Posts Tagged ‘Bob Vail’

VN Services holds it’s 2015 company renewal.

Thursday, April 9th, 2015

Our staff just successfully  completed our annual company renewal.  Each spring, we go off-site to review the past year, and set goals for the upcoming 12 months.

We really look forward to this process each year, because it’s a time of team building, reflection and analysis, where we set actionable goals for each other and the company.

On the last day of the renewal, we also take a ½ day to just “have fun” as a team. This year we enjoyed the delicious cuisine at The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, followed by a quick walk through the Old Arcade and a 2 hour  tour of the historic Cleveland Public Library.

Jim Bettinger, librarian from the Science and Technology Department, was our guide.  We started our tour in Tech Central and Maker Space, where we were mesmerized by the 3-D printer, laser engraving and cutting machines, and vinyl cutter.

Our tour also highlighted the Maps Collection, Photograph Collection and the Special Collections sections of the library.  The library staff was eager to answer any questions and show us many fascinating pieces of both Cleveland and the United States’ history.  Their expertise and enthusiasm made our time in the library seem to fly by, and of course the architecture and art at the library is breathtaking!  We are sure to go back soon to take in more of this beautiful Cleveland treasure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does something on your construction project stink?

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Bob Vail and Tucker Elliott attended the Cleveland Engineering Society’s Leadership Breakfast, and listened to a presentation by Mr. Julius Ciaccia. Mr. Ciaccia is Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). Mr. Ciaccia discussed how far the Cleveland area has come in cleaning up the local rivers and Lake Erie, the sheer size of the sewer system, as well as the challenges of working with a multitude of community governments. The current main tasks being undertaken are reduction of combined sewer overflows and improvements to storm water management.

Tucker Elliott makes the observation that sewer system management is a lot like project management – if it breaks down, something starts to smell bad really fast! So if you’re on a project and something doesn’t smell right about how it’s being managed, give us a call!

Congratulations Tucker Elliott on 16 years at VN Services!

Monday, April 14th, 2014

VN Services holds its 2014 Company Renewal

Friday, March 14th, 2014

We held our annual company renewal on February 27 and 28 at The Club at Hillbrook.  Every year we travel off-site and review the previous year’s goals, accomplishments and LTOs.  Then we use basic project management skills and CPM (Critical Path Method) scheduling to create measurable individual and company goals for the year forward.  Because the schedule has proven to be a highly useful management tool, we revisit it regularly to ensure that we are on target to achieve our goals.

Of course, we also need some R&R, so we spend the second afternoon doing something that is fun and entertaining.   We had a delicious lunch at The Harley Cafe at South East Harley-Davidson (no motorcycles were purchased at the time).  We followed lunch with bowling at the Freeway Lanes, where we all let Richard and Bob win!

VN Services’ Annual Company Renewal

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Left to right: Tucker Elliott, Bob Vail, Sharon Scott, Diana Chalmers, Richard Leach and Joe Morris

On April 5 & 6 we held our annual two day renewal at Welshfield Inn in Burton, Ohio.  The renewal is an important tool in our internal management process, where we apply our expertise in analyzing construction projects to our own company, by reviewing the previous year’s successes and its bloopers.

Historically, we have learned that the renewal is very valuable  because we take the time to go off-site, and honestly look at where we’ve been and how we got there.  Then we use those insights to set reasonable goals for the upcoming year.

After a day and half of  brain-storming, we leave the site and go spend the second afternoon “playing”.

This year we celebrated Tucker Elliott’s birthday with a delicious lunch at The Great Lakes Brew Pub in Cleveland, followed by a quick tour of Cleveland’s Historic West Side Market, which is just down the street from the restaurant.  The West Side Market has more than 100 ethnic vendor booths offering a wide variety of foods ranging from exotic pastas to goat’s heads.

Once done at The West Side Market, we finished  our afternoon with a visit to The Greater Cleveland Aquarium, which opened on January 21 in the West Bank of the Flats.  The aquarium was an interesting mix of the architecture of the old FirstEnergy Powerhouse and the new aquatic exhibits.  Fun was had by children of all ages… including us!