MASONIC LOYALTY

by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
"A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry"

"Loyalty = Trust"
- Bryce's Law

About a year ago I wrote a paper for my consulting practice entitled, "Rebuilding Loyalty,"
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rebuilding-Loyalty&id=298989
which discussed how to cultivate loyalty from people. In the article, I described three forms
of loyalty: Product, Institutional, and Personal. For the purpose of this essay I want
to discuss our loyalty to the fraternity which falls under the category of Institutional
loyalty. To quote my earlier work...

"We see instances of institutional loyalty in such things as political parties (Democrats, Republicans),
branches of the military (Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy), countries and communities,
charities, sports teams, fraternal organizations, and companies. Here, people fervently believe in
the institution they belong to and proudly display their loyalty through such things as lapel pins,
bumper stickers, tattoos, web sites or whatever. Most people realize such institutions are not
perfect. Nevertheless, they support it through thick and thin simply because they believe it to be
a good and noble institution. The only time they will break with it is if the institution radically
changes course and is no longer in line with their personal interests and values. For example, we
have seen examples of people switching from one political party to another due to a change in
policies and interests.

Quite often, the loyalty for an institution or office within it supersedes the loyalty to the person
holding the office. We see numerous examples of this in the military and government alone. True,
soldiers are more apt to follow certain leaders into battle they believe in, but they will also
perform their duty out of a greater sense of loyalty to the institution.

Corporations tend to be a bit different though since the integrity of such institutions are being
questioned today. This is probably due to corporate cultures that are failing to maintain the
interests of the workers. Whereas I still have friends employed by big businesses who have long
tenure with their companies, younger workers tend to lack faith in the institutions and find the
company's interests are not compatible with their own. Their only motivation is to pick up a
paycheck, nothing more, nothing less. This is somewhat sad as it means their work is not aligned
with their interests which does not promote a sense of craftsmanship."

In terms of Freemasonry, most of us remain loyal due to its time honored principles
embedded within it (friendship, morality, and brotherly love), not for its government. If it
were otherwise, you would probably see a mass exodus as the government and policies of Grand
Lodges are often questioned. But because Freemasonry is a volunteer institution (we participate
out of our own free will and accord) we are inclined to accept the actions of the Grand Lodge as
its members generally regard it as a benevolent organization, and in many cases it is, but
in some situations the trust is breached and the Craft loses confidence in its leaders. It is
hard to remain loyal to an institution whose leaders routinely exhibit questionable practices.
Nonetheless, whenever its authority is questioned, the Grand Lodge pulls rank and demands blind
obedience. When this happens the Grand Lodge loses the loyalty of its constituents and the
fraternity is weakened (e.g., waning participation, and declining donations).

REBUILDING LOYALTY

To again quote from the article...

"If our trust in someone or something is broken, it is difficult to repair, but not impossible. If
Product Loyalty is broken, consumer confidence has to be rebuilt; If Institutional Loyalty is broken,
the corporate culture has to be overhauled, and; If Personal Loyalty is broken, it will be the most
difficult to correct due to the human dynamics involved. In any event, rebuilding loyalty will be a
long and costly process. The best thing to do is not to lose it in the first place.

Loyalty is broken when expectations radically diverge from what happens in practice. People are willing
to forgive errors or indiscretions to a point, primarily because as creatures of habit we are comfortable
with the status quo and do not necessarily want to change. But if problems become significant without any
sign of being remedied, people will lose patience and faith in the object of attention.

Worker loyalty is lost when they become convinced their interests are not being maintained
by management, and lack confidence in the direction of the company...

Whether such scenarios are real or not, worker loyalty will be lost if management's judgment is
perceived as questionable. A lot of this can be corrected simply by effective communications to
clear up misunderstandings and to explain the rationale for a course of action. Even if the chips
are down, workers are more likely to remain loyal if they understand and believe in the course
management has plotted.

Worker loyalty in management is also based on ethics and quality. If the actions of management
are perceived as unscrupulous or unsavory, workers will quickly lose faith in them. Further, if
workers do not have confidence in the quality of the products or services they are producing and
selling (that they know them to be based on inferior workmanship), this too will be a bad
reflection of management's integrity.

Look, its really quite simple, workers want to be treated fairly, lead a worthy and meaningful
life, and have confidence in the direction of their company. This requires management to improve
their people skills, refine the corporate culture, and enact effective communications. In return,
management should rightfully expect loyalty from the work force."

The best way to cultivate Masonic loyalty is to pursue a program of honest and
open communications, thereby giving evidence the Grand Lodge officers are not hiding anything.
This can be achieved by articulating the Grand Master's objectives and programs on a web site,
in newsletters, through his district deputies or whatever; not just once, but on a regular
basis with updates.

Another way to promote loyalty and participation is to manage from the bottom-up. As we
all know, Masonic institutions are typically managed top-down which lends itself to a
Theory X form of micromanagement. But if the Grand Masters were to appeal to the Craft
and solicit their input through true committees (not token committees with figureheads),
this would stimulate participation which would lead to trust and loyalty. In other words,
if the Craft was truly empowered, they would be more motivated to conquer the problems of the
fraternity. But that is a big "if" as Grand Masters typically do not like to share their authority.

If the Craft believes the Grand Lodge is a good and noble institution, that the interests
of the Craft are being maintained by the current administration, they will loyally follow
their leaders anywhere. But if a Grand Lodge expects nothing more than blind obedience,
they are courting disaster, not just for their jurisdiction but for the fraternity overall.

Keep the Faith!

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not necessarily represent
the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body.
As with all of my Masonic articles herein, please feel free to reuse them in Masonic
publications or re-post them on Masonic web sites (except Florida).
When doing so, please add the following:

Article reprinted with permission of the author.

Please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.

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Copyright © 2007 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved

this is informative and could go a long way toward the garnering of chapter membership. :afam: