Every virtual assistant will need to assemble a team at some time in their career. When you gather a team around you, you open up a whole new world of opportunities. However, you will need a lot more than just your intuition to manage all these people. It is quite a challenge to look after a group of people who have a number of different skills and many different personalities.
Putting It Altogether
Make a fairly detailed list. Who is the most adept at a certain job? There are several ways you can do this. You might be looking for somebody as an article writer, for example. If they are suitably qualified, they could take on the article writing needs for a number of different projects. Or, you can use a different VA for each specialty that you handle, i.e. someone who is experienced with financial matters works with those clients and someone else who is experienced with website development can work with online businesses development and design.
What you want to do is spread out the work so that deadlines are getting met. Beware of burnout, which can come quickly if not careful. Take inventory of how many people you will likely need to cover your overflow.
Getting your Mind Right
Why mindset? This will determine how you end up managing everybody. Don’t be tempted to micromanage, this is not the answer. That is just a fancy and roundabout way of doing all the work yourself. Micromanaging is very bad for you. You’ll have to let your team of professionals operate on their own with minimal guidance ONCE you are comfortable with their skills.
You have already determined that each person has a different way of doing things. The most important thing is that they get it done. You can give each person a probationary period to evaluate their work. That’s another reason to implement your team approach while the overflow is light. You don’t want to test them under fire.
Tracking Projects
A project management system lets you keep track of not only the projects but the subcontractors as well. Ask them to upload the work that they have done at certain stages, so you can make sure everything is on track and keep in appropriate touch with your client. Any documents that are needed by you and them can be uploaded to the project.
A system such as this is ideal if there are any questions, if you need to put more information in place or need to engage in team discussions. There are several different solutions here. Basecamp is a system that allows you to create client lists, post projects and add users. You can limit the access of each virtual assistant subcontractor to their own specific area, where they will have their own username and password access.
A similar system is SharePoint. It’s very similar to the other, but this one was created by Microsoft. Clients get access to some sites within the main area. When they do so, they can see the work as it progresses and send any questions that they might have either directly to you or to the virtual assistant subcontractor.
As part of project management, you need to be able to track your team. To ease your mind, know who is doing what, when and how.