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The Members’ Pathway
Plan, Attract, Engage and Retrieve are watchwords coined by The Pathway Working Party to form a framework for bolstering both current meetings and future membership. Here’s how your Lodge can benefit
Membership remains at the heart of UGLE’s strategic thinking and so I am immensely pleased to have been asked to introduce this updated Members’ Pathway to you.
The Members’ Pathway was launched in 2017, and a significant review was undertaken by the Pathway Working Party in 2019. Valuable lessons were learnt from the Lodges that had adopted the original version, and this led to a project to revamp it – to incorporate those lessons and assist us all to achieve our aim of first stabilising and then increasing our membership.
Plan, Attract, Engage and Retrieve are our new watchwords to help ensure our meetings are enjoyed by all, losses are stemmed and our membership grows.
I am extremely impressed with the updated version of the Members’ Pathway. It will be of enormous value to all Lodges across the Constitution, whether they be in Metropolitan Grand Lodge, the Provinces or our Districts.
The initial rollout will be to Lodges through Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodges. This will be followed by a project to support Districts.
I encourage you to read this article, consider and study the attached leaflet, work with your Lodge Membership Team who will be supported by the Provincial teams, including the Provincial Pathway Officers, and let’s all start to make our hopes and ambitions realities.
MW Bro Peter G Lowndes, ProGM
THE HUB ELEMENTS AND THREADS
Understanding your Lodge
What are we? Succession planning Having the right message & material Being proud to be a Member Where new Members come from
Lessons learnt from losses
Understanding REAL reasons for losses
Freemasons
Engage with
Members
RET R I EVE
Members
Interview
Members
your Lodge
Engaging through social & community events
Explaining to others what membership means to you
Using Lodge
Outline
Enquiry management
Interview process
& apologies Learning and Development
management
Personal learning Guided learning
Fun & enjoyment Stewardship Understanding
WHAT IS THE MEMBERS’ PATHWAY?
The Members’ Pathway provides an overall framework that will help Lodges to: • Plan Lodge and membership development • Attract and welcome new members • Engage with new and existing members to reduce losses • Retrieve fi nd ways to encourage those who have drifted away to rekindle their interest.
The aim is to assist all Lodges to become vibrant and so enjoyable that everyone looks forward to attending the next meeting!
The Members’ Pathway is now presented in a cyclical format, to emphasise that it is a continuous process, but with greater focus on planning and engagement. There are three levels of information: • The leafl et attached to this article • Quick Start Guides (provided in hard copy format, as well as click and view online) • Detailed guidance (click and view online only)
The leafl et gives an overview of: • Hub (the core of the Members’ Pathway) • Elements (the individual parts) • Threads (brief descriptions of the content of each element).
The Hub contains the four main areas of membership activity: Plan, Attract, Engage and Retrieve. Each of these areas is broken down into Elements and then further expanded into Threads. It is presented in this format to direct the user to the specifi c support materials they need. The attached leafl et provides more information and context.
The Quick Start Guides provide further detail and, in the digital version, will include links to the in-depth guidance available to support members and Lodges.
The b.ugle.org.uk membership site will provide the repository for the Members’ Pathway materials. Much of this material is drawn from the original version of the Members’ Pathway, but is now accessed in a more intuitive manner.
The Quick Start Guides provide further detail, and the digital version links to in-depth guidance
WHY IS THE MEMBERS’ PATHWAY IMPORTANT?
This updated version contains good practices from the original Members’ Pathway. Practical ideas have been drawn from the successes of Lodges in engaging members, planning meetings so that they are enjoyed by everyone and contribute to stemming losses and growing our membership.
It should be the catalyst to help develop our Lodges and re-engage our membership, capitalising on the recent PR successes that have followed the incredible community support provided by Freemasons during the pandemic. It will champion our values of Integrity, Friendship, Respect and Charity.
In recent weeks, an introductory document, referred to as ‘Prepping for Pathway’ was made available to all members through First Rising. This used a metaphor of baking a cake to help Provincial and Lodge teams consider how they Plan, Attract, Engage and Retrieve members, as well as introducing the role of the Lodge Membership Offi cer.
This was well received, and from the positive feedback from the recent presentations given to the Provincial Grand Masters and their Provincial teams, the Working Party are confi dent that the updated Members’ Pathway will be equally welcomed and supported.
The concepts and information included in the ‘Prepping for Pathway’ document can be found in the Plan and Engage sections of the Hub.
PREPARING FOR THEMEMBERS’PATHWAY A Recipe for Success
The Members’ Pathway is a resource you can use to help secure the future of your Lodge
The Membership Offi cer’s Jewel
Nick Wilson (top) and Chris Hirst from The Members’ Pathway Working Party, which assists Lodges in attracting new members and retaining existing ones
WHO IS INVOLVED?
The success of the Members’ Pathway relies on a willingness of Lodges and members to embrace change, the active involvement of the Lodge Membership Team (Membership Offi cer, Mentor, Almoner and Secretary, amongst others) to inspire and motivate Lodge members and the support the members of the Lodge give them. Not every Lodge will be able to appoint individual Membership Offi cers and Mentors but it will be critical for someone to be identifi ed to carry out these roles.
Every member, from the newest to the most experienced, should have an opportunity to contribute to Lodge and membership development (see Hub: plan section, Element: Lodge planning). A willingness to embrace change in order to inspire and motivate Lodge members is a pre-requisite for success.
Provincial and Metropolitan Grand Lodges will be looking to implement the updated Members’ Pathway over the next few weeks to a schedule set by their executive teams against local priorities. Guidance and briefi ngs will be shared with the Provincial Pathway Offi cers (the team responsible for local delivery and implementation). These materials, having been customised to suit the local needs, will be used to update Lodges and members.
The Members’ Pathway is a resource you can use to help secure the future of your Lodge, so that together we can be attracting members and growing Lodges for years to come.
By Nick Wilson (Provincial Grand Lodge of Cumberland and Westmorland & RCG 1 - The North Rep) and Chris Hirst (Metropolitan Grand Lodge Rep and Pathway Project Manager).
