Introduction
Virtual assistants are undoubtedly some of the most important people in or out of your office. They’re responsible for keeping track of all your team’s projects and making sure everything gets done on time. They perform a wide range of tasks most often remotely.
That being said, it’s vitally important that you have crystal clear communication with your virtual assistant—otherwise things can and will go wrong. In this article, we’ll be covering the best ways to improve communication between you and your VA so that you can be sure operations run smoothly within your company.
Here are some of our top tips for effective communication with your virtual assistant:
Find a Reliable Virtual Assistant (VA)
The first thing you should do is make sure you find a reliable VA. Make sure they have a solid background, references and portfolio of previous work. Ask for samples of the kind of work they can do, and make sure it’s something that fits your needs.
Make sure it’s also important for you to be comfortable with their personality and communication style before hiring them on as your virtual assistant. It’s important that when communicating via email, phone or other channels that both parties are comfortable with each other so there isn’t any miscommunication or misunderstandings along the way!
Provide Clear Instructions.
From the very beginning, ensure you provide clear instructions to your virtual assistant.
It is important to provide your VA with all the information they need to complete their tasks, but it is also important that you give them clear instructions. Avoid jargon, acronyms and industry-specific terms when possible, as these can make communication difficult. Use simple language that can be understood by anyone who works in your field or industry (e.g., “I need you to take care of this particular email marketing issue”. If there is something specific about the task that you want your VA to understand, provide examples or even pictures if needed (e.g., “Please put this file into the folder named ‘Customers’ in my Dropbox account).
Never Make Assumptions On Your Own
- Never make assumptions on your own.
- Don’t assume your virtual assistant knows what you want.
- Don’t assume your virtual assistant knows what you mean.
- Don’t assume your virtual assistant knows what you want them to do.
- Don’t assume your virtual assistant is aware of your schedule or the specifics of how long a task should take, especially because they may be working from multiple time zones.
Have a Reference Document For Your Virtual Assistant
You will want to create a reference document for your virtual assistant (VA) as soon as possible. This will help you get the most out of their skills, and also give you peace of mind that they know what’s expected of them.
You can use this reference document as a checklist when hiring new VA’s, or even share it as part of the interview process. If you’re working with an experienced VA, it can be used during regular check-ins to ensure that everyone remains on track and up-to-date.
Your reference document should include:
- A list of specific tasks or projects that each VA has completed successfully in the past (optional) and what is needed moving forward. If they don’t have any experience yet, ask them how they would complete each task if given the opportunity to do so!
This highlights how well they understand how their role fits into your business model so far as well as their ability to think strategically about potential challenges before they arise. - A list of common mistakes made by other VAs who’ve worked in similar roles before (again optional but helpful!). Some of the mistakes might seem obvious now but trust me–if something happens once then chances are good there’ll be another time soon enough too if the solutions aren’t spelled out.
Set Up Regular Meetings
One of the most effective ways to stay on top of communication with your VA is by setting up regular meetings. This can be either a weekly meeting or a monthly one, depending on the needs of your business and your schedule. We believe it is crucial to have weekly check-ins. The key to success here is consistency — if you’re going to do this well, it’s important that these meetings be scheduled in advance so everyone knows when they’re coming up.
For best results, virtual assistants typically need some degree of predictability in order to do their jobs well, so set up regular meetings with them to ensure everyone is on the same page and contributing.
Establish Healthy Working Relationships
Establishing effective working relationships is the cornerstone of your virtual assistant’s success. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively with your VA will determine whether or not you can work productively together, so it’s important that both parties are on the same page from day one.
The best way to establish a good working relationship is by providing clear instructions and expectations from the beginning. Your VAs will be more comfortable taking initiative if they know what type of work they should complete when they log into their accounts each day (and if they have any questions about their tasks, they can ask!). You should also make sure that you’re answering questions promptly—if there’s an issue with a task, let them know right away so that it doesn’t become a bigger problem later on in their workflow (or even worse: yours).
Once you’ve established this baseline level of trust and communication between yourself and your virtual assistant(s), maintaining it should be relatively easy. Just remember to keep those lines open if any issues arise during their shifts so that they don’t pile up over time. This way everyone stays level-headed throughout every interaction without having too much stress added onto either end’s workloads each day.
Optimal Communication is Key
Providing clear instructions and having regular meetings with your VA can help you develop a better working relationship with them, resulting in more effective communication and better work.
- Have a go-to person in your office, if possible
- Provide clear instructions and task checklists
- Assign tasks around their unique primary skill sets
- Have a reference document for your virtual assistant
- Set up regular meetings between yourself and the VA (at least once per month)
- Establish healthy working relationships
- Encourage your VA to ask questions if they are stuck
- Treat your VA as if they were a full time in-office employee despite the fact they are likely working remotely
Wrapping Things Up
As highlighted in this article, effective communication is a key factor in achieving positive and productive working relationships with your virtual assistants. It’s not just about the quality of their work but also about how they interact with you and other staff members.
If you want to get the most out of your VA, take some time to learn about effective communication techniques and implement them into your daily workflow. You may not feel like all this extra work will have any effect, but we promise: it will in the long run.
