Question 1

I'm struggling to delegate. Do you have any advice for me?

Accepted Answer

We understand that it can feel difficult to delegate, especially if hiring a new team member is new to you. This is OK!

We are here to help.

You have already explained the support you are looking for from Virtalent - both your Virtual Assistant and your Client Success Manager will have access to a set of notes from your original consultation call with us.
Your Virtual Assistant has many years of experience, likely supporting someone in a very similar position to yourself. Please don't feel that you need everything 'mapped out' before speaking to them - this can often result in 'paralysis by analysis', leaving you feeling stuck and unsure how to get started. Please do lean on them! They will have plenty of ideas on how best to start together.
As part of our service, you have access to a dedicated Client Success Manager. They are always on hand and can talk through the work you would like to delegate, and help eliminate any obstacles in your path. Whether you need recommendations on software or ideas on processes to follow, please let them know how they can help you!

FREE Resource - Roadmap to Delegation

We have a free delegation template available for you to use here.

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Need more help? We have also summarised a few key points from our The Art of Delegation ebook below:

Step 1 - Make Sure You're On The Same Page!

To understand what you should delegate to your Virtual Assistant, it's useful to first understand what your objectives are. Why did you hire a Virtual Assistant to begin with?

Are you trying to free up more of your time, so you can simply get home earlier and spend less time working?
Do your want to free up more time to dedicate to your clients, your team or other people in your business?
Are your looking to increase your sales, and want to spend more time on value-adding marketing work needed to do this?
Do you want to lower your stress levels and achieve greater clarity, with fewer "plates to spin"?

Likewise, on a professional level, what are you hoping their support will achieve for your business?

You want to improve your customer service response times.
You want to increase new account sign ups.
You want to grow your social media audience.
You want to implement new systems, to make your existing processes more efficient (and effective!).

Whatever goals you have in mind, ensure you clearly communicate them to your Virtual Assistant. Talk through why you need their help and set your relationship together in a wider context.

Your VA is highly-capable and has helped support many, many people in your position before - make sure to lean on them.

This goal-setting process helps set clear priorities for the relationship - both for you and your new team member.

Step 2 - Define A Clear Role

Once you're working towards a common goal, the next step is to define exactly how you need them to do to get you there. What can they do to add value to you and your business?

Work together to create a list of repeatable and ad-hoc tasks that they are going to be responsible for (and try to make sure these tasks are clearly explained).

Not sure where to start? Try starting with a list of everything you typically do each week - this is why a to-do list app like TickTick is useful, as you'll always have a record of what you're working on and what you've already completed - and then separate out those tasks.

What should you be doing out of those tasks and what would you prefer not to be focusing on?

1. First start with one-off tasks that require little explanation. This could be planning an event, reviewing a document for typos, or researching X. Delegating these smaller, one-off tasks helps to get the ball rolling - you'll start clearing your plate, start moving forward again and can then start to think more clearly about a longer-term role. It's also very motivating!

2. Next, look at ad-hoc tasks. These are things that crop up from time to time. These require more explanation, sure, but the benefit is that, long-term, they'll always be taken care of. This could be making ad-hoc website updates, booking travel arrangements as and when they arise or creating content (e.g. an ebook). Once you explain the process behind these tasks, you can delegate them time and time again going forward.

3. The ultimate goal is to create a role based largely around recurring, day-to-day tasks. These are the things that take up most of your time and, therefore, need the most explanation and training, however will reap the most value by being delegated. This could be managing your inbox and diary, billing and onboarding customers, managing new enquiries, managing your social media channels.

Once handed over to your VA, you can enjoy the benefit of having an uninterrupted day ahead of you to focus on what really matters to you!

So, we'd recommend you start with the quick wins, the 'low-hanging fruit', but the most important point is to not stop there. Focusing on one-off tasks requires you to continually explain a task, every single time you need help, and this will soon prove frustrating.

Ensuring you make a concerted effort to delegate recurring tasks - the ones that require some up-front training, but can then be left to your VA to take care of *every single day *- is where the real magic starts to happen.

Step 3 - Define Your Expectations

As well as understanding the practical task instructions, it’s important to communicate what your expectations are.

Do some of the tasks need to be completed in a certain way? Are these business critical or simply a preference?
Is there a “house style” or best practice within the company or industry you need them to follow?
Are there key deadlines involved?
What other tasks or projects does this task relate to?

Leaving out key information can lead to your VA making educated assumptions and, naturally, you might not have made the same assumptions.

Don't want them to fill in the blanks? In that case, it's going to be important you don't simply say "reply to my customers" or "write me a blog post" - make sure to define exactly what you need doing, how it should be done and when it needs to be done by, so nothing is left to chance.

Taking an extra few minutes to give your VA a better explanation now will save you more time (and add more value) further on down the line.

Step 4 - Encourage New Ideas!

In most cases, you'll often know what you want to achieve on some level, but you might be unsure of the best way to get there (or even what the end result should look like exactly).

Fortunately, your Virtual Assistant will want to contribute in the most valuable and meaningful way possible to you and your business. The missing ingredient is therefore often that you need to encourage them (or give them 'permission') to help you, rather then let them presume you are simply too busy or not interested in hearing their ideas.

To get the maximum value out of working with a highly experienced, highly-skilled Virtual Assistant, make it clear they can make suggestions or at least be open to these. If you would like their input, make it clear they shouldn't be afraid to share their thoughts and ideas with you. Tap into their wealth of knowledge!

Step 5 - Communicate Consistently

Even if your VA is incredibly self-sufficient, it's still important that you "check in" with them from time to time.

On a practical level, it's always beneficial for you both to have a dedicated time (e.g. a weekly or monthly phone call) to communicate, ask each other questions and see how tasks are progressing.

But on a more strategic level, it's important to remember that you and your business and not set in stone. Things change! Once you've been working with your VA for some time, it's likely your goals have changed - perhaps you are now getting back to customers at lightning speed, as you wanted to, and getting home from the office before 6pm is more common than not. But... what next?

Make sure that you don't only occasionally review what your VA is doing for you but also, perhaps most importantly, why.

Question 2

How often should I "check in" with my VA?

Accepted Answer

After working with anyone for some time, whether that's your Virtalent Virtual Assistant or a member of staff, it's likely you'll both have settled into a comfortable working pattern.

This is really positive, however, it's important that you also both take a moment to review how the relationship is going from time to time too.

Could they be adding even more value to your day? Has something changed?

Revisit Your Initial 'Brief'

Your VA will be able to go back to the original 'brief', created by our Client Engagement Manager following your initial consultation call with Virtalent. They will also revisit any notes they have subsequently made from your first few calls together.

It's a good time to review if you are delegating all of the tasks you originally spoke to Virtalent about. If not, why have you decided not to delegate something? Could there be an opportunity to do so now?

Likewise, now that you’ve established a good working relationship with your VA and you feel comfortable delegating tasks, consider where else they could add value. Are they skilled in a certain area that you didn’t realise at first or have you started working on a new project where you think their experience could be relevant? Your VA will always be happy to get involved in other projects and collaborate on new ideas.

At Virtalent, our goal as a team is not only to take care of the day-to-day tasks and projects you need support with, but ultimately we also want to help you grow your businesses and realise your ambitions. What more can we do to support you on your journey?

Remember, we have a multi-skilled team available - if your current VA doesn't have the right skill set for a particular set of responsibilities, it's likely a colleague of theirs can be added to your account who will. From social media to customer service, we have it covered!

You can see more ideas of tasks we can help with here.

Keep Your Goals In Mind

Think back to when you started together. Why did you hire a Virtual Assistant, in the first place? Whether this was to save time or access new skills, it can be useful to review whether you feel you have achieved your original goal(s).

Have you achieved what you set out to do?
What has changed for you since working with your VA, both personally and professionally?
What are your short-term and long-term goals now?
Do you have a different focus now or does this remain the same?
How will your VA help you to hit those goals?

Keep On Communicating

When you are so busy running and growing a business, it's easy to let day after day pass by without 'checking in' with each other. Gradually you could become distant and lose the rapport you've built together at the start of your relationship.

It's a good idea to ensure you set aside time with your VA to ensure they have everything they need from you (and you have everything you need from them!), to discuss the progress of any ongoing tasks/projects and plan the weeks ahead.

It only needs to be a 10 minute 'hello' on the phone, here and there!

I'm struggling to delegate. Do you have any advice for me?

How often should I "check in" with my VA?

Not many results?