How do you onboard and work with a Virtual Assistant?

Learn how you can successfully onboard your virtual assistant, and the best working practices to foster a productive working relationship.

One of the most common questions I get asked by new clients is “How does it work?” Both in relation to onboarding a virtual assistant, and the general working relationship with a virtual assistant.

There isn’t a manual on how to onboard your virtual assistant, or how you actually work with a virtual assistant day to day. But, there are some steps you can follow to ensure a smooth onboarding, all of which I’ve covered in this blog.

I’ve also included some useful software recommendations to make it a bit easier (you're welcome!)

So, you’ve signed the contract, agreed to your new virtual assistant’s terms and conditions, and it’s show-time. Where do we go from here? Let's get started...

It's important to be confident that you've given your new virtual assistant all the right tools they need to do a brilliant job, so they can save your business time. A good onboarding process is most definitely part of that.

The goal of working with your virtual assistant is to save you time, but also to work in a way that suits your work style.

So, if you loathe and detest Teams calls, you don’t have to do one. If you love Teams calls, get that link sent over! You’ll find that success comes from working in a way that suits you, and with a virtual assistant who can match that energy.

The aim is to build a mutually beneficial working relationship, but to get there, a small amount of time will need to be invested in ensuring all the rights tools are given to your virtual assistant for success.

1. Kick-Off Call

Once all the paperwork has been signed, a kick-off call can be helpful to get the ball rolling.

This call can cover your expectations, your virtual assistant’s expectations and anything in between, including the first task you’d like them to get started on.

In my experience, an initial kick-off call can never hurt. I work with two clients who have similar businesses, with the same type of work outsourced to myself, but they do this work completely differently to each other.

Having a kick-off call with these two clients was amazingly beneficial, because although I knew how to do the task in hand itself, different clients like it done differently, which the calls ironed out straight away.

2. Setting up Software Access

Depending on what your virtual assistant is going to be helping you with, there may be some software you need to grant them access to. It’s always best practice to ensure you share these with your virtual assistant in advance of the work commencement date, so everything is ready to go when that day comes.

If your virtual assistant is going to be helping with diary and email management, there are a few ways you can facilitate access for them:

1. Delegate Access - This means you can set up your virtual assistant with access to your email and diary, without the need of sharing a password. You can learn more about how to set up a "delegate" on Outlook here. You can also choose to share access only to certain email folders. Note however you need to have a business email address to do this, and you must be part of the same organisation as the person you're sharing with - so creating a business email address for your Virtual Assistant is required here.
   

2. Create a Shared Email Address - Another option is creating a shared email address, e.g., info@yourbusinessname, that the virtual assistant can be given access to. You can then set up an email rule for emails you receive to be automatically forwarded to this shared email address. This again means no password sharing is required.

3. Password Sharing - Or, you can choose to do it the good old fashioned way and share your email password for your virtual assistant to log in directly to your account. If you do decide to do this, there are secure ways to do so via password managers such as LastPass. Or, you can go the traditional route and send over the password via separate channels e.g., WhatsApp, and the username/email via email to ensure security.

No method is the right method – it’s whatever the client prefers.

3. Establish if there's any training you'd like to go through with your Virtual Assistant

Granted, this won’t be as in-depth as training a full-time employee, because that’s the beauty of a virtual assistant. However, we’re really good, but we aren’t mind readers, so some form of training is usually beneficial!

An example being, if you have a preferred method for your diary being managed, or your files being arranged, it’d be good to show your virtual assistant how you like this done. Or, if there’s a task that you know your virtual assistant hasn’t done before, but is more than happy to learn, a short walk through will be required. 

It’s also worth noting if you do work with other companies, they may have additional requirements for your virtual assistant to run through, which can slow the onboarding down if it’s not factored into your timeline.

For example, if you’re a consultant solicitor working with a platform firm, said platform firm may have some e-learning for your virtual assistant to complete, or some other requirements needed to be ticked off before they start. So always make sure to check in advance of your start date!

4. Agree preferred communication methods and how you plan to send tasks to your Virtual Assistant

This is a very important one. Usually this is covered in the booking form, but if it isn’t, or even if it is, it’s good to reiterate. This sets the tone of a good working relationship.

It’s essential for you to establish from day one:

• How you intend to send over work to your virtual assistant.

• How you’d like them to raise questions with you.

• How you’d like the work sent back.

Some clients are happy sending over the brief via email, others prefer to send over WhatsApp voice notes which include detailed instructions, and others prefer to jump on a quick call to brief me.

Or, if you don’t have time for a call, an up and coming method is the use of screen-recording. Providers like Loom are free, and allow you to record your screen whilst you also talk, so you’re able to dictate instructions for your virtual assistant, whilst also showing them exactly what you’re looking for on your screen.

I especially love the Loom method, because it means I can watch it as many times as I need, without having to ask the client for anything else – which saves everyone time!

5. Establish expectations and working methods with your Virtual Assistant

This is where it’s good to establish what you expect from your virtual assistant, and what the main projects you need a hand with are. You can’t go wrong when clear expectations are established.

Deadlines are important to discuss, as it’s a must to establish if the work you will be sending over has a quick turn around time needed, or if it isn’t urgent. It's also important to understand your Virtual Assistant's standard turnaround time, so you know this from the get-go.

I always recommend using some form of software to keep track of the tasks (and deadlines) you send to your virtual assistant, that you can both access. This is especially handy if you send a lot of tasks over.

Some options include:

• A shared spreadsheet - both you and your virtual assistant can access and edit this. Brownie points for colour coding tasks in order of priority, and colour coding when done! To learn more about how to set this up, see Microsoft's guide here.

• Trello – this is free, and you can track tasks that have been added, that are in progress, and that have been done. Both you and your virtual assistant can share a board, so you both know exactly where you’re at. Trello is also really user-friendly.
  

6. Encourage learning - and questions!

Just because your virtual assistant isn't a full-time member of staff, doesn't mean they don't want to learn and grow with you. I always love learning new things with my clients, because this allows the client to trust me with more tasks, so they can focus on growing their business even more.

So, last, but definitely not least, is to be encouraging of your virtual assistant asking questions.

You’re likely to get the best out of the relationship if your assistant feels comfortable with you, and is happy with asking for clarification, or for further information where required.

Especially with working remotely, being able to communicate is paramount, so we want to do everything possible to make communication an easy thing to do.

With one of my clients, we have a monthly call to go through any topics that have cropped up throughout the month that I’d like to learn more about, or had a question I’d like to go through. I keep track of the topics throughout the month in a shared document, so the client can see what I’m hoping to discuss in our end of month call. This gives them time to prepare, but also saves time in the long run.

I’m not going to the client regularly with questions, we have a set time aside – to protect both of our productivity levels, whilst also encouraging learning and development.

This way, your virtual assistant is always learning more about your business, and gradually learns more tasks specific to your business that they can help you with - so you're left with more time.

Again – this depends on what works best for the client, but it’s important to keep in mind nevertheless.

Conclusion

So, if your worries about onboarding a virtual assistant, and understanding of how it all actually works have been put to rest, and you’d like to get started, please feel free to reach out.

I offer free 30-minute consultation calls, so we can discuss how I can best support you.

I can be contacted via email at elliehogarty@elh-assistance.co.uk, or if you prefer, fill out my contact form here.