Here are 5 Best Practices to Manage Your Virtual Assistants
Your job is now to bring out the best from your virtual assistant to ensure maximum efficiency for you and your business. Here are 5 best practices to manage your virtual assistants: -
1. Set Clear Expectations A wise man once said, "Ambiguity is the devil's volleyball". What happens when you assign a task to your virtual assistant and they don't know how to go about working on it? Or even worse, they didn't quite get the details of the task correctly. Best case scenario- a waste of time. Worst case scenario- they ruin what was already working for you! You don't want that, do you? At least at the initial stages, convey step-bystep detailed instructions of the task that has been assigned and if possible, even a small demonstration.
2. Reporting Mechanism The only disadvantage as such ofÂ
hire a virtual assistant is that they aren't physically present in front of your eyes. You don't know whether they are working effectively or not. Hell, you don't even know for sure if they are working at all. To overcome this constraint, set up a reporting mechanism wherein at the end of each day, your virtual assistant will send you a detailed report of all tasks assigned along with its completion status.
3. Stop micromanaging Would you like someone constantly hovering over your shoulders asking you
StopÂ
what you're doing every 30 minutes? Of course not! Your virtual assistants aren't babies. You aren't a babysitter.
Give them some freedom to work and you'll see them bring their best work forward.
Micromanaging
4. Training and Upskilling It's true that virtual assistants are supposed to self-train themselves and be updated with the latest technologies. But if you do come across a software, tool or free online course that you think would benefit your virtual assistant, why refrain from sharing it? The better skilled and updated your virtual assistant is, the faster they can get your work done!
5. Be friendly At the end of the day, virtual assistants are humans too! They have feelings, experience fatigue and boredom. Even worse, they work alone from home and have no colleagues or peers to chit-chat with. Hosting a couple of minutes of water-cooler talk every other day helps establish a strong working relationship.
The initial first month or two after hiring a virtual assistant is the most challenging. This time will determine your virtual assistant's fit with you and your organization. Post that, it's all fun and games. You can relax and let your virtual assistant breeze through your tasks, while you sip a cocktail on a hot Monday afternoon.
Thank You!