As more and more businesses go virtual and transition into digital work overtime, working with a virtual team has slowly become the new norm. Meeting appointments, paperwork, and everything in between are now often done online, making it critical for businesses and entrepreneurs alike to curate the best among many online personal assistants.
While having a responsible virtual team to work with is one thing, managing the team to make sure each virtual assistant performs to the best of their ability is another. One of the many ways to ensure you’re working with the right virtual team is to know you have been handling your virtual assistants in the following ways:
Establish roles and responsibilities.
Assigning tasks might be a little bit of a challenge when done online. Unlike in a traditional nature of work, an online personal assistant may need you to define what their exact role and responsibilities are, as this may vary from one assistant to another.
As a virtual team manager, it is important to identify which tasks are to be accomplished by your VA. This applies most especially to when you’re working with not just one VA, but an entire team. By assigning specific tasks, you spare your team from any confusion as to who should be doing which. More than that, you get to avoid duplication of work, or worse, no output at all.
Communicate and coordinate clearly.
Two of the toughest challenges when transitioning into remote work are clear communication and coordination among the team. As important as this is, these challenges are often the most overlooked and disregarded.
Any virtual team leader who aims to increase productivity within the team should always communicate effectively and coordinate with conviction. When communication is clear in terms of language, tone, and message, it will be a lot easier to comply with the instructions set out by the manager. Proper coordination, on the other hand, assures you that you have efficiently cascaded your message to each member of your virtual team.
Conduct a daily huddle.
When working virtually with a team, tasks can get overlooked easily without a set list of things to do for the day. This is when a quick meeting or a daily huddle can do you a lot of favor. By doing so, you get to easily remind your virtual team of the daily priorities in your business. Moreover, by aligning all the virtual assistant services that your entire team can provide, you will not have a hard time telling if one of your virtual personal assistants is overloaded with work, while the rest works on an under load or the other way around.
The points and reminders you are set to cascade on a daily huddle of more or less 15 minutes a day can help your virtual team retain the work priorities for that particular workday, allowing your entire team to move more effectively and efficiently on a daily basis with clear goals set for the day.
Share your ideas.
Your experience in remote work has got you to become the virtual team manager that you are now. This is the perfect time for you to showcase your experiences when facing challenges as you work remotely with your team.
This gives your virtual team an overview of how things work online – after all, most people learn better when someone sets an example for them to follow. More than that, you could also share tips and techniques for working virtually so you can be productive as a team.
Acknowledge strengths.
When it comes to remote work, it is good to keep in mind that it’s not all about getting things done all the time, it’s also about getting them done well. As you go along your daily work life with your virtual team, it also pays to give a compliment for every job well done and highlight each team member’s strengths. This will keep them even more motivated and focused to get things done well as a team.
Check individual progress.
While it is your main task to look after the productivity of your virtual team, it is equally important for you to monitor the progress of your virtual assistants as well. This way, you are updated with who is currently on track and who is somewhat behind schedule. Individual progress will also help you identify which virtual assistants are under-performing, so you can coach them towards improvement, or eventually find a personal assistant who will help contribute productivity to your virtual team.
Stay connected.
It’s not enough that you communicate with your online team every once in a while, especially if you are working on long-term business projects. There is just no guarantee that every member of your virtual team will be present online when you need them if you only communicate with them every so often.
To avoid a long turnaround time of assigned tasks due to communication issues, it’s best to keep your lines open and make sure your virtual team does the same. When your team is online altogether at a set schedule, instructions and concerns are addressed better and much faster.
Keep your team motivated.
Increased productivity is crucial in a remote work setup. However, this does not mean that you have to keep your team busy every second of every working hour. There are wonders in taking a moment to let your online team relax and simply remind them to slow down a bit. This helps your team level up their motivation because you look after them as their virtual manager.
Choose skilled and reliable virtual assistants.
Every executive assistant for hire is different. Unfortunately, there are those you cannot rely on right away, perhaps because of low productivity and low-quality output. This is practically the most important of all. Before you even think about managing a virtual team, you have to make sure that you have skilled team members on board. This will then assure you of time spent well and a team that’s a lot easier and more effective to manage.
Trust your virtual team.
Knowing you have a team of skilled online personal assistants to work with will eventually lead you to trust that your team will do their job well. Your trust and the hard work of the entire team will go hand in hand as you progress with the completion of your projects, ensuring a smooth working pace for you and your team members.
It can be tough to manage a virtual team, but definitely not impossible to do so. By employing these tips and more, virtual team management can be a breeze. With virtual assistant services like OkayRelax, you can rest assured that you will be assigned the best virtual assistant that suits your needs.