Nicky Stainton, Communities Manager introduces Voluntary Norfolk, the new volunteer platform Get Involved Norfolk, and their trading arm CBR Business Solutions, in this short video…find out how they can support your organisation.
Do you view a problem as an obstacle or an opportunity? How you answer this question can define and set you apart as a leader, in life and business.
Inspired by Ryan Holiday’s book The Obstacle is the Way, James and Mark dive into how fear can equal disaster in business, and how our state of mind can be reprogrammed to find the positives.
There will always be problems, but how we handle them can make us stronger. We can relearn how to handle tough situations, increase motivation (which is not the same as discipline!) and avoid catastrophe.
Some things are immovable and unchangeable, therefore out of our control. James and Mark take us through their personal experiences of dealing with barriers, and the steps we can all take to achieve a healthy state of mind, which is good for business, and good for relationships.
For show notes, how to get in touch with the podcast team and to listen to the podcast, click below.
We recently had the pleasure of working with business coach Wendy Richards to update her brand assets.
The brief
After a long career coaching and mentoring others and as an established author, Wendy wanted a brand uplift to bring her business identity bang up-to-date. We re-worked her logo, colour palette, fonts and image style to create a distinguished look.
The starting point
Wendy would admit that her current logo was starting to look a bit dated, as were her pitch materials and website. We liked the colour scheme, but the whole brand needed a lift.
This included a set of logos including landscape, square, white background, coloured background, transparent background and favicon
Social media headers
Postcard designs
“I absolutely love my new branding. I was able to easily use the brand assets to update my website, social media and pitch info. I would recommend Nurture Marketing to any company looking to update their brand.”
Want help with your brand?
Check out our brand services and launch offers.
Find out more about Wendy Richards Coaching
Visit www.wendyrichards.online
Photo credit – Chantry Place
Global lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters is arriving in Norfolk next year when it opens at Chantry Place in Norwich.
Spread across two floors in the former Carluccio’s unit on the upper ground floor overlooking Chantry Square, with additional space on the lower ground floor, the store will feature a well-curated mix of on-trend women’s and men’s clothes.
Paul McCarthy, general manager at Chantry Place, said: “Urban Outfitters has consistently been voted as the number one brand that our customers want at the Centre and this is hugely significant for Chantry Place and for Norwich to have such a leading global clothing and lifestyle brand investing with us. Urban Outfitters will strengthen the offering for on-trend men’s and women’s clothing, and compliments many of our other brands including Zara, H&M, Schuh and House of Fraser. This is just the latest, and not the last, in new brands coming to Chantry Place soon.”
Urban Outfitters is a lifestyle retailer dedicated to inspiring customers through a unique combination of product, creativity and cultural understanding. Founded in 1970 in a small space across the street from the University of Pennsylvania, Urban Outfitters now operates over 200 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, offering experiential retail environments and a well-curated mix of on-trend women’s and men’s clothes, from dresses, denim and graphics to shoes, hats, and bags, as well as beauty, lingerie, swim and a collection of handpicked vintage clothing known as Urban Renewal. Urban Outfitters also stocks a UO Home collection and a Music & Tech collection.
The new store at Chantry Place is over 10,000 sq ft. The only other Urban Outfitters in East Anglia is in Cambridge.
Other recent additions to Chantry Place include Whistles, Phase Eight and Hobbs.
For more information on Chantry Place, visit www.ChantryPlace.co.uk or follow chantryplacenorwich on social media.
Photo – Guy Ransom, commercial director for Finn Geotherm with Jandré Smuts, Head of Estates at ZSEA in Tropical House.
The award-winning Banham Zoological Gardens in Norfolk is celebrating 10 years of keeping inhabitants warm in its Tropical House facility thanks to a renewable heating system installed by experts Finn Geotherm. The system is estimated to have saved around 170 tonnes of C02 during this time when compared to an oil boiler.
Set in 50 acres, Banham Zoological Gardens is run by the Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA), a conservation and education charity. Tropical House is its South American inspired paradise, which is home to sloths, butterflies, birds and reptiles in a lush green enclosure with pathways and a waterfall. With the inhabitants used to living in temperatures of 25°C+, it is essential the building remains consistently warm.
For the past 10 years, Tropical House has been heated by a Dimplex LA TU 60 commercial air source heat pump specified and installed by Finn Geotherm. The heat pump’s fan unit is located just outside the building and works by taking energy from the air to heat water which is used for Tropical House’s underfloor heating and air distribution units mounted in the ceiling. The system is ideal for this kind of application as the heat pump runs in long cycles to maintain a steady temperature.
By installing this renewable energy heating system, ZSEA has been able to efficiently heat Tropical House all year round with a system which uses more than 70% less energy than an oil boiler. At the same time, as providing reduced heating bills, the system is also making a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions, having saved an estimated 170 tonnes of C02 since its installation when compared to an oil boiler – something that is a key part of ZSEA’s environmental strategy. The heat pump installation was awarded a National Energy Efficiency Award in 2013 as an early example of a ground-breaking renewable heating system. A new colourful storyboard has just been erected at Tropical House to explain to visitors how the system works.
Jandré Smuts, Head of Estates at ZSEA, said: “The Zoological Society of East Anglia is committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually strive to improve our energy efficiency. The heat pump fits in perfectly with our aims to minimise the consumption of electricity for producing heat and is a step towards reducing our carbon footprint. Finn Geotherm have provided us with an excellent system and great technical support over the last 10 years.”
Guy Ransom, commercial director for Finn Geotherm, said: “We are delighted to see that 10 years on, our heat pump installation is continuing to provide the ideal habitat required for Tropical House’s residents, during even the coldest winters. Over the past decade, Banham Zoo has not only made significant savings on its heating bills, but also saved a huge amount of carbon emissions by choosing a clean, green heat pump.”
Tropical House also boasts other eco-conscious systems including an irrigation system for the extensive planting provided by roof water collection tanks, triple glazed translucent roofing sheets to provide natural light whilst retaining the heat and an inbuilt thermostatically controlled roof venting system to provide natural cooling during the summer.
For more information on ground and air source heat pumps and details on Finn Geotherm, visit www.finn-geotherm.co.uk.
Photo of Carol Gavriks
A Norwich-based Account Manager is set to take a giant leap for a local charity, by plunging 13,000 feet out of a plane.
Carol Gavriks, Account Manager at legal technology firm Tiger Eye, will be undertaking a sky dive next month to raise funds for the company’s charity of the year – Norfolk and Waveney Mind.
The dive will take place on Friday 22nd July at Beccles Airfield. During the tandem skydive, Carol is set to reach speeds of over 120 miles per hour in this once in a lifetime thrill-seeking experience.
On the dive, Carol commented: “A tandem skydive has been on my bucket list for many years, and when the opportunity came to fundraise for this vital cause while completing my lifelong dream, I snapped up the opportunity.”
Norfolk and Waveney Mind was nominated as Tiger Eye’s charity of the year back in January. Whilst part of the Mind network, Norfolk and Waveney Mind are an independent charity who raise their own funds. The charity supports those within the community with their mental health and wellbeing from prevention support to crisis support, offering an extensive range of mental health services, along with associated training, advice, and information.
On the chosen charity, Carol added: “I first became aware of this wonderful charity when I needed support after giving birth to my daughter and was struggling with my mental health. I was very grateful to have my family members, friends and other professionals supporting me during that time. It made me think how I could return the favour to support others now and encourage them to talk to professionals, or have access to a charity like Norfolk and Waveney Mind, the local mental health charity that believes no one should have to face a mental health problem alone!”
To donate and support Carol in reaching her ambitious £1000 target, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/carol-gavriks
Historically the biotech and pharma industries were most at risk from insider threats or espionage being carried out by people who infiltrated an organisation to learn secrets or directly steal information, data or intellectual property. Now though much of the work they do, although resulting in physical products, happens online and the resulting intellectual property, data and information is stored online too.
In an industry where the competition is high and the stakes are often higher, as are the rewards, cyber security should be a business imperative – if you work hard enough to create something you should work equally as hard to protect it from threats. One UK based medical research company was set to begin work on trials of Covid-19 vaccines when it was targeted by the Maze ransomware group, as reported by Computer Weekly. In this sector media coverage, or past successes, can create a target where there wasn’t one before, so being prepared to defend yourself is a key thing to look at before any announcements or breakthroughs are communicated.
Big data growth has made it possible to collate and store vast amounts of medical, trial and genetic information for organisations in these fast moving, high growth sectors. It’s no surprise then that the most commonly understood threats are focused on data, intellectual property or results from tests and trials. Biotech and pharma companies tend to have a bias towards protecting technology as it both holds this information and facilitates much of the work being done, but the reality is that their security risks go beyond this. As an example we see further risks once drugs go in to production as raw materials are being shipped and can be identified, essentially giving away some of the hard earned intellectual property. Production can also be disrupted by cyber criminals who target parts of the supply chain in an attempt to bring down the business through their suppliers.
Anything that isn’t within your direct control should be considered as a third party risk, and with the supply chain being so complex and essential to biotech and pharma businesses, due diligence across your suppliers is paramount to more secure business operations. Cyber security doesn’t stop at the edges of your business, and any potential weakness in a supplier business are attractive to cyber criminals as they can potentially disrupt many organisations with one attack. You can find out more about securing your supply chain in a series of articles over on our blog.
Physical security for businesses operating in biotech and pharma is also a key area of risk. Very much in the same way that cyber criminals are able to access valuable information, the risk from either being infiltrated by someone out to harm the business or from one of their own staff posing an insider threat further places these businesses under pressure to invest in physical security measures. Doing this will provide a further layer of defence that isn’t always required in other industries. Additional layers of protection may be required regarding building access, levels of data or systems access and vetting of new staff and leavers.
It is important to highlight that these risks are not just present for the larger firms. There is a huge global network of start-up and scaleup businesses in this sector and as there appear to be no formal requirements for them to report whether they have been targeted in cyber-attacks, there isn’t an easy way to know how often these organisations are being targeted. Being nimble in this space is an advantage but that often means that elements of security can be overlooked or compromised as there is often no dedicated resource looking at this aspect. It is also possible that staff are arriving quickly as the business scales and onboarding doesn’t cover basic security hygiene, which can create risks especially around phishing and ransomware attacks leading to data breaches.
The same adaptability and capacity to pivot that is seen in the core business should be harnessed for the benefit of protecting data, intellectual property and systems.
Cyber security is often cited as being everyone’s responsibility, and in many ways it is. However, there needs to be a high level of both engagement and ownership within the leadership team as without this it is unrealistic to expect the wider organisation to play their part in securing the business. Many leaders in this industry may come from the academic or scientific communities and not bring with them a working knowledge of cyber and information security, and this is where investing in raising levels of awareness and competency across the workforce will provide great benefits.
There are two key ways in which this can be done, either by bringing in a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or if there is not the need or justification for this being a full time role many organisations opt for a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO). A vCISO will enable your organisation to quickly have the knowledge and experience needed to assess your current security position and start shaping what needs to be done to build a cyber security strategy and its delivery. Alongside this, training all staff should be seen as a key part of the cyber security strategy, whether it’s the leadership team who need this support in terms of how to manage security across the whole organisation, or the wider staff team who have low awareness of the everyday risks and need this to become embedded in their roles.
If your organisation operates in the biotech or pharma industries and you need support in understanding and managing the risks you face, CyberScale can help you on that journey.
Confidence is king
Success comes from being confident; we need confidence to make decisions for the betterment of both our business and personal lives. We wouldn’t marry someone unless we’re confident we love and trust them; likewise, don’t go into business with someone unless you’re confident in their skill, commitment and honesty!
James and Mark discuss the current lack of confidence in society that has followed lockdown, and the negative impact a lack of confidence can have. It can be catastrophic for businesses in particular, but there are ways in which we can reprogramme our brains to find the positives in any given situation and reframe our thinking.
They look at the process of comparing our inner thoughts with other people’s external projections; how to influence and encourage; the nature vs nurture argument; and how understanding what confidence really is and how to achieve it will ultimately lead to success.
For show notes, how to get in touch with the podcast team and to listen to the podcast, click below.
A Greater Anglia train. Credit: Greater Anglia
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has announced another strike date for its Greater Anglia members –Saturday 23 July.
While talks will continue to try to resolve the strike, Greater Anglia is warning passengers of widespread disruption should the strike go ahead.
This will be the third strike day by ASLEF’s Greater Anglia train drivers. During the last strike, on Saturday 2 July, the company could not run over 90 per cent of its services.
Greater Anglia Managing Director Jamie Burles said: “We hope this dispute can be resolved and the strike action proposed for 23 July cancelled, but in the meantime we want to give our customers as much notice as possible that there will be disruption if the strike does go ahead.
“We are making arrangements and drawing up timetables in case the action does take place, and we will keep our customers updated.
“If there is a strike, our advice to customers will be to avoid travelling on our trains. With drivers on strike, we can only run minimal services and just on limited routes and between limited hours too for most of those routes.
“We are aware that many customers will have plans to travel – it’s the first weekend of the school holidays and the weekend of the Latitude Festival. We’re genuinely sorry if this strike disrupts people’s plans.”
On Saturday 2 July, there were no services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street, nor on any branch lines or regional routes.
There were severely reduced services between Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria and Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street, with far fewer trains than usual.
Full information including timetables, how to refund or change tickets and first and last train times will be available on the Greater Anglia website as soon as it becomes available.
Rail commuters in East Anglia can now buy flexi season tickets on ticket machines across the Greater Anglia network.
The flexi season ticket is a bundle of 8 day passes for a specific journey between two stations to be used in 28 days. The tickets can be used at any time within the 28-day period.
Customers can buy another flexi season ticket within the 28 days if they use up their eight passes.
And now customers can buy them quickly and easily by using Greater Anglia’s self-serve ticket machines, making it quicker and easier to commute at a time convenient to them.
Anyone who needs help using the ticket machine can press the ticket assistance help button on the machine to be connected to ticket office staff in Norwich who will guide the customer on the machine.
Flexi seasons can be bought on any Greater Anglia ticket machine outside of the London oyster area.
These tickets are also still available from the ticket office or to buy online from the Greater Anglia website.
Flexi season tickets must be loaded on to a Smart card, which is more durable than a paper ticket and quicker and easier to use at the ticket gates.
They are cheaper than buying anytime day return tickets on the day of travel and passengers can claim a refund on the dates not used, and they can cancel at any time.
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia’s Commercial, Customer Services and Train Presentation Director, said: “The pandemic has seen many people’s travel patterns change. We know our customers are spending part of their working week in the office and at home, and the flexi season helps them save money on their commute.
“Since its launch last summer, the flexi season ticket has been incredibly popular with our customers and we’re pleased they can now buy it from our ticket machines, which are quick and easy to use.”
Greg is Head Coach of British Para Table Tennis and a performance coach. He believes that the best performers rely on their gut when it matters, whether that’s on a track, field or in business. But this only works if you know yourself!
They discuss how you can learn to focus on yourself, and understand what makes you tick, and how knowing your strengths, triggers and blind spots will help you perform under pressure, and nurture positive personal relationships.
Greg deep dives into the process of performing under pressure – a tactical approach, physical preparation, and how we can’t ignore how we operate under stress, as this can negate any technical ability.
They also look at constraint based learning; how to adapt efficiently to cope with context; and how to harness positive and empowering relationships, particularly at work.
Greg lets us in on what it really takes to ‘make it’ at Olympic-level sport, and what he has learnt from the inspiring journeys of the Paralympic athletes he has worked with. He also discusses his work in trying to dispel the stigma behind the Paralympics, and how we can all learn from what it really takes for coaches to train the top level.
| Greater Anglia is advising people to only travel if absolutely necessary and expect severe disruption as national rail strikes – should they go ahead – are set to heavily reduce train services next week
The RMT union is holding three 24-hour strikes on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June, with members of the train drivers union ASLEF also striking on Thursday 23 June – affecting all Greater Anglia services. The industrial action includes Network Rail signallers who are members of the RMT union. If the strikes go ahead, the train company will not be running any services on its regional and branch lines, while a very limited service will operate on some routes to and from London Liverpool Street for part of the day. Services running will only operate from 7.30am, with the last trains finishing their journeys by 6.30pm. The full strike day timetables should be available on the Greater Anglia website from Friday 17 June. Anyone who has pre-booked tickets to travel on strike days can change them, use them to travel on the day before or up to two days after their original travel date, or apply for a refund by going back to their original retailer. There will be no services running on the following routes on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June:
A very limited and much reduced service – with fewer trains running and so fewer seats available – will run starting at 7.30am and finishing at 6.30pm on the following routes:
The 24-hour strikes will also have a knock-on effect on services on days immediately before and after the days when industrial action is taking place, so customers are advised to check before they travel on Monday 20, Wednesday 22, Friday 24 and Sunday 26 June. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “Please only travel if it’s absolutely necessary on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday when strikes are due to take place. “If you do travel, you should expect severe disruption, so plan ahead and make alternative arrangements to travel if you can. Please also check travel times for any journeys planned for the days before and after any strike action. “We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to customers by this industrial action.” More information about how industrial action will affect rail journeys and how to apply for ticket changes or refunds are available on the Greater Anglia website. |
