Corporate in the Community
How often do you think about the skills that you have acquired through your working life? And do you ever wonder how much impact those skills might have if you were to put them to use in a non-profit organisation?
Recently, I got the opportunity to use my various skills in project management, communication, logistics and supplier relationships, and people interaction skills through volunteering in a charity event that is organised every year in the town where I live in central Pennsylvania, USA.
A big event
The annual bike riding fundraiser event called Covered Bridge Classic attracts over 2400 bike riders from all over Pennsylvania and other East coast states in the US. The ride occurs in multiple distance categories from 15 to 100 miles and goes through Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s stunning landscape. This landscape includes the old timber “covered” bridges that are a charming historical characteristic of this area. The funds raised from this charity event are invested in local bike cycling infrastructure and in supporting the restoration of the covered bridges.
Mehrnaz chilling at the end of a long day!
This year close to 170 volunteers participated in the organisation and running of the bike ride, before and during the event. Hundreds of hours of preparation go into the planning and preparation of the event weeks before the start date and a large number of volunteers attend the event during three shifts from early in the morning, hours before sunrise?) and start of the event, and after it has ended. .
As the chair person for the Food and Drinks Committee over the last two years, I have been responsible for an array of activities that required the use of many skills I acquired throughout my professional career.
Project management
Amongst the variety of activities, my committee members and I coordinated purchases, distribution and serving of food for two lunch sites and five rest stops. We spent over 115 working hours prior to the event to identify sponsors, establish their marketing objectives, and holding formal and informal communication and discussions to attract and guarantee their sponsorship. Among these sponsors were various food supply companies, producers of dairy, non-alcoholic drinks and supermarkets. Their sponsorship and donations helped our charity event reduce the cost of foods and drinks considerably.
The bike riders who participate are provided with various snacks, warm and cold drinks and lunch throughout the event that starts at 7:30 am and can continue until 4-5 pm. So, my role involved estimation and planning for the quantity and type of food and drinks, organizing the on-site cold storage arrangements for foods and drinks - the humid and hot summers of Pennsylvania make the supply of the cold drinks to the bike riders even more crucial! - and coordination with other event Chair persons to supply various rest stops with prompt and sufficient quantity of snacks, lunch and cold drinks. In addition to all this, I had to organise for making appropriate rosters and assignments for the 35 volunteers who worked in my group. This year I created two additional volunteer positions; one took accountability and organised the redistribution of food and drink afterwards to benefit local homeless shelters, and the other supported logistical movement of food supplies and transportation.
Covered Bridge Classic 2019 - a big success
We could not carry out our task in isolation and needed regular liaison and communication with other chairs and leads who coordinate other functions such as logistics, , road marking, marketing, registration, PR, signage, routes. The decisions made by one function could have a direct impact on other functions. This year there was a road closure that indicated a potential change to the riding routes. The changing of the route would have had a direct impact on our estimate for quantities of food supplies required and location of our rest stops. This is very similar to cross functional working the way we manage that at corporate environment.
Smooth running
Approaching all these tasks like a work project helped the smooth running of the event. I created a spreadsheet for keeping track of the entire organisation of our tasks. Any adjustment that we made to various quantity of foods, or timetables were tracked and recorded on our excel sheet. After the event, we had a debrief meeting to reflect on what did and didn’t work, so that we could adjust our plans for next year.
Similar to any workplace, it was the little things that mattered. For example, spending a total of half an hour to 45 minutes to text each of the 35 volunteers on my team to appreciate their efforts on the day of the event, personalising each one rather than sending out the same text, took time at the end of a very long and busy day. But it was a gesture that, combined with the respectful way of treating every volunteer, meant that they enjoyed the event and felt their contribution was valued. And that hopefully makes them more likely to volunteer next year.
Being involved in the event has made me see how the skills I have learned in the workplace can be invaluable outside the office. Sometimes we can underestimate how transferable and valuable our workplace and professional skills might be when they’re applied to different situations.
Company owners like myself can donate money for charity (I contribute financially to another charity that provides bikes for refugees in Scotland), but in many ways, I believe it could be as meaningful and useful to help charity events with your professional transferrable skills.
How might your workplace skills help others?