MWPGM Bailey, Your essay made me think of catalogs from Sears (especially old prior year catalogs good for use in outhouses)! Maybe your online company should raise the price of the item and show that excessive price online, so you can get the 15% off coupon price that should be the regular price?
My response to your premise about Masonry is that about 75% of newly initiated Masons will feel they got what they expected, and about 25% will go astray finding something else to do with their time? That's just a statistical situation of any organization.
I fear that the retention rates in most Lodges are much worse than 75% though. In my experience the average Lodge here will retain less than half over the long term.
But, of course this can vary a great deal from Lodge to Lodge. Some do much worse, some tremendously better.
I have held bigger grudges against retailers for far less. But your correlation to the EA is real. In our modern world, the demands and distractions young men face make for difficult retention rates in Masonry. When a newly admitted mason does not get what he was "sold" he simply hits the "next" button and moves on. You can do outstanding degree work, but if the meetings are boring and the conversations with brothers superficial the young mason and his money will go shopping elsewhere.
Directly on point. And, like in the rest of life, most will never "complain to the manager", they'll just go on their way. I used to know the stats, but if I recall correctly, it's something like 1 or 2 in 10 will bother to complain. The rest will just "not shop there anymore." Depending on their experience & temperament, they may tell other people that they weren't impressed. Again, I'm no longer have the stats in front of me, but people are much more likely to tell friends and relations about a bad experience than they are "the company."
Yeah, complaining to the manager or whatever is really rare for me. Probably why I thought to write about it here. Normally I simply go somewhere else and never say a word. I think of it as 'putting them in jail.'
And I think it is the same with Masonry. We very rarely hear from someone who is quitting, they just stop coming.
I too am a proud holder of grudges against businesses of all sorts. Actually, the day that this happened, I buried the hatchet against a place in your industry. A little dive that my wife and I loved, we'd visit usually more than once a week, because we are pretty sure they make the world's greatest hamburger. But, they got a new waitress, and she kept gouging us on the bill. After about the third time, we called it quits and didn't go back for about a year. The other day we did go back, the owner asked where we had been, so we gave him the story.
But back to Masonry, I think you are right. People used to perhaps be more 'settled.' Many would get hired by a company, and stay for life. Probably it was quite similar with Masonry. But today, people jump from job to job as they move through their career, company to company. There are certainly very valid reasons for this change.
But that makes them primed to dump the Lodge, and do it quickly, if we don't live up to our promises.
Thanks for a thoughtful article. Our Grand Secretary remarked the other night that we have a hole in our bucket - that while we initiate comparable numbers to yesteryear, we fail to retain them. I don't know what the actual statistics are after five, ten, twenty years; and we don't send out exit interviews.
But I do sometimes feel that we have forgotten that we are first and foremost a fraternity based upon our faith. We are not a good ol' boys club, or a service club to the community (although we are free to do that should we so choose.) At least as I see it, our mission is to aid, assist and support our Brothers and their families, from time of initiation to the final call of the Supreme Architect. I suspect that the more successful Lodges throughout the world are doing this.
Thank you Brother, I think that your point is really valid.
We seem to spend a great deal of energy doing things that aren't really what we are all about. Keeping buildings that we can barely afford going. Managing charitable endeavors, including industrial sized charitable endeavors, and all the rest.
I think it is OK if we do those things, and a lot more, but not to the point that what we all joined for is neglected. I fear that happens far too often.
Unfortunately, I think you are right over the target on this one. The candidate hears the hype, joins for it, (sometimes) finds that it's not there, shrugs, cuts their losses and moves on with their life, a little disillusioned and a little more cynical. And the lodge wonders what they can do for retention. Maybe another pin? (For the record, much to my surprise, pins are really cool!)
And sadly the "bait and switch" folks are often the same ones who get bent when new Brothers, immediately after getting raised, end up going into an appendant body, never to be seen again in blue lodge.
>>>new Brothers, immediately after getting raised, end up going into an appendant body, >>>never to be seen again in blue lodge
Honestly, I never really understood it when Brothers did this. I always thought that our Craft Lodges were the coolest bit of Masonry. The place where the rubber meets the road. Where I wanted to be.
And, I never really joined much beyond our Craft Lodges. The Scottish Rite, many years ago, and I think it is superb, but not a suitable substitute for the Lodge experience. I also joined a really tiny concordant order with a single chapter in the Tacoma area. I really loved it, but not enough others did, and it no longer exists.
I didn't join the York Rite, or the Shrine until I was Grand Master, and I don't see myself getting active in either. I turned down an invitation to an invitational Masonic order, having read about some questionable activities in the past.
And that's been about it.
But, I understand it better now. I joined another really small Order, another of those invitational ones, and I could easily see myself getting lost in it. It's really awesome. I could envision a man joining it and slowly drifting away from Craft Masonry. As for me, it's too darn far away from where I live to be in any way convenient, plus I still love the Lodge more than all, but I can see, from it, where various appendant/concordant bodies might speak with more resonance to individual Brothers.
MWPGM Bailey, Your essay made me think of catalogs from Sears (especially old prior year catalogs good for use in outhouses)! Maybe your online company should raise the price of the item and show that excessive price online, so you can get the 15% off coupon price that should be the regular price?
My response to your premise about Masonry is that about 75% of newly initiated Masons will feel they got what they expected, and about 25% will go astray finding something else to do with their time? That's just a statistical situation of any organization.
I fear that the retention rates in most Lodges are much worse than 75% though. In my experience the average Lodge here will retain less than half over the long term.
But, of course this can vary a great deal from Lodge to Lodge. Some do much worse, some tremendously better.
I have held bigger grudges against retailers for far less. But your correlation to the EA is real. In our modern world, the demands and distractions young men face make for difficult retention rates in Masonry. When a newly admitted mason does not get what he was "sold" he simply hits the "next" button and moves on. You can do outstanding degree work, but if the meetings are boring and the conversations with brothers superficial the young mason and his money will go shopping elsewhere.
Directly on point. And, like in the rest of life, most will never "complain to the manager", they'll just go on their way. I used to know the stats, but if I recall correctly, it's something like 1 or 2 in 10 will bother to complain. The rest will just "not shop there anymore." Depending on their experience & temperament, they may tell other people that they weren't impressed. Again, I'm no longer have the stats in front of me, but people are much more likely to tell friends and relations about a bad experience than they are "the company."
Yeah, complaining to the manager or whatever is really rare for me. Probably why I thought to write about it here. Normally I simply go somewhere else and never say a word. I think of it as 'putting them in jail.'
And I think it is the same with Masonry. We very rarely hear from someone who is quitting, they just stop coming.
I too am a proud holder of grudges against businesses of all sorts. Actually, the day that this happened, I buried the hatchet against a place in your industry. A little dive that my wife and I loved, we'd visit usually more than once a week, because we are pretty sure they make the world's greatest hamburger. But, they got a new waitress, and she kept gouging us on the bill. After about the third time, we called it quits and didn't go back for about a year. The other day we did go back, the owner asked where we had been, so we gave him the story.
But back to Masonry, I think you are right. People used to perhaps be more 'settled.' Many would get hired by a company, and stay for life. Probably it was quite similar with Masonry. But today, people jump from job to job as they move through their career, company to company. There are certainly very valid reasons for this change.
But that makes them primed to dump the Lodge, and do it quickly, if we don't live up to our promises.
One of my favorite presentations about Freemasonry not delivering what it sells is from Stephen DaFoe, produced 17 years ago. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LryBMicnsE&t=7s
Just watched. It's a very good video IMO, and provocative in a good way. Thank you!
An excellent presentation! Thank you for sharing it! Not much better than taking good food and making it better.
Thanks for a thoughtful article. Our Grand Secretary remarked the other night that we have a hole in our bucket - that while we initiate comparable numbers to yesteryear, we fail to retain them. I don't know what the actual statistics are after five, ten, twenty years; and we don't send out exit interviews.
But I do sometimes feel that we have forgotten that we are first and foremost a fraternity based upon our faith. We are not a good ol' boys club, or a service club to the community (although we are free to do that should we so choose.) At least as I see it, our mission is to aid, assist and support our Brothers and their families, from time of initiation to the final call of the Supreme Architect. I suspect that the more successful Lodges throughout the world are doing this.
Thank you Brother, I think that your point is really valid.
We seem to spend a great deal of energy doing things that aren't really what we are all about. Keeping buildings that we can barely afford going. Managing charitable endeavors, including industrial sized charitable endeavors, and all the rest.
I think it is OK if we do those things, and a lot more, but not to the point that what we all joined for is neglected. I fear that happens far too often.
MWPGM Bailey, yet another thought provoking and timely message. Delivering on promises is as vital in the business world as it is in our lodges.
Thank you Brother! I'm glad that you found value in my essay!
Unfortunately, I think you are right over the target on this one. The candidate hears the hype, joins for it, (sometimes) finds that it's not there, shrugs, cuts their losses and moves on with their life, a little disillusioned and a little more cynical. And the lodge wonders what they can do for retention. Maybe another pin? (For the record, much to my surprise, pins are really cool!)
And sadly the "bait and switch" folks are often the same ones who get bent when new Brothers, immediately after getting raised, end up going into an appendant body, never to be seen again in blue lodge.
>>>new Brothers, immediately after getting raised, end up going into an appendant body, >>>never to be seen again in blue lodge
Honestly, I never really understood it when Brothers did this. I always thought that our Craft Lodges were the coolest bit of Masonry. The place where the rubber meets the road. Where I wanted to be.
And, I never really joined much beyond our Craft Lodges. The Scottish Rite, many years ago, and I think it is superb, but not a suitable substitute for the Lodge experience. I also joined a really tiny concordant order with a single chapter in the Tacoma area. I really loved it, but not enough others did, and it no longer exists.
I didn't join the York Rite, or the Shrine until I was Grand Master, and I don't see myself getting active in either. I turned down an invitation to an invitational Masonic order, having read about some questionable activities in the past.
And that's been about it.
But, I understand it better now. I joined another really small Order, another of those invitational ones, and I could easily see myself getting lost in it. It's really awesome. I could envision a man joining it and slowly drifting away from Craft Masonry. As for me, it's too darn far away from where I live to be in any way convenient, plus I still love the Lodge more than all, but I can see, from it, where various appendant/concordant bodies might speak with more resonance to individual Brothers.