Working Well With your Online Personal Assistant

Since the advent of the internet and the prevalence of e-commerce as an integral part of business, there has been an evident surge in virtual jobs. A growing number of executives are opting to hire virtual assistants who are capable of doing the job well through virtual interaction from comforts of their homes.

Hiring an Online Personal Assistant

While hiring a virtual assistant is a cost-effective and convenient decision, many a times, executives find it hard to optimize their services. Professionals end up constantly bombarding their assistants with emails with instructions that are consistently misunderstood, resulting in wastage of valuable resources and not to mention a stressful relationship with your personal assistant.

Before you go through the ordeal of firing your virtual assistant and looking for a new one again, reconsider your working methods and see if you make any improvements on your current arrangement.

Here are a few interesting points you can consider to make sure you are working well with your online personal assistant –

1. Establishing a Discipline with Working Hours

Just because your virtual assistant works from home, it does not mean his or her life will not be as busy as yours. Have a face to face meeting or a telephone conversation with your assistant to understand each other’s daily schedule and find a way to come on a common group with respect to defining standard working hours. This way you can set realistic expectations for your assignments and plan your daily communication a lot better. Also keep you assistant informed about the times of the day it is best to get in touch with you.

2. Identify a Method of Communication

Discuss with your assistant, what according to the two of you will be the most effective way to talk on a routine basis. Do you think your communication is easier on the phone or on email? On the phone you can make sure that there are minimal misunderstandings, while your email can be a record of all the tasks that have been assigned to your personal assistant. You may also arrive at a mutual combination of both modes of communication, depending on the nature of your work.

3. How are you Writing your Emails?

Trying to discuss everything in a single email can get confusing for you as well as your assistant. Try to limit only one agenda for every email that you send out or receive. This will make it a lot easier for you and your virtual assistant to organize your projects and enhance productivity.

4. Scheduling your Communications

Make sure that you make it a habit to organize a weekly de-briefing session over the phone to discuss certain matters, and keep a check on the status of various projects your assistant is handling at that point. With these weekly telephone talks, you can make sure you are bridging the gap that comes with sending out emails and you can also maintain a certain level of mutual understanding.

In addition to this, remember to set monthly goals for your assistant. This way you can make sure your business is on track and that you and your virtual assistant are working on the same page.