Pulling together a virtual team is vital to the success of any solo professional, but even more important is maintaining regular communication with your team. If you were all sitting together in a office environment, communication wouldn’t be such a big issue - you could just walk over and chat to your assistant. But working virtually you have to set aside that time on a regular basis to talk and update one another.
This is true for all of your team members, not just your virtual assistant, but your web designer, your graphic designer, your bookkeeper, or any other team member you have on board.
My clients are long-term regular clients, who are looking to develop a partnership with their virtual assistant. I maintain that communication by recommending that we have a weekly telephone call. I schedule it in as one of the first jobs I do when we start working together. We have our phone call on the same day/time each week, so it becomes second nature.
Some weeks we may only have a quick two-minute check-in call; other weeks it may last for an hour. The purpose of our call is:
- to get to know one another
- to keep each other up-to-date on work
- to discuss any issues that have arose during the week that need our attention
- to plan future projects
How we conduct our phone calls is just as important as the phone call itself, and to make the best possible use of our time on the call I draw up an agenda. We work through it just as if we were holding an in-person meeting. I type up the notes afterwards and send them to my client. The notes then form the basis for our workload during the week, and are updated to produce the Agenda for next weeks’ call.
Communication is so important in a virtual relationship that you do need a regular communication system in place.
Having used this method of communicating with my clients for several years I've found it to be one of the best ways of staying in touch.
As well as being able to discuss issues relating to their business we can get to know one another too - essential for any virtual team!
By following this simple system not only do my clients get the best possible value of my time, but they are able to grow their businesses too!
