From The Chair
From The Chair: We’re All In This Together
I recently came across a familiar concept, expressed more directly than usual: “If you didn’t help, you don’t get an opinion”. I think this is toxic.
In posts to From The Chair that I’ve already made and will make in the future, I note that as an RD you’re “in charge” or this and “can control” that. However, I want to clarify that these phrases relate to things that you determine and are responsible for managing… but do NOT mean that you are the boss of others or their superior in any sense. No one in the RC racing group can, as the opening quote implies, tell someone else to shut up with their opinion about anything racing.
It’s true that certain things need to be done to create RC racing… maintaining a facility, track build and prep, race direction, trash pickup, and so on. People do these things. Some are paid, many volunteer, but they all choose to contribute in these ways. These people have every right to feel proud of their efforts and the benefits they allow others to enjoy! Proud, not superior.
RC racing is a collaborative endeavor. It takes everyone, from the track owner to the occasional participant. Everyone not only has a right to an opinion as a participant, but each opinion has value. We are peers. We’re all in this together.
The ability and willingness to contribute does not earn a person a position of superiority from which they can tell others to shut up if not matching extra effort for extra effort. When I have seen this previously, it has been from someone on the edge of burning out, bitter with every shovelful dug that others are sitting enjoying their weekend without doing the same.
If you are a track owner, you are operating like a business (even if you’re a club or non-profit). We talk about businesses “serving” their customers, “earning” a customer’s business. Same deal here. Sure, you put in piles of money and tons of time, and you may have a monopoly… your customers may not have another track option in the same discipline within a reasonable drive. But they DO have options, from a bashing in a field to flying a drone to a different hobby entirely. They’re choosing to do your flavor of RC and spending their valuable money and recreational time at your facility. Repay them with respect for their opinion, whether they show up every weekend or once a quarter.
If you are an RD, you are also in the “service” business. It’s largely your responsibility to deliver an enjoyable day of RC racing that meets the needs of the participants in terms of time, fairness, speed, and quality. You will inevitably issue instructions… but always remember that every aspect of each racer’s participation is voluntary. You are peers, and you happen to have responsibility for running some things. To the extent you have “power” over racers, that rests on the relationship you’ve built with them. And a sure sign of a healthy relationship is a willingness to give AND RECEIVE opinions from each other.
Because we’re all in this together.
In posts to From The Chair that I’ve already made and will make in the future, I note that as an RD you’re “in charge” or this and “can control” that. However, I want to clarify that these phrases relate to things that you determine and are responsible for managing… but do NOT mean that you are the boss of others or their superior in any sense. No one in the RC racing group can, as the opening quote implies, tell someone else to shut up with their opinion about anything racing.
It’s true that certain things need to be done to create RC racing… maintaining a facility, track build and prep, race direction, trash pickup, and so on. People do these things. Some are paid, many volunteer, but they all choose to contribute in these ways. These people have every right to feel proud of their efforts and the benefits they allow others to enjoy! Proud, not superior.
RC racing is a collaborative endeavor. It takes everyone, from the track owner to the occasional participant. Everyone not only has a right to an opinion as a participant, but each opinion has value. We are peers. We’re all in this together.
The ability and willingness to contribute does not earn a person a position of superiority from which they can tell others to shut up if not matching extra effort for extra effort. When I have seen this previously, it has been from someone on the edge of burning out, bitter with every shovelful dug that others are sitting enjoying their weekend without doing the same.
If you are a track owner, you are operating like a business (even if you’re a club or non-profit). We talk about businesses “serving” their customers, “earning” a customer’s business. Same deal here. Sure, you put in piles of money and tons of time, and you may have a monopoly… your customers may not have another track option in the same discipline within a reasonable drive. But they DO have options, from a bashing in a field to flying a drone to a different hobby entirely. They’re choosing to do your flavor of RC and spending their valuable money and recreational time at your facility. Repay them with respect for their opinion, whether they show up every weekend or once a quarter.
If you are an RD, you are also in the “service” business. It’s largely your responsibility to deliver an enjoyable day of RC racing that meets the needs of the participants in terms of time, fairness, speed, and quality. You will inevitably issue instructions… but always remember that every aspect of each racer’s participation is voluntary. You are peers, and you happen to have responsibility for running some things. To the extent you have “power” over racers, that rests on the relationship you’ve built with them. And a sure sign of a healthy relationship is a willingness to give AND RECEIVE opinions from each other.
Because we’re all in this together.
