Week 273

Positive post Sunday, May 15, 2022- Week 273.

A BIG congratulations to ALL the VOLUNTEERS who made the 36th annual Redlands Bicycle Classic (RBC) a success. Some may not know that, unlike most world class cycling events, the RBC is run solely by volunteers (from the top leadership of the organization to the organizing committee to the race marshals who secure the courses during the races for safety, all volunteers).

My sincere THANK YOU to all the volunteers, sponsors, city and county employees, service clubs, organizations and participants (and many more) who put this foundational community event back on the calendar. Please know that at whatever level you helped, your contribution mattered, was appreciated, and supported another safe and successful world class community event. Well done by all!

Now that the core team of volunteers who contributed countless hours to make the event a success have had a few weeks to recover, I thought I would share my experience as a servant leader over the years of volunteering for the RBC. Although my focus in this PPS is on volunteer leadership, I have found that what I am sharing also applies to the workplace and at home.

Let me begin by saying that if you really want to test your leadership skills, lead a group of 300 to 400 volunteers who are not there for a paycheck and can leave at any time. That’s exactly what I did when I was honored to lead the RBC for a few years in the past. Although my fellow volunteers, event participants and the community are the true judges of our success, I was humbled by the opportunity and grateful to “Lead as a Servant” working side by side with so many generous community minded volunteers, many of whom are my good friends to this day.

What I’ve learned over the years of volunteering in the community (especially volunteering for the RBC and leading the team in the past), raising a family and leading in the workplace is actually very simple. TRUE leaders are those with a vision who can motivate, appreciate, develop and support those they are leading. This is especially important when leading volunteers who are donating their precious time to serve. The most successful leaders who attract other volunteers are not those who flaunt position power, but those who win the hearts and earn the respect of their fellow volunteers by rolling up their sleeves working side by side with them and recognizing and appreciating the work they do for the success of the organization, or in the case of the RBC the event.

This leads me to my latest thinking on leadership when volunteering, “Filling The Gap” servant leadership. As background, I have had the honor to volunteer for the RBC in many capacities over the years, including president, race director, security, host housing, race marshal and most recently school visit coordinator with my wife Michele. Let me take a minute to give a shout out to Marc Shaw and Eric Riser who have been the president and race director for the past several years. They, and the others who have led the RBC in the past, know firsthand the magnitude of the work involved and the sense of pride, accomplishment and relief on Sunday evening when the last rider from the last race crosses the finish line (and yes, I know it doesn’t end there with several days and weeks to tear things down, return vehicles etc. and then the planning for the following year starts again).

In our current roles as school visit coordinators, most of Michele and my work is completed before the actual event starts. The cyclists competing in the professional race visit local schools during the days before the race begins (over 100 cyclists from 25 teams visited 29 schools sharing their experiences including setting goals, training, fitness, nutrition and bike safety with over 9,000 students).

This year, when our work was complete, I began to think about how I could put the experience and institutional knowledge I had gained over the years to use during the event. That’s when I thought of “Filling The Gap” servant leadership, which I define as using your experience and knowledge to proactively identify, anticipate and fill gaps in work that needs to be completed for a successful outcome. In this case, a successful event.

I decided to put this into practice during this year’s event and found the experience to be motivating and rewarding especially since I had shifted from a more visible leadership position during past events to one that was mostly fulfilled before the event began (school visits). I simply moved around the event, listened to find gaps and offered solutions and support. A few examples included, securing the criterium course when cars were being let on during the public ride, supporting Brian Zander with the public races by riding out in front of the kids races and alongside the kids who were working hard to finish, assisting the “Prime team” and helping out with the podium ceremonies.

One of the highlights of my experience this year reminded me of one of my proudest accomplishments when I was the race director and had the honor of working with the life-changers at PossAbilities like Cotie Williams to bring para-cycle races to the RBC event! When supporting the “Prime team” this year, I learned that there were not any primes being offered during the para-cycling criterium race. Well, as we say in the cycling world, that was one gap I needed to fill, and thanks to Kathy Jo Ferreira and Kathleen Kjellberg, Michele and I contributed primes for a few of the para-cyclists. We were so blessed to have the opportunity to support our para-cyclist athletes!

Many books have been written on servant leadership over the year and one of my favorites is a book by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges titled, “The Servant Leader”. Those of us who lead at home, in the workplace and/or in the communities we live and work in, will relate to and benefit from reading this book. “I can only imagine” a workplace, community and world where all leaders lead like Jesus, a true servant leader not a self-serving leader. I encourage you to read the book!

How do you demonstrate “Filling The Gap” servant leadership in your personal and professional life?

What service to your community are you most proud of?

Are you a servant leader or a self-serving leader?