Many business owners begin their businesses on their own and take on many roles.  But, it can become too difficult to work on multiple projects at once for entrepreneurs, so delegation becomes reality.

We don't want to micromanage when working with our virtual assistants, or with a team. Micromanagement can limit your team's capabilities and demotivate them as well.

A type of leadership that allows group members to make decisions, is called delegation leadership. When you find the right team, the right virtual assistant, you will find people who can make decisions and take action according to what's best for your business.

How to choose the virtual assistant for you.

You must be clear about what you need in order to delegate tasks effectively. You will be able to determine the type of virtual assistant that is best for you by knowing what needs to get done, what you don’t want to do, and what you prefer to assign.

These are the most popular virtual assistant categories:

• Administrative Virtual Assistants manage office administration, scheduling and task delegation, email management, travel arrangements, business logistics, and other business operations.

• Marketing Virtual Assistants manage and handle content, content calendars, sales funnels and marketing platforms.

• Social media virtual assistants have experience in marketing on one or more social platforms and will be able to manage posts, engage, and reach out to your target market.

• Writer Virtual Assistances are an integral part of many businesses. They involve compelling copy and a lot of research which could take a lot out of your time.

• eCommerce Virtual Assistants have experience in managing and maintaining eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Amazon.

• Technical Virtual Assistants excel in issues such as data management, data entry, and many more. This could open up a new side to your business. It's better to delegate these tasks to a Technical Assistant than to spend time researching the details of data entry.

Getting Started: Onboarding

It is a good idea to create an "onboarding" document with all the information needed for your virtual assistant. This will help them to transition smoothly through their tasks, and it also helps you stay organized.

An Onboarding document helps to facilitate task turnover when necessary. These are some things you should include in your onboarding documentation

• A list of accounts they will need.
• Instructions for repeatable tasks
• This list contains contact information that is necessary to complete their tasks.
• Expectations.

Suggestions

Don't be afraid to ask for help if you are still not sure how to start a project with your virtual assistant. Although it can seem frustrating initially, especially if you have been doing the majority of the work yourself, you will need to trust your virtual assistant in being able to complete some tasks efficiently. This is a great way to improve your leadership skills.

Feedbacks

You and your virtual assistant can have a trial period to give you both plenty of time for feedback. Your virtual assistant can give you feedback that will help you to improve the details of your system. Your business' growth depends on listening to your virtual assistant.

Your VAs should also be given feedback to let them know how they are doing. You give them the opportunity to improve and it also gives you an idea of how to adapt to them if they ever decide to stop working with you.

Your Virtual Assistant can help you build a business relationship

Here are some ways you can establish a productive and healthy business relationship with your virtual assistant.

Set Clear Expectations

It is a good idea to communicate your expectations to your virtual assistant. You should ask them what they expect from their tasks. Include details about the likely changes and how they will be addressed.

Make a routine

A steady income source and some predictability at work are both things that everyone appreciates. Your virtual assistant will be more efficient in managing tasks when they can plan ahead.

To free up your time, keep delegating

Once you feel more comfortable working with your virtual assistant, you can start to look at other tasks that you can delegate in order to free up your time. This is an excellent opportunity to learn delegation leadership. Once your VA is reliable and efficient, it's time to move on to other projects or tasks that really require your attention.

Set up a system that allows you and your assistant to send long-term feedback. This allows you to make adjustments over a longer period of time.

If you already have a system planned out but are having a hard time finding the right virtual assistant, or if you're still trying to figure out the steps as a budding entrepreneur, Reliable Staff Solution is an on-demand staffing company that provides virtual assistant services, and we love to talk you through anything you need to know about hiring a virtual assistant that would be a good fit for you. Click here for your free 30-minute consultation.