When it comes to managing your virtual assistant, you must set goals or objectives with them so they know where they’re going, what the effect of the work that they’re doing will be on your business long term, and how much time they’ll need to invest for their work to be practical.
This gives them a vision of things to look out for, something to look forward to, and gives you a measurable way to see if they are a good fit as a virtual assistant for you.
In the beginning stages of working with your assistant, giving them the pathway for what is coming up for your business is essential so they know how to help you in the best way possible.
1. Start With Your Own Goal
The first step is to set your goal, starting with you and your business. For example, determining what you want and hope to accomplish is essential.
When things have been determined effectively, you can begin with a yearly plan of how you would like your business to look next year and what you want to achieve.
It’s highly recommended that this goal be smart, meaning it should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and have a deadline. This allows you to track your progress and measure success.
Once you have your yearly goal, you can break it down into smaller, quarterly goals. This helps you see the long-term vision for your business even if you encounter obstacles along the way.
Later on, you can start integrating your assistant schools, but it’s essential to have a pathway ready for them to follow so they can make an impact.
Whether you hire them in January, June, or October, they’ll have a roadmap ready and set for them to follow.
It’s now up to you to select what they can do to help you achieve your goals.
2. Create A Goal Tracker For Numerical Goals
After establishing your goals, setting up a tracker to monitor your progress is essential. This can be a simple or complex system if it is easily accessible and allows you and your assistant to monitor your progress.
You can use a Google sheet, Notion page, or any other platform that works for both of you. The tracker should be set up to allow you to see where you are with your goal, whether in the form of a progress bar or simply a total number updated regularly. A tracker is essential for staying motivated and focused on your goal.
3. Create Your Assistant’s Objectives & Key Results
The next step is to create an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) for your assistant. This involves examining your goal and determining how your assistant can help you reach it. For example, if your goal is to acquire 12 clients by the end of the year, you should break down the process into steps. This may involve lead generation, social media, referrals, or other methods.
Understanding each step and what your assistant can do to help you reach your goal. In the case of lead generation, your assistant’s objective is to send a certain number of emails, find a certain number of contacts, or book a certain number of appointments with potential clients.
It’s essential to establish what number is significant in reaching your goal and ensure that your assistant’s objectives and key results align with your own.
4. Set It For The Quarter
Breaking it down into monthly objectives and critical results helps you and your assistant focus on the steps needed to get 12 clients by the end of the year.
It also allows for regular check-ins and progress assessments, which can help identify areas that need improvement and adjust the strategy accordingly.
This level of detail and organization helps ensure that you and your assistant are aligned and working toward the same goal.
5. Set It For The Months
You have already broken down the goal of getting 12 clients into a manageable objective for your assistant. Now, it’s time to proceed and support lead generation by sending out a set number of emails each quarter.
This is then broken down further into monthly vital results, such as creating a list of emails, sending the emails, and refining the email template.
This step-by-step process allows the assistant to stay focused and know exactly what they need to do each month to support the goal of getting 12 clients by the end of the year.
6. Set It As a Priority For Their Tasks
It is crucial to ensure that you and your assistant are comfortable with the objectives and key results that have been set to prioritize and focus on critical goals for the upcoming months.
The assistant aims to support you in sending out a set number of emails each month, eventually acquiring a certain number of clients. It is crucial to set up a tracking system to monitor progress and ensure that both parties know the number of emails sent and the number of clients acquired.
A monthly meeting can then be held to review progress, analyze areas for improvement, and ensure that the assistant remains on track toward achieving the goal. This retrospective process contributes to reaching the desired number of clients and keeping both parties informed and engaged.
7. Monthly Retrospectives
Once you have effectively prioritized and set the priorities for the next couple of months, you must set up a monthly meeting with your assistant to review progress and assess what worked well and what didn’t.
During these meetings, you’ll study the numbers and conduct a retrospective to see where things are. This will provide an opportunity to identify any areas of improvement and make changes to ensure that you stay on track toward your goal of getting twelve clients over the next year by breaking it down into quarterly and monthly objectives, with the support of your assistant.
These meetings should focus on continuously improving the process and ensuring you are aligned to achieve the desired outcome.
8. Get Feedback From Your Assistant
It is vital to have a monthly retrospective meeting with them. During this meeting, ensure your assistant is on track with their objectives.
You can review the numbers and get feedback from your assistant on what went well, what didn’t go well, and their performance on each goal. This is an opportunity to identify areas needing improvement, further training, or support.
It is also important to note that sometimes, a task may not be a match for your assistant, and it is okay to pivot and change your goals if necessary.
By having a monthly retrospective meeting, you can change the next month’s objectives and key results to ensure that your assistant is moving forward with a purpose and has something to look forward to.
The meeting also helps ensure you and your assistant follow the same pathway and check each other’s progress through the tracker.
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