There are some sure-fire ways of giving the relationship with your remote workers the best possible chance of blossoming.
You need to keep your virtual assistants happy and satisfied with their work, as the happier your employees are, the better quality will be the work which they produce. It is a two way street. Well trained workers will enjoy the work, produce good results and will keep you, the employer, pleased with the outcome.
Feedback should be given early and often. Quality checking should be very extensive. Your virtual assistant will appreciate this, as he is often at home alone working away on the tasks you have given him. Any contact with you about how he is going will be warmly appreciated.
Start off by giving your remote worker a small and relatively simple task at first. He will have a greater chance of success and his confidence will grow as he receives positive feedback from you. Once he is able to deal successfully with a small and simple task, you can scale up the degree of complexity.
Because he is not in your office, you will need to think about the ways that you can communicate with him. A Skype chat may need to be planned or a short video made to explain what it is that you want him to do. Screen flow or screen captures are other effective ways to show him exactly what needs to be done.
If Skype or GChat are not options, an audio message is great to explain what your virtual assistant needs improving. As an added insurance, it is a good idea to present the material in two ways. Make a short video to explain the process and also write it out. Some people are more visual and others understand the written word better. There may be something that does not quite match between these two methods, and your employee can then ask questions to get to exactly what you require.
Equip your virtual assistants with online tools for improved communication.
The first step in explaining a task to your remote workers is to show him what needs to be done. He then attempts to complete the task, with you giving him constant feedback. When he is able to do the task with you, the next stage is to ask him to do it by himself. You may be asking him to write an Ezine article. This step needs to be done flawlessly, and is repeated until he is able to do it to your satisfaction.. Once he is able to write an article, say, which does not require any changes, he is then ready to teach this to someone else. That is the final stage. Someone who is able to teach someone else how to do something perfectly has achieved a high level of achievement himself.
Encouraging your virtual staff to teach one another is a great way to spread the skills and knowledge around the team and will encourage team spirit which is very important in a remote staff.
Learn to manage your remote workers effectively and your business will reap the benefits.
I just covered some basic tips on how to manage your team of remote workers effectively. If you want to know more tips on how we do it with our Melbourne Video Production staff you can take a look at our outsourcing training DVDs today.
