How to Get the Very Best from Your Sidekick

You have some work to do

Hold on super-man, before you lean

back and pop your feet up on that

desk of yours …

Get the very best from your sidekick and really start to maximise

your own time by….

making sure your they have all the tools needed to

be the partner in crime you need him or her to be

Congratulations! You are now the proud partner of your very own sidekick (aka virtual assistant)

Read on…

ACTION 1Time for an in-depth conversation

Get together and expand on initial discussions.

This can be via:

Cover these points:

• Your pain points

• Your goals

• Your demographic

• Your priorities

Follow a certain format for this

conversation and make notes for

reference

ACTION 2Invite your sidekick as an admin

If you use a project management or task list, for example:

You will be able to find information, conversations and documents

around a project or task allowing you to know at any time where your

VA is at

Many CRM’s also have a project management add-on

Invite your sidekick as an admin

ACTION 3Make a list of tasks to delegate

Prioritise your tasks in terms of their urgency and

the impact handing these over will have on you

Note these tasks in your project management

system and invite your VA to the projects they

will be working on

Start with an initial task to get used to

each other’s work habits, preferences

and styles before going for gold

ACTION 4Transfer of Information

Using the list of tasks you defined in Action 3

note the information needed to get your VA up

to speed as easily as possible

TIPS

JING by Techsmith is a great tool for online videos and screenshots

If sharing passwords, use a tool such as www.lastpass.com rather than

email or messaging

Use text, video, screenshots or talk your side-kick through the task,

whichever medium is easiest for you

ACTION 5Procedures

Task your sidekick with compiling an operations or procedural manual as

they take on tasks

This achieves the following:

Adds value to your business

Documents intellectual property

Reduces training / induction time for

new team members

Reduces your dependency on your

side-kick

Helps to identify areas for

improvement / increased

efficiencies

ACTION 6Feedback

3 Good feedback is just as important

as not so good

7 By no means should you be rude or

hurtful (and you wouldn’t be a super

hero if you were!)

A good VA will offer suggestions for improvement:

3 Do be honest

In order to be the super hero you need to be, you will need to train your VA to

be the best darn sidekick they can be … for you, specifically

This is possibly the most important part of your relationship

3 Different ways of doing things 3 Tools to increase efficiency

and you will have the yay or nay before going ahead

3 A process that isn’t currently happening

Your Turn!

Follow the steps outlined

Supply detailed information

Have good communication

channels open

You’re well on your way to

getting the very best from your

sidekick

Having someone helping you may feel uncomfortable to begin with but in no

time you’ll have your sidekick trained to do things the way you like them…you

deserve that!

For the full

article…

http://www.yourva.co.nz/get-the-very-best-from-your-sidekick/

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sEpisode 1

What you need to do before you take on a sidekick

Episode 2

How to find the right sidekick for you

Episode 4

How to be an even better superhero