Tag: Project

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Societal enables people to connect with one another online through this time of international crisis

Societal is inspired by a passion for all things creative

We’re living through a time of international crisis. Our systems are falling apart, we’re being separated from friends and loved ones, frightened and unsure as to how life may be about to unfold. “Reality” seems to stagger from one disturbing scenario to another. Information and advice keep changing – nothing holds fast, but the idea that everything is going dreadfully wrong. But if there is a silver lining in this crisis, it could be that the virus is forcing us to use the internet as it was always meant to be used – to connect with one another, share information and come up with collective solutions to vital problems.

Launched in March 2020, Societal’s (https://societal.co/) sole purpose is to connect people and allow people to share their thoughts with a big audience.

Societal website administrator Dean Jones a former Central St Martins College of Art & Design postgraduate said, ‘One of the most disastrous months in the history of global medicine and global economics has ended with country after country retreating into their national silos. They are fighting their own individual battles against coronavirus and in their own way, but we must work together. Like it or not the Coronavirus Crisis is showing us how to live online and hopefully Societal can help people with that.’

The new Social Network follows a UK government announcement that everyone should only go outside for food, health reasons or work (where this absolutely cannot be done from home).

Jones hopes his digital platform will help create connections, not conflict in this time of uncertainty.

Jones said further ‘As we isolate ourselves at home to protect our health and our neighbours, we still need each other. Societal means that even in this time when we are physically apart, we can still connect with our friends.”

The Core Principles of Societal are-

  • Respect.
  • Justice/Fairness.
  • Honesty.
  • Service/Giving Back/Contribution.
  • Responsibility.
  • Family.
  • Community.

Societal is trying to shift the paradigm. In a web full of pseudo thought-leaders, Societal promises to be place that people from all walks of life can rely on and cater to those looking for fresh, new, authentic voices and believe wholeheartedly in community. Societal offers free accounts and doesn’t serve ads.

Jones has launched a kickstarter page in order to support this worthwhile project https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deanjones/societal

Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Societal, on Thursday 26 March, 2020. For more information follow https://pressat.co.uk/

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The No. 1 Career Mistake Capable People Make

Republished with permission from  Greg McKeown, New York Times Bestselling Author.

I recently reviewed a resume for a colleague who was trying to define a clearer career strategy. She has terrific experience. And yet, as I looked through it I could see the problem she was concerned about: she had done so many good things in so many different fields it was hard to know what was distinctive about her.

As we talked it became clear the resume was only the symptom of a deeper issue. In an attempt to be useful and adaptable she has said yes to too many good projects and opportunities. She has ended up feeling overworked  and  underutilized. It is easy to see how people end up in her situation:

Step 1:  Capable people are driven to achieve.

Step 2:  Other people see they are capable and give them assignments.

Step 3:  Capable people gain a reputation as “go to” people. They become “good old [insert name] who is always there when you need him.” There is  lots  right with this, unless or until…

Step 4:  Capable people  end up doing lots of projects well but are distracted from what would otherwise be their  highest point of contribution  which I define as the intersection of talent, passion and market  (see more on this in the  Harvard Business Review  article  The Disciplined Pursuit of Less). Then, both the company and the employee lose out.

When this happens, some of the responsibility lies with out-of-touch managers who are too busy or distracted to notice the very best use of their people. But some of the responsibility lies with us. Perhaps we need to be more deliberate and discerning in navigating our own careers.

In the conversation above, we spent some time to identify my colleague’s  Highest Point of Contribution  and develop a plan of action for a more focused career strategy.

We followed a simple process similar to one I write about here:  If You Don’t Design Your Career, Someone Else Will. My friend is not alone. Indeed, in coaching and teaching managers and executives around the world it strikes me that failure to be conscientious about this represents the #1 mistake, in frequency, I see capable people make in their careers.

Using a camping metaphor, capable people often add additional poles of the same height to their career tent. We end up with 10, 20 or 30 poles of the same height, somehow hoping the tent will go higher. I don’t just mean higher on the career ladder either. I mean higher in terms of our ability to contribute.

The slightly painful truth is, at any one time there is only one piece of real estate we can “own” in another person’s mind. People can’t think of us as a project manager, professor, attorney, insurance agent, editor and entrepreneur all at exactly the same time. They may all be true about us but people can only think of us as one thing  first. At any one time there is only one phrase that can follow our name. Might we be better served by asking, at least occasionally, whether the various projects we have add up to a longer pole?

I saw this illustrated some time ago in one of the more distinctive resumes I have seen. It belonged to a Stanford Law School Professor [there it is: the single phrase that follows his name, the longest pole in his career tent]. His resume was clean and concise. For each entry there was one impressive title/role/school and a succinct description of what he had achieved. Each sentence seemed to say more than ten typical bullet points in many resumes I have seen. When he was at university he had been the student body president, under “teaching” he was teacher of the year and so on.

Being able to do many things is important in  many  jobs today. Broad understanding also is a  must. But developing greater discernment about what is distinctive about us can be a great advantage. Instead of simply doing more things we need to find, at every phase in our careers, our  highest point of contribution.

I look forward to your thoughts below and  @gregorymckeown.

Greg McKeown is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.” He is among the most popular bloggers for the Harvard Business Review.

He is an accomplished public speaker. He regularly speaks to business communities, giving dozens of speeches per year. He has spoken at companies including Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Pixar, Salesforce.com, and Twitter and organizations including SXSW, Stanford University and the World Economic Forum. He speaks about innovation, focus, leadership, discipline, simplicity, execution and of course the power living and leading as an Essentialist.

Greg has recently taken the best insights from his book “Essentialism” and combined the best exercises from his popular course, “Designing Life, Essentially” at Stanford University into a life-changing, one-day workshop.

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Which of These 5 Types of Project Managers Are You?

The outcome of a project largely depends on the behaviour of the manager as their actions will directly influence the behaviour of the team. Even with all the efforts, employees may put forth to salvage a once positive work environment, at the core of every toxic working environment is the bad manager. There are different types of managers, and each one has their own characteristics that determine how employees will react, the working environment and overall production.  Five common types include:

1. Laissez-Faire

‘Laissez-Faire’, is French for leaving things to take their own course without interference. These types of managers tend to leave subordinates to get on with the work on their own and have little to no communication with them. They fail to provide regular feedback when supervising. Though this form of management may seem irresponsible, it requires a lot of trust. Highly experienced and capable employees need very little interference, as they are trusted to do the task to the best of their abilities. However, when it comes to employees with limited experience, this form of management means there will be low production value as these employees feel they do not have to do any work due to the lack of authority they have over them. It can also make these employees a lot harder to control and since work is not being done, resources, money and time are wasted, which in turn increases the costs of the project.

2. Autocratic

This form of management is most suitable for places such as the Army as it gives the manager complete power. These types of managers make all the decisions with very little or no input from the subordinates, and since they have total authority over them, employees find it hard to challenge the manager. This can create an atmosphere of fear and because of this quality of work and production may increase, however, retention rates might increase along with it, as employees may feel threatened and begin to resent their job. Nonetheless, this form of management might be suitable for employees who need close supervision as they need to be told what to do and when, but creative employees will find it hard to work in an autocratic environment.

3. Participative

This type of manager values every member of the team and listens to whatever input employees may have. However, the manager ultimately makes the final decision. This form of management will increase morale as employees make contributions towards the decision-making process and they feel that their opinions matter. With this management style, the employees easily accept changes in the company as they played a role in the process. As morale increases, production will increase along with it, making this a very effective management style.

4. Transactional

This management style is used to give out either rewards or punishments to employees depending on their performance. The manager along with the employees set goals together and agree on rewards or punishments depending on whether or not they reach their goal. The employees then follow direction and instructions set by the managers in order to achieve the goal. The manager has the power to analyze the results of the project and either give out rewards and praise the employees or train the employees depending on the outcome.

5. Transformational

This type of management is used to increase the morale of the employees and is normally used in situations where employees feel discouraged. There are high levels of communication between the manager and the subordinates to reach their goals. These leaders motivate the employees and enhance efficiency and production using communication. These types of managers delegate smaller tasks to smaller teams and focus on the big picture to achieve their overall goals.

Conclusion

There are many different types of managers, and some are used specifically to adapt to certain situations. Some management styles are more effective than others however it depends on the type of employees they are supervising, the task at hand, and the goals that are set.

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3 Tips for Dealing with a Manipulative Project Co-Worker

Are you stuck working with a project manager who is manipulative and dishonest? If you are, you’re not alone!

Today’s workplace is a cut-throat environment with everyone trying to get ahead in some way, shape, or form. It’s no surprise that there are malicious, sneaky project managers who will do anything to get a leg up to succeed or survive, even if it means throwing you under the bus. Like a clever politician, these project managers keep their desires hidden, but underneath a friendly and charming exterior is a highly destructive individual whose goals are power and control. Pretending to pursue the greater good, he or she adopts the mantra of “company first” with a fervency that inspires admiration and respect, and most people accept his or hers claims of a selfless pursuit of noble causes.

Regardless of your industry, profession, experience level or company, these manipulative people exist and, if given the right opportunity, they can ruin your reputation and career prospects. They’ll tell you that the entire team hates you, thinks you’re arrogant, stupid, or incompetent, and attempt to manipulate you into believing that their opinions are objective facts. A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology called it “social undermining” and “bottom line mentality.”

“According to a recent survey,  roughly 90% of folks who read this post are presently working with at least one person who, mentally, would be described as a manipulator”.

Proving yourself in a new organization is hard enough. When someone manipulates and lies about you, it can hurt your relationships, your reputation, and your career. Luckily, Project Journal has 3 tips for effectively dealing with this workplace danger.

1. Don’t Ignore Your Gut
I should’ve seen it coming. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear-cut answer to the question “Friend or foe.” If you find yourself putting up your guard around a co-worker, you might wonder if you’re imagining things and being paranoid? Well, maybe you are, but under no circumstances should you ignore your feeling. From experience, this is often the very first sign of trouble. Weak leaders sometimes resort to emotional deceit as a weapon for getting things done. Try to consider facts objectively. Manipulation is normally felt, rather than heard or seen, so you must listen to your gut.

What makes you mistrust this person?  Do they constantly gossip? If so, be careful as those who gossip to you, will probably be doing the same about you too and like Mom always said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Plus, you don’t want to get caught up in the drama when people find out about this control freak’s gossiping.

Trust that you will be thrown under the bus when “stuff” hits the fan. If you’re still unsure, you should run their behaviour by objective people you trust. As trust is built on the foundations of a good relationship, instead of basing trust on someone’s words, observe their deeds.

2. Dealing with a Bad Apple
There’s a lot to be said for the old saying, “One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel.” Not only is that true for fruit, but it holds a lot of merit in the work environment. Rude behavior is contagious. Toxic manipulative employees have an unhealthy ripple effect that harms co-workers, managers, and subordinates alike. They lack positive personality traits, such as genuine concern for others, a generous and understanding nature, a desire to teach and encourage, a desire to have straightforward dealings with others. They dwell in a very dark place lit only by their own ambition.

“It takes just one malicious employee among the ranks to wreak havoc on your team’s culture.”

Healthy human interactions are not dominated by manipulation. If you feel you can’t trust them, don’t. Manipulators do not communicate openly. Instead, they resort to flattery or play the victim to gain your trust and sympathy. Through artful, indirect and devious methods, they influence and control others and have a fair amount of social support, most likely because no one wants to be on their bad side. But that doesn’t mean their behavior isn’t harmful.

Your priority in this situation must be to protect your professional standing. Begin documenting every instance of destructive behavior and take it to a higher authority. When a co-worker starts manipulating you and ignoring the behavior doesn’t work, distance yourself, if possible and keep all correspondences. When colleagues try to sabotage you, they might tell you lies to cause you to make mistakes. The more you cover yourself, the less you have to worry about. Change your passwords, shut down your computer when you leave your desk, and keep sensitive documents under lock and key. Remember to “choose your words carefully when sending emails so that things you write can’t come back to bite you. Unfortunately, if you lose your cool, you will be in danger of looking undignified.”

“When you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him.”
’- George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

It can be tempting to excuse the antagonistic worker who seems zealous about his job, but clearly, those employees may be undermining the entire workforce. Being direct lets the other person know you’re aware of their manipulative behavior, and in some cases, that may be enough to nip it in the bud.  If you stay out of their world of negativity, you will be a much more difficult target for their manipulation.

3. Counteracting Sabotage
Manipulators are blind to the serious defects in their character, but keenly aware of the slightest weakness or imperfection in others. They are judgmental, suspicious, demanding and calculating, all negative personality characteristics. Even their outward charm is cold and calculated. Before you can deal with the situation, you need to understand the impact.

Is it a small lie with little effect? Is it a big lie that requires damage control or even legal action? Consider how others might view the situation. Although it may be difficult, the best choice might be simply to move on as the people who make it in the long-term are the ones who are honest, hardworking and able to maintain their professionalism.

“According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, workplace sabotage is on the rise in this difficult economy.”

If you choose to directly address the situation. It is critical to use neutral language and tone of voice. Do not stoop to their level, it is important to keep your integrity. Consider having witnesses to your conversation so it’s not your word against theirs.

Your final action can be accepting an apology and moving on, or it can be reporting the lie to a higher authority. In extreme cases, it can be making a formal complaint or hiring an attorney. It’s smart to search for job postings, even when you have no intention to quit. Obviously, you don’t want to let one bad apple lead to your resignation but, if nothing else, knowing you have options can help you feel more empowered and in control of the situation.

Other signs sabotage may be in the works: You don’t receive a promotion or responsibilities you logically should have gotten; cold or averse behavior from management that is (seemingly) out of nowhere; sudden and unexplained alienation by individual co-workers or even entire cliques; or unwarranted and continuous kind behavior from someone that was formerly aloof, ambivalent or even aggressive.

Manipulative behavior is widespread, but fortunately, it doesn’t exist everywhere. Do you have manipulative co-workers? How do you dodge their requests and still manage to pave a successful career path?  Tell us what you think?

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Politics and Project Management, a Lesson in Leadership

We all know that the more power you have, the better you are able to get the job completed. The problem is most project managers have lots of responsibility, but hardly any authority and since most projects exist outside core business structures, they are forced to develop other methods of influence.

One unspoken evil that is often ignored on project management training courses is the politics of project management. While most of us view politics with disgust; there is no refuting that effective project managers are often seen as those who are equipped and able to employ fitting political strategies to further their project goals. 

“In a Perfect World the Best Workers Would Be Promoted on Merit Alone and the Best Ideas Would Be Adopted Regardless of Personal Interest – but We Do Not Live in Utopia”

Have you ever included ‘office politics’ as a risk on your risk register? Probably not. Though, consider the potential implications of ignoring the ugly stepchild of project management?

“The Objective of Office Politics Is to Manipulate a Situation in Order to Achieve an Outcome That Will Benefit One Individual or Group at the Expense of Other Individuals or Groups.”

While it is unlikely that ‘office politics’ would be listed directly as a risk on your risk register, it is quite likely that one or more of the outcomes of it would. As a result, if you want to survive and prosper in the real world you need to combine good work with smart politics to ensure your own success and that of your projects. The biggest mistake a project manager can make is to assume that politics in project management doesn’t exist. After all, politics is human nature and has played an integral part in history since the dawn of civilization.

In a group where working interactions are fraught with tension and individuals have their own personal agendas or want to be “top dog” personal conflicts will often get in the way of the project aims. Issues between members of the team become the over-riding concern both for the individuals afraid and sometimes even the project manager. Meetings can consist of jostling for power or simply trying to justify your position and when that happens progress on the project will undoubtedly suffer.

For most project managers, playing politics is a form of slow, soul-destroying torture where logic, self-control, transparency and trustworthiness are replaced by deception, concealment, and sabotage. However, ignoring the external and internal politics surrounding your project or organization is dangerous. Successful project managers need to understand organizational politics and how to make them work for project success.

In the case of project politics you can use these key techniques in a constructive manner:

Carefully Manage Your Own Conduct

  1. The first rule is to at all times act in a way that commands respect and beyond that, respect others. That means not gossiping, spreading rumors or getting sucked into interpersonal conflicts and arguments. Maintain your honesty!
  2. Be positive as a positive outlook is a choice that you can always make and remain professional. 
  3. Be confident and firm but not hostile and make sure you take organizational perspectives, not a personal one when voicing objections or giving criticism.
  4. Always assume things will be disclosed, so don’t rely on confidentiality.
  5. Over time you will learn what works in your organization’s culture and what doesn’t. Try to watch other people and identify successful behaviors that you can model to navigate the political minefield.

Review the Organization Chart

  1. Sit back and watch for a while. Identify the real influencers, those who are respected, champions, those who have authority but don’t use it, the mentors and last but not least the true brains behind the organization. Then re-map the organization chart in terms of political influence as politics will often bypass the formal organization chart.

Understand the Social Network

  1. Once you know who’s who in the organization, you have to understand the social networks. This involves identifying who gets along with whom, groups or cliques that have formed and ongoing interpersonal conflicts. Over time you will learn who has the most trouble getting along with others and the basis for the interrelationship whether it be friendship, respect or manipulation, including how the influence flows between all parties.

Build Good Relationships

  1. Now you need to build multiple networks but avoid aligning yourself with one group or another this way you can keep your finger on the pulse of the organization.
  2. Don’t be afraid of politically powerful people and instead, develop relationships that cross the formal hierarchy in all directions.
  3. Build your relationships on trust and respect and avoid empty flattery.

Use Your Social Network

  1. You will need to learn to use your social network to stay clear of negative politics. You can do this through positive political action.
  2. Use your network to gain access to information, build visibility of your achievements and improve difficult relationships.
  3. Attract opportunities where you can shine and seek out ways to make yourself, your team and your boss look good.

Counteract Negative Play

“The Expression, Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer” Couldn’t Be Any Truer When It Comes to Office Politics.”

  1. Your mapping of the organization will help you to identify those people who use others for their own political purposes, and not for the common good. Know that these people typically have low self-worth (that’s why they rely on destructive politicking to get ahead). Always be very careful what you say to them.  Understand what motivates them, their goals, and how to avoid or counter the impact of their politics
  2. Remember loyalty is not a reliable factor in the workplace!

“It is easy to become a target if you’re ambitious or if you strive for change. One of the biggest mistakes we make in our career is to assume that everyone likes progress. This is not true’Å —’Å many are content with the status quo and will defend it with their life.”

Projects are rarely easy and office politics can compound other sorts of problems that arise so they need to be dealt with swiftly and firmly. 

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The Wyndham Road Project, Southwark

Britain’s first demountable multistorey housing development

A portable, demountable or transportable building is one of the many pre-fabricated house types which can be put to good use when planning constraints will only allow short-term development. Modules and components can be taken apart and transported to a new location. Even elements such as foundations can be easily removed using demountable technologies.  In Australia the word “demountable” in particular refers to portable classrooms.

Prefab Housing Has Been Heralded as the Future of Building and the Solution to Resolve Housing Shortages in the Uk.

The Wyndham Road Project

Britain’s Second demountable multistorey housing development
Britain’s Second demountable multistorey housing development

Client: Hyde Housing Association

Architect: PCKO

Principal Supplier: BUMA

The Wyndham Road project, incorporating 18 flats for key workers, was completed in summer 2005, designed as part of RAPID (Response to Accommodation Pressures through Innovative Design), Hyde’s response to the Government’s initiative to increase the supply of new housing through use of innovative technology.

This Scheme on Wyndham Road, South-east London, Was the Second Buma-built Project in the Uk.

The scheme comprised one and two-bedroom flats, built around three independent staircases, designed to modern, high-quality standards. Demountable construction is designed to accommodate any future changes to the urban fabric, therefore addressing the issue of urban sustainability and required flexibility. Demountability was built in right through to the foundations with the use of screw piles to hold up the structure.

The development could then  be dismantled in 9-10 days and erected on an alternative site, remodelled or recycled, as required. Elevations finished with lightweight metal cladding and insulated render incorporate full-height glazing and feature sliding shutters of galvanised steel and timber, painted in vivid colours, giving the building a unique identity. The building was  designed as 3-storey but could have been  extended to 4-storey by adding additional volumetric components.

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Atkins Appointed as Sustainability Adviser for Major Regeneration Project in the UK

Atkins has been chosen  as the sustainability consultant to develop an  environmental sustainability target for Old Oak Common, a £26bn urban redevelopment in London.

“Gentrification has profoundly influenced religion. In the context of Christianity, of course, gentrification takes on a new, existential dimension.”

At  five times the size of the King’s Cross redevelopment, Old Oak and Park Royal is London’s largest opportunity area and urban regeneration investment project with an estimated worth of £7bn per annum to the UK economy. Old Oak and Park Royal has the potential to create up to 25,500 homes and some 65,000 jobs,  constructing  a transport hub to  link  Crossrail, National Rail and High Speed 2.

Atkins will create a set of sustainability targets to be used for the development in partnership with Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) and its cost control and project management advisor Faithful+Gould.  The sustainability targets will be based on six core themes comprising urban form and public space, transport, energy, waste and materials, water, and access to nature, watercourses and green spaces.

Flexibility and adaptability will be a key focus area  when  developing the sustainability targets together with  the combination of green infrastructure with urban planning and design, and the role of fast developing smart technologies.

“The Sustainability Targets Are Expected to Be Used for Anything up to 20 to 50 Years’ and Will Involve a Sensible Combination of ‘Open-Minded Thinking with Real-World Analysis.”

Sean Lockie, sustainability director at Faithful+Gould, said: “Old Oak and Park Royal is a massive opportunity for London to do things that haven’t been done before.  “It means creating a vision which sets out clear goals, such as being healthy to live in, flexible over time, affordable, comfortable, and being energy and resource efficient, and then taking a systematic approach to delivery.  “We’ll need to come up with some new business models to achieve this but in doing so we have a great opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.”

Atkins will lead stakeholder engagement workshops with the OPDC, designers and the local authority until August 2016 and is set to deliver its sustainability report to the OPDC in September 2016.

“Is urban regeneration about more than the material?” It’s about a piece of heaven on earth ”¦ where true expressions of what Jesus did or how he lived actually articulates itself into society.”

 

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Engineers Are Now Looking to God’s Creation for Innovative Ideas in Architecture

Concrete has got  a bad rap over the years but bacteria may provide an answer.

What happens when you introduce green technology which embeds self-activating bacteria into concrete? It becomes self-healing and three UK universities are actively working towards bringing this science to life.

Scientists use a ground-borne bacteria — bacilli megaterium — to create calcite, a crystalline form of natural calcium carbonate; this can then be used to block the concrete’s pores, keeping out water and other damaging substances to prolong the life of the concrete
Scientists use a ground-borne bacteria — bacilli megaterium — to create calcite, a crystalline form of natural calcium carbonate; this can then be used to block the concrete’s pores, keeping out water and other damaging substances to prolong the life of the concrete

Engineers are now looking to God’s creation for innovative ideas in architecture. Self-healing concrete brings together two fields: civil engineering and marine biology. With no knowledge of microbiology, a civil engineer read about applying limestone-producing bacteria to monuments and asked whether it could be used for buildings? The task then became to find the right bacteria that could not only survive being mixed into concrete, but actively start a self-healing process.

As soon as water seeps into a crack, the bacteria quickly burst out of their cases and produces limestone, sealing the gap before it can widen and become a pothole.

Scientists Believe the Technique Could Vastly Increase the Life of Concrete, Remove the Need for Repairs, and Reduce Costs by up to 50%.

Water is both the problem and the catalyst that activates the solution. Bacteria  are mixed and distributed evenly throughout the concrete, but can lie dormant for up to 200 years as long as there is food in the form of particles. It is only with the arrival of concrete’s enemy, rainwater or atmospheric moisture seeping into cracks, that the bacteria starts to produce the limestone that eventually repairs the cracks. It’s a similar process to that carried out by  osteoblast cells in our body which makes bones.

Healing these cracks the old-fashioned way is no small expense.

It Is Estimated That Around £40 Billion a Year Is Spent in the Uk on the Repair and Maintenance of Structures, the Majority of Which Are Made from Concrete.

The project is piloting three separate concrete-healing technologies for the first time in real-world settings, with a view to incorporating them into a single system that could be used to automatically repair concrete in the built environment.

The first technique uses shape-shifting materials, known as shape-memory polymers, to repair large cracks in concrete. When these materials are heated with a small current, they can transform into a different shape which the material has ‘memorised’. The researchers believe these materials can be embedded into concrete and used to close cracks or make them smaller.

In the second technique, researchers will pump both organic and inorganic healing agents through a network of thin tunnels into the concrete to help repair the damage.

In the third technique, the team will embed tiny capsules, or lightweight aggregates, containing both bacteria and healing agents in the concrete. It is anticipated that once cracks occur, these capsules will discharge, and in the case of the bacteria, the nutrients will enable them to function and produce calcium carbonate, which the researchers envisage will heal the cracks.

The overall aim of the project is to develop a single system that can be embedded into concrete when it is initially set, and then automatically sense when damage occurs. Once the damage is detected, the system will be able to repair itself autonomously without the need for human intervention.

Self-healing concrete is an amazing invention, based on God’s designs. The possibilities are unlimited for those who expect to find intelligent design throughout the created world!

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The New Day: How Should I Think About My Failures?

Gratitude Attitude 2017 #22

Everyone wants to be a success. I have never met anyone who purposely set out to be a failure. Undoubtedly, this is why so much has been written on the topic “How to be a Success” and why these books are so popular.

However, The New Day daily newspaper closed just nine weeks after launching, Trinity Mirror confirms.

The New Day was a British compact daily newspaper published by Trinity Mirror, launched on 29 February 2016. It was aimed at a middle-aged female audience and was politically neutral. The editor, Alison Phillips, intended readers to get through the newspaper in under 30 minutes.

The new paper was initially available for 25p for two weeks, then rising to 50p.  Two million copies of the New Day was  given away on the first day, as the turquoise-branded upstart attempted to spark a revival in readership and gain ground against the mid-market Mail and Express offline.

Arrogance about their own ability to rescue a situation can prevent leaders from changing course

The New Day had no leading articles, no website, and columnists  and believed it could successfully  drag readers back to print?  The sad truth is that it did not attract enough attention and  failed to create  a daily newspaper that could  co-exist in the  digital age, especially as tabloids and broadsheets continue to  suffer a significant circulation decline.

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Shareholders at Trinity Mirror’s annual meeting called the failure “demoralising”. Analysts said it was “embarrassing”.

Assume for a moment that the leaders of The New Day  had no idea  about the changes swamping the print media as a result of the digital revolution,  and carelessly  decided to invest  millions into the venture without undertaking a risk assessment and  also decided to  ignore every indication that the paper was failing.  That would have been embarrassing and demoralising.

However, the leaders decided to fail quickly and  shut down the project they  started.

Abandonment is a rare, difficult and a valuable management skill. The natural instinct of most people is to persist, particularly  when the project is a collective commitment, as most corporate ventures are,  but then  it becomes even harder to hit the red “stop” button.

The New Day’s editor, Alison Phillips, said in a statement posted on Facebook that the team “tried everything we could” but were unable to reach the figures needed to make it work financially.

We dread failure. We don’t like talking about it. Some of us will internalise and rethink our failures in our heads time and time again. Others will swipe them away, moving onto the next thing immediately. In the public, we prefer sweeping our failures under the rug, silently, while nobody is watching.

While this might save our feelings momentarily, this is not the way learn and innovate.

the new day

According to Albert Savoia – ex Googler and innovation expert,  most project innovations will fail.

“Most New Things Will Fail – Even If They Are Flawlessly Executed.” – Albert Savoia – Ex Googler

Does this mean you should stay away from trying new things (and failing in the process)? Certainly not. It just means you need to accept failure will inevitably be a part of the process.

In most cases, however, a combination of arrogance about personal ability to rescue the situation and blindness to the lengthening odds of success stops  leaders from changing course.

The natural lifespan of most projects is finite, and the rarities are companies that survive.

The Art of “strategic Quitting” Will Become More Important as Careers Fragment and Companies Exert More Discipline

So if an idea is doomed, organisations usually treat the person who pulled the plug  early on as a hero right? Not exactly, it’s complicated.

Roy Greenslade, Professor of Journalism at City University London, wrote a report in The Guardian explaining how The New Day had failed. He pinpointed the error of marketing a newspaper to people who inherently despise  newspapers, and the short period of time  between the announcement and launch, leaving  no  time to advertise the product. It was also published early in the evening  thus missing out on late-night breaking news such as Leicester City F.C.’s shock win of the Premier League.

“Nothing so powerfully concentrates a man’s mind on innovation as the knowledge that the present product or service will be abandoned in the foreseeable future.” – Peter Drucker

The first thing the Bible wants to say is that all of us have failed. None is without failure. If you think you haven’t failed, two things are true of you. One is you are blind to your failures and the other is you probably haven’t taken enough risks to try enough hard things so that you would be aware of your failures.

Peter Drucker’s influence on business management is legendary.  Peter  realised  that “systematic abandonment”   a regular, unsentimental spring-clean is critical to the fostering of new business ideas.

Conclusion,  every organization needs to have a regular “rummage sale” to determine which products, services, and programs are worth keeping and which ones must be abandoned.

 

 

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