LIHN PODETTI: WHY BUILDING YOUR VA TEAM IS A GAME CHANGER FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Lihn Podetti

WHY BUILDING YOUR VA TEAM IS A GAME CHANGER FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Co-founder of Outsourcing Angels, Lihn Podetti runs an offshore recruitment agency with VAs from the Philippines.

Her specialty is building strong and long-term virtual teams.

“I’m most interested in creating more permanent long-term relationships,” Lihn says.

“It’s in the best interests of everyone to match up the best VAs with companies, for the best rate and build a great culture within my own organisation of VAs.”

“A solid team of VAs married together with good systems and processes can be a real game changer for a business.”

Lihn knows that finding the right VAs can be confusing. Outsourcing Angels take the headache out of putting your offshore team together and she says it can all hinge on one thing. It is so important to get the job brief right, to ensure you match up with the right person for your business.

Ask yourself what tasks do you want to delegate What platforms will you be using What are the hard skills and also soft skills, needed by your VA What times will you want them to work? eg. ad hoc hours mean you can’t be specific about when you need them. Long-term VAs can be available for you for specific hours. What skillsets are must-haves Don’t expect the world. Your VA is still human. You can upskill them later on those flexible skills.

When you are looking at the applications, consider questions you would ask in an interview like marital status (to get some

A solid team of VAs married together with good systems and processes can be a real game changer for a business. “ “

background) computer speed, internet speed, etc. Outsource Angels use a specific form (WUFU) designed to ask questions that are specifically to give them an excellent snapshot of each candidate. They then conduct an interview, followed by a panel interview, so they can match the client and VA as best as they can.

“We take the panel interview seriously. We want to match the best candidate up with the team so that it can become a ‘soulmate’ type long term relationship,” Lihn says.

Recruiting for yourself, you will want to ask questions in the same way you would in a face to face interview. ‘Why do you want to work for my company? What have you enjoyed most about your previous jobs?’ You will want to look into their personalities and get to know who your candidates are so that you can match up well.

There is a common misconception that when businesses offshore, everything goes offshore, which isn’t true. Often, businesses will use a combination of local and offshore staff. This enables the local team to have ample support, the business can grow and more local jobs can become available and secure.

“If you can help your local team feel more secure and supported by an outsourced team, you may find your local staff are committed to staying long term for the company. It’s common for local workers to leave their jobs every couple of years. Your offshore team will be looking to hang on to their jobs for as long as possible.”

Once you’re very clear on your company’s mission, you can use Lihn’s checklist (link below) to see what can be done to help you achieve that mission with an offshore team Audit your own business and look for areas, such as social media, that your VAs can edit your content up or write it up into articles as well as managing your social media content.

WHAT YOUR NEW STAFF SHOULD EXPECT FROM YOU:

Send them an agreement form to sign and they can start very quickly. Spend some time going through some orientation. Explain the company background. What is the vision for the company? How does the role fit into the company’s vision? What is the culture like? Explain the core values of the company. Do you have company goals? What are your expectations of them? Eg. A lot of communication or no communication; just results? Be clear on what you expect from them. Set up the communication system - Skype, Asana etc.

“Your VAs want to be a part of your mission. They want to know that their work is a part of the success of your company. Whatever problem it is that you are solving, you don’t want them to just be good at their task, that isn’t sustainable. You want them to feel a part of the company’s vision.”

Check out Lihn’s E-Book and all the forms and checklists you might need at

Outsourcingangels.com