Bangladesh Bridge PromiseTransformations Economic

Bangladesh Bridge PromiseTransformations Economic Bangladesh Bridge PromiseTransformations Economic The bridge is at least three years away but it has already caused a stir in Bangladesh. Scheduled to be completed in 2014, the 6.15 km-long Padma Bridge, the longest in South Asia, is expected to transform the countrys economically depressed southwest zone by connecting it to the capital city of Dhaka and other relatively developed regions. At least 30 million people, almost one-fifth of the countrys total population, will directly benefit from the bridge, according to a study by the World Bank. The mega-project, costing nearly $3 billion, has become a reality after the World Bank formally announced its contribution of $1.2 billion on Jan. 13, 2011. In addition, the Asian Development Bank has committed $615 million; Japan 400 million; the Islamic Development Bank $140 million. The remainder will be paid by the Bangladesh government. The Padma river has a tendency to change course.The Project The proposed bridge is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the country. It is a multipurpose fixed crossing over the Padma River with provisions for a rail line, gas pipeline, fiber-optic cable, and power transmission lines. The two-level steel truss bridge will carry a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on a lower level.The bridge lies on the Dhaka-Kolkata (India) link and will form an integral part of the Asian Highway and Euro-Asian Railway network systems. Once the bridge is built, travel between the southern districts and Dhaka will be cut by 100 km, benefiting not only the relatively undeveloped southwestern region, but the country as a whole. The project consists of a double-deck, steel-truss bridge with a four-lane, divided highway on the top deck and a single track rail on the bottom deck. The bridge will have two toll plazas and a 12-km-long, four-lane approach road on the southern side with service areas for construction management and tourism in the postconstruction phase. Technological Challenges Jamilur Reza Choudhury is the chairman of theInternational Panel of Experts, Padma Bridge Project, and former professor of civil engineering, BUET. As Bangladeshs foremost expert on the bridge project, he says the construction will involve two major technological challenges. The first is in the bridges foundation. According to Choudhury, the structure will have the deepest piles used in bridge foundations anywhere in the world. These very large diameter, tubular steel piles inclined from the vertical will have to be driven to depths of 115 m. So the contractors will have to mobilize the heaviest pile-driving hammers ever used. The best known manufacturer of such hammers is in Germany and they are used in construction of offshore oil platforms. The second is in river training. Builders must ensure that river water continues to flow under the bridge and that the approach roads leading to the bridge are not attacked by outflanking channels. The Padma River (which carries the combined flow of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra) has a tendency to change course, with bank lines moving up to 1 km in a year. Designers must ensure the banks remain stable and do not erode from the alignment existing at the beginning of the construction. This will require dredging up to a depth of 30 m and laying a stone mattress consisting of very heavy rocks. The other challenging aspect is the depth of scour,the depth to which the riverbed can be eroded. It can be as high as 50 m. This means that the foundations and the river training works must be designed to continue functioning even after deep scours take place. The volume of water passing under the bridge could be as high as 140,000 cubic meters per second, making it one of the highest in the world. The bridges length of 6.15 kmwas neededto allow this volume of water to pass under the bridge. Socio-Economic Impact The social, economic, and industrial underdevelopment of the southwest zonewhich encompasses Bangladeshs second major port, Mongla, its third major city, Khulna, and the inland port at Benapole bordering Indiais due in part to difficult access across the Padma River to the rest of the country. The bridge is expected to have a profound impact on the 30 million-plus people living in the southwest and accelerate economic growth in the country as a whole, according to the World Bank. At the same time, it is expected to raise Bangladeshs GDP by 1.2%, pushing it over 7% and thus, enabling it to become a middle-income country by World Bank standards, with over $1,000 per capita income by 2020. A total of 73,329 people will be affected by the construction of the bridge. The government has already allocated $30 million for their rehabilitation. Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain hopes construction work will begin in early March 2012, shortly after the selection of the contractor through international bidding. Arshad Mahmud is an independent writer. At least 30 million people, almost one-fifth of the country’s total population, will directly benefit from the bridge, according to a study by the World Bank.

This Is Why The Recruiter Didnt Pick Your Resume

This Is Why The Recruiter Didnt Pick Your Resume This Is Why The Recruiter Didnt Pick Your Resume So, they didn’t pick your resume? Even though you’re perfect for the job? Let’s go over the reason why in today's video. Now that you why the recruiter isn’t picking your resume, and how to fix it, let me tell you the only 3 things the recruiter is thinking when searching for someone like you! That’s coming up in our full online program, “3 Simple Steps To Cut Your Job Search Time In HALF!” Plus, we’re going over a game-changing job search strategy that actually works!

Why Bowling Is a Good Team Building Exercise

Why Bowling Is a Good Team Building Exercise Why Bowling Is a Good Team Building Exercise Its good to develop your own team building exercises whenever possible. No outside consulting company knows your people or your company culture as well as you do. You can do a variety of exercises or play a variety of sports as team builders. Some people are concerned about using sports for ?team building, but I have built successful exercises around bowling, even for non-bowlers. Bowling As a Team Sport Although bowling is usually seen on television as an individual sport, it is more common for bowling to be enjoyed as a team sport. Most bowling alleys have league competitions for teams every night of the week and leagues for children on the weekend. While individual bowlers compare their scores against other individuals, bowling teams simply add their scores together and compare that against the other teams cumulative score. It is easy to build on that team aspect of bowling to use it as a team building exercise for your organization. Building the Teams The people you assign to a team will have to work together during the event to succeed. That determines how you assign them. For instance, if the Finance department was to have a bowling-based team building exercise, they would have to decide whether to make the teams along the functional lines (an Accounts Payable team, an Accounts Receivable team, a General Accounting team, etc.) to strengthen teamwork within those groups or to make the teams from members of the different functional groups to build teamwork within the department as a whole. Try to balance the teams. If you have a few good bowlers, make sure you distribute them among the teams. Make sure you balance athletes versus non-athletes across the teams as well. The people with bowling experience or athletic skill will need to help their teammates. Thats what team building is all about the people with a particular skill helping their team when it needs that skill. Getting Ready First, select a location. Pick a bowling alley that is conveniently close to the office or in a location that everyone can easily find. Most bowling alleys of any size have some sort of food service and in some, its quite good. Many bowling alleys have become non-smoking establishments recently to attract more of the family traffic. Some have a specific person on staff whose job is to help coordinate parties and events like team building. If you dont know an appropriate bowling alley, ask around. They bowlers in the organization can recommend a place or two and then you can check them out. Bowling requires special shoes that allow the bowler to slide when throwing the ball and that wont scratch the wood floors of the bowling alleys. Bowling alleys rent those shoes and they are usually included in the prices they quote for team building events. Your bowlers may have their own bowling balls, but the bowling alley will have a selection for the other participants to use. Bowling balls vary in weight from about 10 pounds to a maximum of 16 pounds. Bowlers should pick a ball thats weight is easily controlled. It is not necessary to pick the heaviest ball. Again, the experienced bowlers can help the novices. Make sure the ball you select will slide easily off your fingers when thrown  but is not so loose as to fall off on your backswing. Different Bowling Games for Team Building Most bowling alleys now have automatic scoring systems that keep track of each bowlers score and totals. The easiest team building event would be to have each team bowl three games and add up their scores for each player for all three games. You can easily vary that by adding different styles of games. For example, in game 1, everyone bowls normally; in game 2, they switch to their opposite hand - righties bowl left-handed and lefties bowl righty; in game 3, pins knocked down only count if they exceed the frame number. The automatic scorers will total the first two games for you, but youll need someone on each team to keep track of scores in game 3. Reinforce Team Building with Awards Decide ahead of time what awards to hand out at the conclusion of the event. Identical prizes should be given to all team members of the team with the highest score and of the second and third place teams. You may want to award a few individual prizes for the  highest score in each game. Humorous awards like most improved, worst bowler, lowest score, can lighten the mood as well as give you a way to include more non-bowlers in the prizes. The Bottom Line A bowling-based team building exercise can work for your people. It provides positive reinforcement of teamwork and lets them build interpersonal relationships that can help on the job.

A Career in Sales Management

A Career in Sales Management A Career in Sales Management You have earned the respect of upper management and have been offered a promotion into the wonderful world of sales management. Along with the promotion comes an increase in base salary, the ability to pick and mold your sales team, added stress and responsibility and, as a final bonus, higher expectations and a few sleepless nights! Before you accept the promotion, there are a number of things you need to consider and to be aware of. While sales management positions vary wildly from company to company, there are several commonalities, each of which will affect you to some degree. Its No Longer Just You In a sales position, you have only yourself and your results to concern yourself with. While you may be the greatest team player in company history, your co-workers performance, good or bad, probably has little to no effect on your income. How many calls you make is up to you and whether to take a vacation or not affects only you. Not so when it comes to management. Sales managers are judged by the overall performance of their entire team. If the team does well, your senior leaders will feel that you are effectively completing your job. If your team is not doing well, the opposite is often true. This creates an obvious and universal problem for sales managers: No matter how hard a manager works and no matter how talented of a manager she may be, if the team is weak, uninspired or simply are struggling, the sales manager takes the heat. Once a sales professional accepts a promotion to sales management, she is no longer fully in control of their level of success. Its Hard to Find Good Talent One of the most challenging and important jobs that most sales managers are responsible for is recruiting. Since most sales organizations have upwards of 15% turnover rates, recruiting is something that should occur all the time. A manager knows when a sales professional of his team is not going to make it and can begin looking for a replacement as soon as a rep begins to fall below the minimum expectation levels. That same manager usually has no warning when an average or high performing rep may turn in their notice. Surprise job openings are the enemy of a sales teams results. Beyond career fairs, internal and external recruiters and open houses, successful managers often use the 5-foot rule. Essentially, the 5-foot rule means that anyone that a sales manager comes in contact with, who shows promise or interest, should be added to a people pipeline. This pipeline should always be filled with potential candidates, and each should be contacted frequently. Having a full pipeline greatly mitigates the effects of surprise vacancies and also allows for quicker replacements of terminated reps. A Manager, Coach, and Therapist Going into management with the idea that your sole task will be to manage your team to deliver expected results is a sign of either nativity or improper recruiting from senior management. Managing is just one part of a sales managers job. Effective managers understand that they must be leaders, coaches, managers and, at times, therapists. For clarity, it is important to understand that you manage processes, you lead and coach people. Everyone on a sales team is a person, with their set of skills, strengths, weaknesses, goals, desires and personal issues. Trying to manage people is like herding cats. ?Leading and coaching take character, skill, patience, and respect. The Rewards With most sales organizations, the jobs with the highest earning potential are sales positions, so moving to sales management can be somewhat of a pay cut. However, most sales managers earn a higher base salary and an override on their teams performance. The better your team does, the more you will earn. Train, manage, lead and coach your team so that they are all high achievers and your bank account will bring a smile to your face every morning. While there are several other rewards besides the income, the most commonly appreciated reward that sales managers receive is when they see their efforts pay off for someone else. Helping a struggling rep close a big deal, overcome a fear or build self-confidence is a tremendous feeling. Doing so is not only rewarding in the moment, but it pays dividends that last a career.

Saying no is its own leadership capability 8 ways to say it with grace and style

Saying 'no' is its own leadership capability 8 ways to say it with grace and style Saying 'no' is its own leadership capability 8 ways to say it with grace and style In a world of more requests than we can possibly fulfill, learning to say no with grace and style is a skill we all need.We should be saying no more than we say yes, although the opposite is usually true. We say yes too quickly and no too slowly.To consistently say no with grace and clarity, we need a variety of responses. To some people, this comes naturally. Others, however, offer noncommittal answers like “I’ll try to fit that in,” or “I might be able to” when they know full well they can’t.It’s far better, however, to offer a clear “no” than string someone along or give them a “slow no.”In Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, there is a great section called “The No Repertoire.”Saying no is its own leadership capability. It is not just a peripheral skill. As with any ability, we start with limited experience.He offers eight responses you can put into your repertoire.1. The awkward pauseInstead of being controlled by the thr eat of an awkward silence, own it. Use it as a tool. When a request comes to you (obviously this works only in person), just pause for a moment. Count to three before delivering your verdict. Or if you get a bit more bold, simply wait for the other person to fill the void.2. The soft “no” (or the “no but”)I recently received an e-mail inviting me to coffee. I replied: “I am consumed with writing my book right now ?? But I would love to get together once the book is finished. Let me know if we can get together towards the end of the summer.”E-mail is also a good way to start practicing saying “no but” because it gives you the chance to draft and redraft your “no” to make it as graceful as possible. Plus, many people find that the distance of e-mail reduces the fear of awkwardness.3. “Let me check my calendar and get back to you”One leader I know found her time being hijacked by other people all day. A classic Nonessentialist, she was capable and smart and unab le to say no, and as a result, she soon became a “go to” person. People would run up to her and say, “Could you help with X project?” Meaning to be a good citizen, she said yes. But soon she felt burdened with all of these different agendas. Things changed for her when she learned to use a new phrase: “Let me check my calendar and get back to you.” It gave her the time to pause and reflect and ultimately reply that she was regretfully unavailable. It enabled her to take back control of her own decisions rather than be rushed into a “yes” when she was asked.4. Use e-mail bouncebacksIt is totally natural and expected to get an auto-response when someone is traveling or out of the office. Really, this is the most socially acceptable “no” there is. People aren’t saying they don’t want to reply to your e-mail, they’re just saying they can’t get back to you for a period of time. So why limit these to vacations and holidays? When I was writing this book I set an e-mail bounceback with the subject line “In Monk Mode.” The e-mail said: “Dear Friends, I am currently working on a new book which has put enormous burdens on my time. Unfortunately, I am unable to respond in the manner I would like. For this, I apologize.- Greg.” And guess what? People seemed to adapt to my temporary absence and non-responsiveness just fine.5. Say, “Yes. What should I de-prioritize?”Saying no to a senior leader at work is almost unthinkable, even laughable, for many people. However, when saying yes is going to compromise your ability to make the highest level of contribution to your work, it is also your obligation. In this case, it is not only reasonable to say no, it is essential. One effective way to do that is to remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said yes and force them to grapple with the trade-off.For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with “Yes, I’m happy to make this the prior ity. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?” Or simply say, “I would want to do a great job, and given my other commitments I wouldn’t be able to do a job I was proud of if I took this on.”I know a leader who received this response from a subordinate. There was no way he wanted to be responsible for disrupting this productive and organized employee, so he took the non-essential work project back and gave it to someone else who was less organized!6. Say it with humorI recently was asked by a friend to join him in training for a marathon. My response was simple: “Nope!” He laughed a little and said, “Ah, you practice what you preach.” Just goes to show how useful it is to have a reputation as an Essentialist!7. Use the words“You are welcome to X. I am willing to Y.” For example, “You are welcome to borrow my car. I am willing to make sure the keys are here for you.” By this, you are also saying, “I won’t be able to drive you.” You are saying what you will not do, but you are couching it in terms of what you are willing to do. This is a particularly good way to navigate a request you would like to support somewhat but cannot throw your full weight behind. I particularly like this construct because it also expresses a respect for the other person’s ability to choose, as well as your own. It reminds both parties of the choices they have.8. “I can’t do it, but X might be interested”It is tempting to think that our help is uniquely invaluable, but often people requesting something don’t really care if we’re the ones who help them - as long as they get the help.Tom Friel, the former CEO of Heidrick Struggles, once said, “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’”Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less isn’t about doing more with less but rather the disciplined pursuit of focusing on the right things.This  article  originally appeared on  FarnamS treet.com.

3 traits that explain why some managers are ineffective

3 traits that explain why some managers are ineffective 3 traits that explain why some managers are ineffective It is said that people don’t quit companies, they quit managers. Unfortunately, we all know just how true that is. Think about the last few jobs that you’ve had. What made you quit? Or even worse, what made you stay, but hate your job every day? More than likely a bad manager had a lot to do with that. Here are some of my top bad manager traits, along with what I consider the opposite; what makes great managers and leaders.Trait 1: Lack of authenticityUnfortunately, there seems to be a sentiment, especially amongst new managers that they should talk, act, dress or behave in a certain way because they have the title of “Manager.” They think that their authority and/or effectiveness depends on fitting some kind of mold. So they try to put up some kind of act. Instead of just being truly and honestly who they really are and being completely honest and real with their teams, they try to play the “role” of manager.Unfortunately, this just causes them to have a superficial, gua rded relationship with their teams and they miss out on the real connection that builds strong teams. See how to become more authentic in my article titled Being Authentic: Why dropping the mask means more than you think.Trait 2:  Lack of vision  Most of us want to know that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to work in a job doing something significant, something meaningful, something inspiring. The most successful leaders and managers that I have seen, all have clear, inspiring visions of something significant. They know where they’re going and they inspire the team to go with them on a journey that makes a difference to the world around them.When our leaders and managers lack this kind of vision, it just becomes a dull, dead-end job where people clock in and out in mindless monotony. Who wants that? Do you want to become more visionary as a leader? Check out this article: Vision: The uncommon career and life accelerator.Trait 3: Caring about career advancem ent more than peopleUnfortunately, too many people go into management for the money, the status, the power, the title or the benefits. And once they get a taste of all that, they just want more and more of it, and it becomes a race for “Kingdom building” and for climbing the ladder to the top. In the process, the people in their teams just become “resources“ or pawns in a giant chess game for power.By contrast, real leaders and managers care about every individual in their teams. They focus on their success, their growth and their development and they truly work as servant leaders to help every individual be successful.What does success look like?I believe that truly effective managers are servant leaders who truly care about the individuals on their teams. They Focus on mentoring, growing and developing their teams and the people in them. They focus on  inspiring their teams  with highly motivating visions and strategy. They focus on building a strong, inspiring culture of empowerment and collaboration. They focus on building an environment that makes people excited to come to work every day.I have been very fortunate and humbled that every time I have switched positions to lead a new team, I have had several people follow me from team to team, wanting to work with me again. Many of these a second or third time. To me, there is no greater compliment as a manager or leader than having people follow you wherever you go.We all spend way too much time at work to be working for bad managers in bad environments. My hope for you is that you would find a manager that motivates and inspires you in the ways I described above. My wish is that they create an environment where you are excited to come to work every day.Heinrich Stander is a  career coach for RocketFuel4Careers.com.This  column  first appeared at  Quora.

You could get paid to binge watch TV all day

You could get paid to binge watch TV all day You could get paid to binge watch TV all day Dream job alert here. Let’s be honest, at least some of your weekend is usually devoted to having a major binge-watching session if not weekday nights. A recent survey found that 45% of adults  have pulled an all-nighter in the last year to watch a TV show, with  men  being slightly more likely to do so than women.   The  guiltiest age group  is 25-34-year-olds, of whom just under 50% have stayed up all night to watch TV.But what if you could get paid to sit on your couch and fall into a deep TV coma?  HowToWatch.com is hiring someone to watch TV and get paid for it. It would pay $20 per hour for 100 total hours which comes out to a cool $2,000 for doing something you’re probably already doing. It’s the perfect gig if you have some free time coming up or work from home and are good at multitasking.However, there are a few caveats. You can’t just watch your favorite shows from the 90s or that new Netflix series you’ve been dying to check out. The job requires you to watch 14 hours of live content (this means sports, news and broadcast programming) on streaming platforms including  DIRECTV NOW, fuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, Philo, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, and YouTube TV (but the subscriptions will be covered by HowToWatch.) Plus, you can’t totally veg out as you have to take detailed notes about the different platforms performances. It would also be nice if you could share some of your thoughts on social media once in a while. The hours must be completed by November 1, 2018.You can fill out the application here by October 4th.