ Mentor.

• He in turn is supported by his Province which is able to provide tailored source material. For example Booklets, Workshops for Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons, Discussion Groups, Training for the Mentors and New Members evenings. Group discussion and debate should be an integral part of the mentoring process, perhaps on an inter Lodge basis to make it more stimulating.  All this will complement the toolkit in promoting Masonic awareness and development and encourage the candidate on his Masonic journey.

• And the Province in turn will be supported by Grand Lodge which will be a conduit for the collection and exchange of good practice between Provinces and there should be training and seminars for Provincial Mentors on an inter-Province basis just as there should be for Lodge Mentors and Mentors on an inter Lodge basis.

And so you see the whole scheme is built up of layers of support at every level.

Now look at the Organisation Chart at the bottom of Page 1 (see link at bottom of page)

This is a more traditional representation of how we see a mentoring management structure evolving. It provides the elements essential in an effective scheme. One point of note is that we see ‘horizontal’ interaction between Mentors as they discuss progress and share best practice. Mentors can also make sure that new masons also interact to share experiences and hopefully form lasting friendships.

I mentioned the Pastoral element just now.  It is vital that the Mentoring philosophy runs through the whole Craft like “Blackpool” through a stick of rock. All the work of a Mentor can be undone in an instant by a single thoughtless remark. To emphasise the importance of the scheme we believe that the candidate should be formally introduced to his Mentor in open Lodge on the night of his Initiation. We hope the Ritual Associations will include a form of words like those at the top of Page 2 of the leaflet (see link at bottom of page). Mentoring should cover all aspects of a mason’s career. Provincial Grand Masters already have a Mentoring Scheme, why not the Master of a Lodge, the Lodge Secretary, the Director of Ceremonies, the Almoner and the Charity Steward.

There is nothing new in any of this. All of this is already happening in some Lodges and some Provinces. We are confident that you will want similar schemes to be available to every mason, in every Lodge throughout the Craft.

W Bro James Greaves

In this CD we have distilled more than 1,000 pages of work from over 35 different Provinces.

The CD is split into 3 main areas, the contents are shown in Fig 4 of the leaflet. Although the CD contains a large amount of information we have made it very user-friendly. Each section has a table of contents and there is a full index at the end of the document.

It is not designed to be prescriptive; the material it contains can be used by Provinces as they wish, according to the level of mentoring that they already provide. If necessary, the material can be used to implement a mentoring scheme by a Province that does not currently use mentoring – an  ‘off the shelf’ solution as it were. But, in many Provinces mature, well managed schemes already exist, and they may wish only to select that material which can support their existing programme.

Returning to Fig 4, you will see the box on the left hand side headed Roles & Responsibilities.  This section details the objectives and duties of everyone involved in the Mentoring Process.

At the start of the Initiation Ceremony the candidate is told that he can “follow your leader with a firm but humble confidence” and so begins a symbolical journey from darkness to light, from ignorance to Masonic Knowledge. The Mentor will be the new mason’s guide, leader and coach once the ceremony has finished – he will explain not only the workings, traditions and organisation of the Craft, but also lift the veil of allegory and reveal the meaning behind the symbols so that the new mason can enjoy and understand the organisation that he has joined.

Thus the whole focus of Masonic Mentoring is to enable the new mason to grow in knowledge, involvement and confidence so that he can benefit from and enjoy his membership.

The box entitled Mentoring Guidelines is a detailed look at what mentoring is: the qualities we should look for in our Mentors and how mentoring actually works – giving practical tips and activities to ensure success.

Brethren, this is not rocket science.  Activities include leaving the lodge room with a new mason when he is asked to retire during a ceremony. This creates a wonderful opportunity for him to talk through aspects of masonry with his Mentor and ask those all important burning questions, such as: What is happening? What is expected of me? And what does being a Freemason really mean in the modern world?

We also look at the Candidate Interview, providing guidelines that a lodge may wish to use to help in the crucial selection process.

Actually it may be a misnomer to use the word selection.  I ask the question ‘When was the last time your Interview Committee rejected a candidate?’ We would do well to remember that our Pro Grand Master, just one year ago stated “we should all be renewing our efforts to find men of quality to join us.”

Isn’t it sometimes true that the Interview process produces Quantity not Quality? We must ensure that a well intentioned desire to find candidates is not overridden by the need to produce ceremonies at all costs. We hope that the Interview guidelines contained within the CD will help with this.

This section also contains PowerPoint presentations to support training sessions and Road Shows along with example Newsletters for communication to mentors across a Province. Included here is a workshop on Active Listening Skills. The GAOTU gave us two ears and one mouth – and the wise mentor uses them in the same proportion.

The right hand box is the Mentoring Toolkit, which is a library of materials that a Mentor can dip in and out off to explain the various aspects of the Craft.  These range from giving an understanding of our rituals and preparing for the next degree, through to guidelines on masonic etiquette, words to masonic hymns and an introduction to the Royal Arch.

Brethren, there is an oft quoted business saying ‘What Gets Measured Gets Done’ and we have applied this principle by introducing the concept of Monitoring and Evaluation to Mentoring. By using a simple test we can identify those Lodges that are retaining their members and those that are not.

Fig 5 shows how this works and how we can look at either a comparative loss of total members or narrow it down to just losses amongst newer masons, or indeed any other categories such as Past Masters. By applying this objective measurement, a Province can identify those lodges that are achieving good results and act to share their best practice with others.

VW Bro Jeffrey Gillyon, PGSwdB

Brethren
So you can see,  a successful Mentoring System must be more than a standard guide for Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons.

Yes, it must start with an Introduction and establish basic Masonic awareness, but it should also encourage lifelong Masonic development, supporting every Mason and not simply candidates.

It must be underpinned by seminars and training and the successful work of mentors must be fully recognised.

For any Mentoring Scheme to achieve this, there are certain minimum requirements for success.

• It must provide central support linked to local delivery

• It must ensure efficient organisation and administration

• It must place emphasis on finding the right person for each role

• It must be maintained and its effectiveness measured and,

• last but certainly not least, there must be significant sponsorship by Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodges

The common aim of all of us here, is to safeguard the future of our beloved Craft; to put in place a structured system that will not only help retain new members, but ensure their development as future leaders in our Lodges.  So why have we talked about structure throughout this Presentation?  Because structure = training = success.
                       
The Executive Summary on the last page of the handout captures the main points of our presentation and details the action we urgently need to take:

• The creation of the roles of Provincial Mentor and Lodge Mentor

• The creation of a management body with an appropriate lead figure at Grand Lodge level

• Adoption of a piece of ritual in which a Candidate is formally introduced to his Mentor at the end of the 1st degree ceremony

• Provision of easy access to the information currently on this CD Rom via the world wide web

Brethren, at the start of this presentation, you will remember I asked the question.

 “In whose hands is the future of Masonry?”

Most of us would think “That’s easy – if for no other reason than the passage of time, it must be in the hands of the younger brethren”
But brethren, in whose hands are they?

Who is shaping those who will shape the future of Freemasonry?

Brethren – I would suggest that by supporting the changes necessary to implement a structured mentoring policy, you will be taking their future into your hands and who knows, perhaps even the future of Freemasonry itself.

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Organisation Chart Leaflet (PDF opens in a new Window)