How to Manage Virtual Assistants

Perhaps you’re a business owner looking to hear from a virtual assistant how best to manage us. Perhaps you’re a virtual assistant working with other VAs underneath your team. 

Managing a virtual assistant doesn’t have to be difficult. Ensuring that you’re hiring someone from the start with the same working style and energy as yourself is always the best thing to do, but this isn’t always possible.

Here are some tips on how to manage them to get the best out of your working relationships. 

1. Set Clear Deadlines

One of the biggest problems when business owners struggle to manage their VAs is because they haven’t set clear deadlines.

Setting clear deadlines from the start communicates to your VA what is expected of them at the start. If you put clear deadlines into their contract, this is perhaps a little heavy handed but will also go a long way in ensuring that they understand the project and its expectations before signing up to work with you.

2. Communicate the Way That Works Best

Not everybody communicates the same way or using the same methods. You may find that your communication with your VA is lacking, this is a common thing when working with people in general.

Rather than assuming they’re a bad communicator, give them a chance by communicating in the way that works best for them.

Do they prefer calling? Email? Messaging via Slack?

Whichever method works best, choose that. You can’t put a price on good communication - it is very effective when done well.

3. Document Processes and Create SOPs

This is something organizations should be doing anyway, but especially when hiring a VA.

By having documented processes and clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that you use in your business, you can clearly communicate and demonstrate to an outsider (ie a VA) how they work.

This allows your VA to spend some time getting up to speed on the way your organization works so that they can follow the process and increase productivity rather than causing issues.

4. Train Them On All Relevant Aspects Of The Business

If you train employees, it stands to reason you’d need to train VAs as well. Sure, you can hire specialists for more money and save a bit of that time, but chances are you’ll still have to train them on certain things.

Do this right from the start and you won’t have to keep retraining them later. A longer working relationship is in everyone’s best interests anyway, so treat it as an investment.

Train your VA right, and you’ll see the value in them when they get started with the work.

5. If All Else Fails…Use Monitoring Software

Monitoring software can help you to see if a worker is actually performing during working hours or whether they’re slacking off doing other stuff. However, these should be a last resort as they tend to alienate your VA and prevent any meaningful relationship being built.

Use your judgment and enforce this only on the VAs who you’ve had a conversation with but seen no productivity improvement. 

Remember….Virtual Assistants Are Just People.

While there are various methods that will help you to manage virtual assistants, remember that they’re just people. Same with your employees, not everyone works and communicates exactly the same. 

When hiring a VA, try to keep the relationship respectful and easy going. Remember, these are not your employees, they’re a supplemental asset to your business and should be treated as such.