When I think of VAAs, I think of 2 kinds. One is the group who work as independent contractors/own their own virtual administrative assistant business. The second group are assistants who work for a corporation or business and work virtually with the management team. Jennie says: "Some administrative assistants at our company have teams that are located in different cities/states (satellite offices). There are unique challenges that are encountered by these assistants. Additionally some assistants have more than one district manager responsibility in another city/state."
Several of the techniques and principles that apply to any of us working virtually, apply to this situation. Office Dynamics works virtually with all types of experts throughout the country and some of our very own associates work in different states.
The #1 key is communicate, communicate, and communicate. The #2 key is to be an excellent communicator. Since most people working virtually rely on email, texting, and other technologies to communicate, it is easy for information to fall through the cracks, skipped all together, and misinterpreted. Here are a few ideas.
- As much as possible, talk by telephone. Yes, I said telephone because it provides the opportunity to instantly clarify and repeat what we thought we heard.
- Study the art of being a great communicator; every aspect of written communication.
- Don't be in such a hurry that you don't provide enough information. Take time to communicate what you need. Be clear, specific, and get to the point.
- As an assistant, it is very helpful to the manager when you provide a weekly status update of: open projects, completed work, follow-up items, new projects or issues and more. Use a bullet point format.
- Clarify what is expected for the upcoming week. Make sure you are on the same page as your managers.
- Make sure you have solid processes in place and stay with them. It's easy to get off track when you get really busy. Your processes are the core of what keep things organized.
- Continue to seek new methods for being more effective and efficient.
That's it for now. Good communication is the umbrella over everything else that needs to happen. I'll address that in another Blog in the New Year.
Joan Burge