Most business owners, managers, and professionals today face an overwhelming number of tasks and responsibilities. If you are drowning in your countless commitments and must-dos, you should consider getting a virtual assistant (VA). This post discusses how VAs help you stay on track by assisting in scheduling, prioritizing tasks, and improving overall time management.
Importance of Time Management
If you are managing a business or building a professional career, you only have a definite amount of time for a seemingly infinite number of tasks. Therefore, time management is a critical skill for any business owner, manager, or professional. Effective time management results in the following benefits:
- Increasing productivity – Time management allows you to accomplish more in less time and tackle tasks promptly, thus preventing work buildup and reducing stress.
- Balancing workload – Managing your time helps you plan and distribute your tasks wisely, thus helping improve your work quality, avoid rushed output, and allot time to rest.
- Achieving goals – Time management helps you set achievable objectives and break them into manageable tasks, making it easier to achieve long-term goals.
- Enhancing reputation – Effective time management builds a reputation of reliability and discipline, opening you to more career opportunities or stronger business connections.
How VAs Help with Time Management
Virtual assistants are skilled professionals who provide services from a remote location. VAs are not that different from personal assistants (PAs). VAs can handle everything from managing schedules, emails, social media, personal or customer relations, travel arrangements, and many more.
Because VAs work remotely, they have the advantage over on-site PAs in that VAs are more flexible, efficient, and cost-effective. VAs can leverage digital tools and other technologies to accomplish more, with fewer errors, and in a shorter time.
When you hire a VA, you can delegate routine tasks that do not require your expertise but take up most of your time. By doing so, you can focus on more critical tasks such as growing your business, building business relationships, and working on your personal or professional goals.
Time Management Tips When Using VAs
To maximize VA effectiveness so you can get the most time management benefits, follow these tips:
- Define tasks clearly.
Explain the tasks you want to delegate clearly, with attention to detail and completeness. This ensures that you and your VA are on the same page, eliminating false expectations and disappointment. Also, your instructions and expectations may change over time. Hence, make sure that you notify your VA of any changes to ensure their compliance and good performance.
- Prioritize task.
Train your VA to help them identify urgent and important tasks. Tools like the Eisenhower Matrix can help them to categorize tasks according to priority. Issue regular updates on your list of daily and weekly priorities to make sure they don’t miss critical tasks.
- Take advantage of technology.
The increasing popularity of remote work resulted in the rise of online project management tools like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com. Even non-remote workers and their companies rely on these programs to streamline their processes and improve communication.
- Schedule regular check-ins.
Weekly or daily check-ins allow you and your VA to discuss their progress, address any issues, announce your updates, and adjust priorities if necessary. Use this chance to provide feedback to your VA, praising them for a job well done and noting areas where they need improvement.
- Automate some tasks.
Look into repetitive tasks that you can automate using AI software or tools. You or your VA can set up these automations, but you can delegate the supervision and monitoring of these tools to your VA. To further increase your VA’s efficiency, create templates and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for common tasks, saving time and ensuring consistency.
- Assign tasks wisely.
Not all VAs are the same. You must understand your VA’s strengths and skills so that you can delegate tasks more appropriately. The better matched the tasks to your VA’s expertise are, the higher the quality of their work. Also, avoid overloading your VA with tasks. Schedule a balanced daily or weekly workload to maintain high-quality and efficient output.
- Keep communication lines open.
Open and clear communication channels encourage your VA to ask questions, updates, or clarifications. Otherwise, you welcome miscommunication or misinformation that leads to task errors and failures. Always provide detailed briefs for the tasks you delegate and solicit questions to ensure that your VA understands your perspective and meets all your expectations.
- Monitor progress.
You have to know how much time your VA is spending on their assigned tasks. Use online time-tracking tools and work platforms to monitor their progress. Identify areas for improvement and discuss your recommendations with your VA. Finally, request regular status reports from them so that you can stay updated on the status of their tasks or projects.
- Set realistic deadlines.
Practice setting reasonable timeframes for your VA’s tasks. Estimate how much time they need to complete their task without rushing and compromising the quality of their work. Include some buffer time in your estimate, allowing for extra time in case of unexpected delays or revisions.
- Encourage initiative and independence.
You want a VA who is proactive, self-reliant, and can accomplish tasks with minimal supervision. The main reason you hired a VA is to lighten your workload, after all. You don’t want to have to add VA supervision and management to your tasks. Train your VA to think critically and empower them to make sound decisions.
- Support continuous development.
Invest in your VA’s development by providing training resources and opportunities for skill enhancement. The more your VA develops their skills and increases their knowledge, the more tasks they can do for you. Promote their learning through experience by giving them positive mentoring and constructive feedback.
Time Management Support from Remote Raven
Tapping into Remote Raven’s large pool of VAs can be the ultimate time management support you need. Our rigorously vetted and trained professionals can take over your routine tasks, organize your schedule, manage your communications, and support you across various areas.
Leverage Remote Raven’s services and save time on creating job posts, reviewing applications, interviewing applicants, and managing your newly hired VA. Simply discuss your VA needs with our human resources experts and, in no time, we’ll have a shortlist of qualified applicants for you to interview. We’ll also take care of time-tracking your VA’s work, managing their payments, and supervising their productivity.
You are only a call away from effective time management and a world of benefits for your career and business. Avail of your free consultation with Remote Ravel today!
