The art of delegation. Which tasks should I give my VA?

Hi everyone! 

In this month's blog post we talk about The art of delegation. 

You may be wondering which tasks you should assign your VA. Hopefully, by the end of this blog post you will have a clearer picture of how and what you should delegate to a VA.

One of the most important management skills is delegation, which hands over responsibility of a task, or a decision to another person. In this case a virtual assistant. Each project is unique and every virtual assistant has their own set of skills, strengths and weaknesses, support network and expertise. 

It is vital to know how and when to outsource a task. You'll need to decide when a task is worth delegating and the virtual assistant will need to be instructed or trained on how to complete the task. 

You'll need to identify the non value, repetitive tasks which should be outsourced to a virtual assistant so you can make the businesses core objectives (usually sales) your primary focus.

Here's a delegation checklist to ensure your virtual assistant can provide their excellent services correctly and productively via the delegation process:

1. Plan ahead. Create a task schedule and have it ready for your VA. If you do not have a scheduling process in place, talk to your VA. They may already have one. 

2. Make your VA feel welcome and treat them as you would treat your regular staff. Give them information about your business, practices and culture and introduce them to other team members. 

3. Create a plan for sharing documents with your VA by setting up a Google Drive (recommended by The VA Cubicle) or Dropbox folder. Here you will send your VA instructions and documents on how to complete the task. 

4. Prepare tutorials so your VA can access these quickly as they complete your workload. We recommend video tutorials as these attract more attention and there is evidence that a user retains more information visually. 

5. Evaluate your VA's progress regularly in the early stages to ensure they are effective and are making the right progress during your project. Aim to have your VA check in with you regularly with updated progress. 

What to delegate? 

1. Record tasks you perform regularly over a time period of either a week or month. This could be sending emails, updating CRM's, social media marketing, updating business websites, the list goes on. You might be surprised how long these non value, time consuming tasks take.

2. Highlight the tasks that can only be performed by you, anything else on the list can be delegated, which will save valuable time in your business day. 

3. If you assign technical tasks to your VA or introduce them to new programs or systems, you may need to provide training. This can be delivered via audio book, online video, in written text or by talking to your VA via Skype or phone. 

Delegation has other benefits including, trust building, team building and morale and improving workplace efficiency and productivity. It saves time, motivates staff, grooms a successor and develops your workforce. 

Start your delegation journey today to free up some of your valuable time and so you can focus on other areas of your business or life. The delegation process isn't as hard as it sounds and you will see the benefits in no time. 

If you have any questions about our delegation process or task scheduling, feel free to message The VA Cubicle and we'll answer those questions for you. 

Have a lovely day and thanks for reading! See you next month. 

The VA Cubicle