Wondering what are the different skills you’ll need to train your Virtual Assistant in?
When hiring and working with a Virtual Assistant, it’s important to train them in a few key areas for you to work in the best way.
In 2xYou, we focus a lot on training our executive assistants as we believe that if they have the right training and coaching, they can become the 2nd brain to their clients.
Below are the top skills we focus on with our 2xYou Executive Assistants:
HARD SKILLS
Hard skills are typically defined as skills like graphics, writing, marketing, programming, etc.
These are the skills that will help them work on the tasks they’ll be doing with you in your business. These are the skills they’re hired for or they eventually grow into.
Even if an assistant already has experience in a certain skill, it’s still important to train them to an extent yourself on what works for your business as they might carry over how they did things in their past job.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
How do you want to be communicated? How often? What is the best way for your assistant to give you information?
Training your Virtual Assistant in their communication skills is essential to be able to work with your assistant effectively.
Books like How To Win Friends And Influence People will help them be able to communicate better with you and the book The One Minute Manager will help both of you give and receive feedback.
HOW TO SHOW UP
Setting your standards on what is and what isn’t acceptable in your business is a training that your assistant needs.
If they start handling your communications, how would they show up?
What voice or branding would you want them to embody?
What is the output that people are expecting from your company when they work with you?
SELF DEVELOPMENT
Training your assistant to be self-aware and constantly growing their other soft skills can help with their own growth in your company.
By simply giving them the opportunity to develop themselves further outside of just work, so it could be giving them training on how to have the right mindset when handling difficult things by reading books like Mindset and The Obstacle Is The Way.
This way you can start having critical thinkers in your company which will then develop someone to become more than just your virtual assistant.
LEADERSHIP
Your virtual assistant will need to learn how to manage and lead teams and projects, even if they’re not managing people right away in your business.
This will give them the confidence when it comes to working with you and managing you as their client to make sure that things get done and projects are managed to completion.
DATA GATHERING AND DATA REPORTING
As a Virtual Assistant, knowing how to gather and filter data is essential when working with you.
Whether it’s gathering data for podcasts you can be featured in, or how to move things forward based on a report on a recent marketing test, this will ultimately have your Virtual Assistant giving you the data that you need to move forward in your business.
CREATING SOP'S
Standard Operating Procedures is a documentation of how tasks or projects are done in your business.
Training your Virtual Assistant in creating and updating your Standard Operating Procedures is the key way to free yourself up in your business in the fastest way.
CREATING LISTS
Train your VA to make databases effectively where all the data they've gathered for you can be easily found and understood.
Being able to create an effective taskmaster list, a list of the content you’ve created for your social media, or simply the list of contacts that you have in your business can make it easier for you to find the information you need.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
If you truly want your Virtual Assistant to become your 2nd Brain, training them in entrepreneurship will fast-track that process.
When you train your VA in how to start and run a business, you’re giving them the opportunity to further help you grow it in ways that you might not be seeing.
This will give them context with the decisions that you’re making in your business, and empower them to make the same decisions when they need to as they work with you.
In the end, training your Virtual Assistant will only really help you and your business as you work together.
Comment below what others skills you think your Virtual Assistant should have and share this article with someone who needs to train their VA!
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