2015 Area Conference on
Leadership
Presented by the Grand Lodge of Minnesota
Leadership Education Committee
Agenda
Introductions / Welcome
Agenda for the day
Keynote speaker
Working Session 1
Lunch
Working Session 2&3
Town hall
Close
Goals for this session
Provide to our participants
– Specific Tools & Training that can be applied
immediately
– Ideas & Concepts which can be used long term
– Communication & Exchange of information with
GL Leadership
Gather from our participants
- Feedback on session Format & Future topics
Keynote Introduction & Speech
• BREAK ~10 min
– Training with team exercises next
Working Session Introduction
Topic Lecture/Discussion
Break into teams, complete exercise
Regroup and share results
THE ELEVATOR SPEECH
Elevator Speech
An ‘Elevator Speech’ aka ‘Elevator Pitch’
Definition
A short, prepared speech
which establishes an idea,
provides differentiation and
then creates an opportunity
for reengagement (hook)
What
So What
Where
Goal
To provide information to
the recipient and create an
opportunity or even
expectation that they will
engage in further
conversation on the subject.
How Try Review
Common example
Someone sees your ring, a logo on a shirt or bumper
sticker and asks about Masonry.
What do you say? How do you answer?
How long until they get the glazed look on their face?
A good elevator speech will provide some
information and maximize the chance for
continued conversation.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Example Uses
Scenario
Example
A new lodge branding and
website or supporting a new
cause
Any new idea
Requesting an appointment
Time on the grand master’s
calendar (or boss or politician
etc.)
Expressing a position or
stance
For instance: dues changes or
city zoning changes
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Components of an Elevator Speech
• Introduction
• Explanation of the value
proposition/differentiation
• Hook for further engagement
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
What makes this an elevator speech effective?
• Succinct ~ 20 – 30 seconds long
• Accessible
• Practiced / Flows
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Accessibility
"Freemasonry is the subjugation of the Human that is in
Man, by the Divine; the conquest of the Appetites and
Passions by the Moral Sense and the Reason; a continual
effort, struggle and warfare of the Spiritual against the
Material and Sensual. That victory--when it has been
achieved and secured, and the conqueror may rest upon his
shield and wear the well-earned laurels--is the true Holy
Empire.“ Source: Albert Pike. Morals and Dogma.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Example:
“Freemasonry is the world’s largest, oldest and bestknown gentleman’s fraternity. It is based on the
medieval stonemason guilds who built the great
castles and cathedrals of Europe. Modern
Freemasons use the tools, traditions and
terminology of those stone masons as allegories for
building temples in the hearts of men. It’s said that
we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets –
secrets that each individual man has to discover for
and about himself. It’s not for everybody. Maybe
it’s for you.” – Chris H (well known masonic
author)
Discussion: Other Examples/stories
When in the past has something like an
elevator speech been useful?
Building an Elevator Speech
• Identify your goal
• Write the speech
– Introduce the topic
– Communicate the differentiation
– Engage with a question
• Put it all together
• Practice
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Helpful Tips - making it better
•
•
•
•
Practice
Remove what isn’t essential
Pay attention to non-verbal communication
Keep it real
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Group Exercise Example:
What is Freemasonry?
• Goal:
• Intro:
• Differentiation:
• Hook:
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Team instructions
Select a scenario
The team works on the elevator
Each group will present the results of their
work
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Recap
Key points to the elevator speech
• Accessible
• Context
• Practice: Verbal and non-verbal delivery
• Brief with a good flow and cadence
A communication tool which can be used in a
variety of situations
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
CONCEPT DISCUSSION:
CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
Continual Improvement
• Always trying to get better
• Formalized practice
–
–
–
–
Increased focus
Set priorities
Control the change (planned/deliberate)
Track improvement
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Continual Improvement
Identify
Plan
Review
Implement
VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER 101
Introduction
Voice of the customer is a label applied to the indepth process of capturing a customer’s
expectations, preferences and aversions.
Coming from a market research discipline this is a
formal practice of collecting and analyzing
information and building inputs for future action.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Gather information/feedback on
what our customers want/need
Use that to help drive plans for
future activity or changes
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer &
Continual Improvement
What
Identify
Plan
Review
Implement
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Member engagement / health check
Event planning (social, fraternal, charitable)
Design or Decision Making
Continual improvement
(Stated meetings, mentorship, etc)
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Have a goal
• Secrete 3 Step Process:
Identify our Customers
Get their input (ideas / feedback)
Define Requirements (plan input)
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Determine Goal
If you don’t know where you’re trying to go,
you’ll never get there.
Identify what information you want to gather
and result
Address a Problem
Create a new event/product
Overall Health Check
IMPROVE LODGE MEETING EXPERIANCE
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Who is our customer?
Better Meeting Attendance
Social Event
Charity / Fund Raiser
Membership Development
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Gathering Desires / Feedback
There are all sorts of methods for gathering
data, several are:
Surveys
Interviews
Focus Groups
It’s important to consider the benefits and
challenges of each method
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Survey
Attributes
• Can gather data from larger groups
• Standardized questions / data points
• Various methods: online, phone, mail, in
person
Response rate can be a challenge, this is
sometimes off-set by the use if incentives.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Interviews
Attributes
• Can be casual or formal
• Experiential questions tend to elicit greater
insight
• Generally, smaller pools, more personal
and harder to develop statistics without a
survey component
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Focus Groups
Attributes
• Can be casual or formal
• Verity of formats: Town Hall Style, Group
Interview or Brain Storming etc…
Group dynamics can add value or present a
challenge – takes more planning to set ‘the
stage’
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Interview Example:
What makes a good meeting
Q: Tell me about the worst lodge meeting you’ve
attended?
A: Well, one of the worst meetings I’ve ever attended, the officers were
reading the ritual out of their books and still making mistakes. The
master had no set agenda and the people attending got into side
conversations. The meeting dragged on and on and when it was finally
time to close, I dreaded sitting through the closing. I felt as if the officers
hadn’t invested in the meeting, then it didn’t make sense for me to carve
out time to attend.
Q: What in our mind makes a successful meeting?
A: Since I run meetings as part of my job, I don’t have a lot of tolerance for
inefficient meetings. Good ritual work really sets the tone for the
meeting, and I rarely recall the reading of the minute but I do recall a
number of good LEO’s.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Example: What makes a good meeting
Q: Tell me about the worst lodge
meeting
you’ve
Perceived
investment
on the part
of the officers
attended?
A: well, one of the worst meetings I’ve ever attended, the officers were
reading the ritual out of their books and still making mistakes. The
master had no set agenda and the people attending got into side
conversations. The meeting dragged on and on and when it was finally
time to close, I dreaded sitting through the closing. I felt as if the officers
hadn’t invested in the meeting, then it didn’t make sense for me to carve
Lack of organization / execution (Logistics) out time to attend.
Q: What in our mind makes a successful meeting?
A: I like seeing my brothers, having some
food and may a drink after
Expectation
lodge. Since I run meetings as part of my job, I don’t have a lot of
tolerance for inefficient meetings. I find that good ritual work really sets
the tone for the meeting but it doesn’t really stand out unless there are
lots of mistakes. I guess I rarely recall the reading of the minute but I do
Value / Desire
recall a number of good LEO’s.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Example: Stated Meeting
Lodge Selection
• Consistent night
• Accessible location
• Sufficient seating
During the meeting
• Clean Ritual - Expectation
• Efficient Agenda & Execution
• LEO – Value Add/Want
• Start/Finish on time - Expectation
• Reading of the Minutes – Place for improvement?
Style/Setting
• Formal
Brotherhood
• Refreshment(before or after) - Value Add/Want
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Primary Goal: Improved Meeting Logistics
Key items
ITEM
ACTION
Start and Finish On Time – meetings
open late because people are still
getting to the lodge room
Have officers ready on time, drop the
gavel and open, if people are outside they
can wait until the open is complete
Hold the important items early, close at
the published time.
Efficiently Run Meeting – things
seem chaotic and disorganized, we
spend a lot of time on things that
don’t server the craft
Have a specific agenda in advance, perpublish as much as possible to save time
Make the agenda fit the meeting schedule
LEO – Too often LEO’s get cut short
or skipped because we run out of
time.
Move the LEO to earlier in the meeting,
make it a priority
Ritual – Officers reading from the
Expectation – Know the work - practice
What
So What Where How Try Review
books
Voice of the Customer
Primary Goal: Improved Meeting Logistics
Suggestions
ITEM
ACTION
Lower/Softer Light in Meetings –
The bright light seems too harsh
Can check out with the members, try an
experiment to see if different lighting is
more appealing
More Formal Dress / Dress Code – I Check with the officers, see if they would
think we’d take it more seriously if
support more formal dress and ‘lead the
we had a more formal dress
way’. Maybe start with degrees.
Attribute
What Category
So What
WhereCurrent
How
Try Review
Respondents
Capability
Areas for improvement
Voice of the Customer
Exercise Gathering information
Based on the provided scenario
Identify the goal of the information gathering effort
Select a method or methods
Develop some example questions
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Guidance
•
•
•
•
Know what you’re looking to understand
Know your audience
3-7 key pieces if information
Be ready to accept what is provided
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Voice of the Customer
Key Behaviors when Soliciting Feedback
Be available
Be attentive
Be active
Be appreciative
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
MANAGING CHANGE
Voice of the Customer &
Managing Change
What
Identify
Plan
Review
Implement
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Change is a reality of life. It can be
scary, exciting, exhausting, disruptive
and sometimes all consuming
however without change, there is no
growth.
~someone wise
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
As leaders we deal with changes.
The goal of change management is to ensure
the least disruption and derive the greatest
chance of success from the change in
question.
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
This is accomplished through careful and
deliberate planning for every phase of the
change:
Requirements
Development
Communication
What
So What
Execution
Where
Support
How Try Review
Managing Change
How many people have experienced the following:
• Initiatives announced and never executed
• One year wonders
• Announcements met with argument or dismay
• Activities or announcements ignored or avoided
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Some examples:
• New activities
• Physical changes
• Budget/Dues changes
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Understand the Change
A change should be purposeful
• Understand the issues/drivers for the change
• What will be changed
• Expected Result
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
What’s impacted or impacting a change
•
Technical/ Organizational
•
Environmental
•
What
So What
Emotional
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Understanding the Audience
How will the impacted people react to the change?
What actions can be taken to build support?
What assurances are needed to smooth things post change?
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Change Logistics
How long will this take to effect?
Will it take more work/time/money? Is there required
practice or investment to make successful?
What is needed to support the change long term?
How will the change be communicated?
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Example:
Improve the Lodge Meeting Experience
Make changes to ritual and operations to improve
the lodge experience and improve meeting
attendance.
ITEM
Start and Finish On Time
Efficiently Run Meeting
LEO.
Clean Ritual
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Example: Improving the Lodge Experience
Start and Finish On Time
• Need to make sure officers are in place to start on time, agenda supports ending
on time.
• Communicate this to our Brothers a month in advance and at dinner prior to the
meeting.
• No special development needed.
• Some Brothers might feel it’s too structured or not like having to wait outside if
they are late – be ready to address
Efficiently Run Meeting
• Meet with officers to develop agenda, have secretary print them, pass them out
to the members at the start of the meeting, communicate that we’ll be doing this
from now on.
• Make sure the officers are on board with the work and keep to the agenda
LEO Presentation
• Master to make sure the LEO is ready, get officer buy in
• Schedule LEO to present early in the meeting, stay consistent month over month
• Communicate the change to the Brothers
Clean Ritual ***
• Ensure officer support, schedule practices, ask DR or members for assistance
• Development: Practice – No announcement needed
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Example:
Improve the Lodge Meeting Experience
Suggestions
ITEM
Approach
Dim Lights
Do some voice of the customer work and see if the
members would be interested
Maybe try it out at a special event or for part of the
meeting
Formal Attire
Easy to implement for officers (if they support).
Once established discuss with brothers the If &
When of formal attire
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Considerations in Change Implementation
Established Support
Narrative (how, what, when & why)
Logistics execution
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Post Change (Closing The Loop)
Was the expected result attained?
How as the change received?
What went well, what could be improved?
Is additional investment needed?
Hint – can feed back into voice of the customer or
other review activity
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Team Exercise
Based on the provided scenarios
Discuss:
Issue/Driver
Constraints
Expected Change Approach
Preparation
Result
Draft a Message / Announcement
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
Managing Change
Things to keep in mind
• Change must be balanced with continuity
• Always consider the human element (emotions)
• Have reasons for the change (expected benefit) and
verify support
• Build support with key stakeholders prior to the
large announcement
What
So What
Where
How Try Review
10 Minute Break
-Dialog with Grand Lodge Members next
Closing