The Rough Guide To Team Building In Your Virtual Assistant Business

Have you ever considered ?team building? in your virtual assistant business, but have been concerned about the how, what, where, and even legal implications of whether you can do it or not? Well you?re not the only one, and I hope this post will help guide you into a direction which is going to allow you the freedom in your business to freely hire and provide some of the guidelines you need in order to make the whole team building process a success.

So, here?s a guide on how you can create your very own A-TEAM.

Number 1: Check The Legals

First off, depending on where your business is registered you may have certain legal restrictions to team building, the whole employee/contractor thing is different from country to country, I have lived in 7 countries, and one size does not fit all. If you?re really serious about team building and hiring sub-contractors and you find that your company is registered in a jurisdiction that has grey areas or restrictions when it comes to hiring, the responsible thing to do is explore other options. For example, in some situations you could set up your company in an offshore jurisdiction where the rules are different and ?The Company? is freely and legally able to hire independent contractors regardless of where you live personally. Seek advice from a qualified international business accountant.

Number 2: The Intranet

The intranet is probably the most important instrument in training and team development. Without it, the team building process can become an expensive nightmare. With it, it can become smooth sailing. An intranet is where you store instructions on everything you do in your business and for clients. You have to now start recording everything you do rather than just doing it.

So for every task or to-do in your business or for your clients? business, start writing out instructions, or recording screencast videos, and begin building up a database. Then when you start building up a team, you can start sending them to the instructions you have pre-prepared in your intranet. It?s also a good idea to write down approximately how long each task/instruction takes so you can plan and schedule.

Number 3: Qualities To Look For

Team members are independent contractors, they are responsible for their work, but ultimately you are responsible for the final result and the delivery to the client, so in order to make your role easier you need to find team members with the following qualities:

1. They need to easily follow instructions on their own with minimal guidance.
2. They need to be reliable and able to work to deadlines.
3. They need to be pro-active, on the ball and not afraid to come and tell you if they spotted you?ve made a mistake or think something should be done differently.
4. They need to be able to double check their work and have it back right, first time.

Number 4: Where To Find Team Members

The best place to find team members is through recommendations online or relationships offline. A majority of my team come from sources offline, and I am very supportive of my team choosing eachother, and choosing the people they want to work with. I have (3) team managers in my business, and I will always ask them first if they know anyone suitable offline when we need support online, folk in offline jobs or those that have needed to quit an offline job because of raising a family for example, looking for more freedom and flexibility or the ability to earn while being obligated at home. We?ll then take the time to train these individuals on how to operate in an online environment, to take their offline skills online, and it works well.

Various other ways you can hire are from places like oDesk and Virtual Staff Finder, or invest in your own virtual HR manager and choose a professional company like Live-Hire to find a perfect match. I?ve used Live-Hire in the past and been really impressed with the service.

Number 5: Finding Your Wingman

When your team is getting too much to handle and micro-managing is taking up most of your day, then you need to pick your wingman to support you with the team, like a second in command sort of thing.

Your wingman is going to likely be someone who is already on your team, and shown the most commitment, promise, loyalty, enthusiasm and overall general support for what you?re trying to achieve. They will understand most of the things you do in the business and how to do them. The wingman will have to then be responsible for handing down and training new team members and also quality control.

The wingman will ideally have worked with you for a period of time already, for some the wingman will be obvious, their ethics, their attitude all fit in with your vision and how you like to run things, then you can decide if they potentially could be your longer term wingman. This is your business and your livelihood, never compromise on your wingman, trust and respect is essential in this relationship, as it should be with any of your team.

Once your potential wingman has worked with you for a while, you can start handing over to them more and more, and allowing them to be the direct point of contact for team members or clients and also give them authority to take low risk decisions on your behalf.

Number 6: Business and Team Development

Now you have a team and a wingman, then you need to work out growth and structure in your business. I split my services and team into (3) groups:

1. Administration and Social Media.
2. Creative Design and Technical Development.
3. Content Management & SEO.

Each department has a team manager, so I now have (3) wingmen in my business, and they oversee all general operations to ensure that things are running smoothly, leaving me free to concentrate on working on my business, instead of in it.

This scratches the surface on team building the way I like to do it, and what works for me. Depending on how your business operates you may want to consider alternative methods, but whatever you do, if you?re hiring independent contractors the key to success is finding the right people with the right work ethics.

If you have any questions or comments, I?d love to hear from you in the box below!

Source: http://www.virtualassistant-live.com/the-rough-guide-to-team-building-in-your-virtual-assistant-business/

oscar nominees oscar nominations 2012 kombucha tea separation of church and state dale earnhardt oscar predictions oscars