If you think about the time you hire a virtual assistant, the next moment, the VA can start working, and you can rest; honestly, you are dreaming. Undoubtedly, a VA can bring value to any business, but it needs proper training.
Ask why? Becasue your business working environment, niche, responsibility handling and your requirements are different. Only by giving proper training you can expect a quick start and this will save your time and ensure better quality work.
Now, how to train a VA? Simply start with scheduling training time, share your expectations, monitor and give feedback.
Below we will describe more briefly for your better understanding and share more tips on how to train a virtual assistant.
11 Ways to Train Your Virtual Assistant
How much time and effort you will need to train your virtual assistant will depend on you and your VA’s past experience. But once you are done, be sure the VA will do every task correctly, and you will be only focusing on growing your business.
However, training your VA does not mean a Google Meet or Zoom chat for hours explaining every task. You need proper steps to train your VA.
Here are 11 ways to train your virtual assistant, which will be going to bring you a properly trained VA at the end.
1. Define Your Expectations
Describing all the responsibilities in the job description is one of the best practices every business should do. Still, once you hire your VA you can make a checklist of your remote assistant roles and tasks you are expecting from him.
If you are hiring on a project basis, then create step-by-step guidelines. In this training process, your VA will be very clear about his responsibilities from the beginning. They will be prepared to do what is necessary for you.
Another thing you can do is create an instructional video about the tasks with a brief. A recorded training video of tasks is more helpful in understanding your emotions and seriousness about the responsibilities you are delegating to the VA.
2. Select the Right Tools and Platforms
It is important to select tools and platforms at the very beginning of training your VA. Using software will benefit you and your VA.
You can share your documents, assign and schedule tasks, and monitor the time and performance of the VA. Also, you can speed up the learning process and organize training materials. Also, choose platforms where you want to teach your assistant.
In the meantime, the virtual assistant will be familiar with the software you prefer. They can learn to organize their tasks and efficiently communicate with you.
There are several valuable tools and platforms, and here is a list of them so you do not miss the important tool you want to use.
- Project Management Tool ( Asana, Trello, Monday.com)
- Time Management Tools (Toggl, Harvest, Time Doctor)
- Communication Platforms (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom)
- Document Sharing and Collaboration Tools (Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive)
- Task Automation Software (Zapier, IFTTT)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Email Management Tools (Outlook, Gmail)
- Calendar Scheduling Software (Calendly, Google Calendar)
- Financial Management Tools (QuickBooks, FreshBooks)
- Virtual Assistant Training Platforms (Moodle, Teachable)
- Password Management Tools (LastPass, 1Password)
- Security Software (VPNs, antivirus programs)
- Social Media Management Tools (Hootsuite, Buffer)
- File Management Systems (FileZilla, Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDFs)
- SEO and Marketing Tools (SEMrush, Google Analytics)
3. Create a Training Schedule
A big mistake most business owners make is not giving enough and consistent time to train the VA. This shows you in front of the virtual assistant as unprofessional, which you definitely don’t want. Also, it will take more time than creating and following a training schedule.
You can either hold daily, if possible or weekly training time. Be punctual to maintain the training time and asses the timing of your VA too. This is also a part of training to be punctual on everything.
Check this example of a training plan on how you can schedule training weekly.
| Week 1: | Company Overview, Role Introduction, Basic Communication. |
| Week 2: | Tools and Software Training, Simple Task Execution. |
| Week 3: | Task Management, Prioritization Skills, Intermediate Problem-Solving. |
| Week 4: | Advanced Task Handling, Feedback Integration, and Performance Evaluation. |
You can prioritize the tasks based on their importance and complexity.
4. Onboarding the Virtual Assistant
Be careful not to miss the onboarding process for your virtual assistant. Make a prior list of what you will be doing when onboarding your new virtual team member.
Start with welcoming the VA. You can introduce the virtual assistant to other team members like a virtual office. Give a brief about your company, achievements, goals, work environment and so on.
Also, share company protocol and policies like confidentiality, data security or other compliance. Sign the contract and provide your companies rules precisely.
5. Task-Based Training
Apply the learn-by-doing-it theory to your virtual helper. Give him some basic tasks and a deadline to complete it. At the begining give small, simple common tasks where doing mistakes won’t be harmful for your business.
Before that you can provide some resources like free online courses to the VA. It can be an YouTube or online training video where there is brief description how to do the task you gave the VA. Like if you give email management responsibility, there are tons of free tutorials out there. Ask the VA to watch those training courses or you provide them.
Give him the responsibilities that the VA will be taking on in the future. By practicing, things will get easier.
6. Hands-On Practice and Feedback
Once the basic training is complete assign actual tasks to the virtual helper. But it should be under supervision. Gradually increase the complexity of the tasks.
With this, give regular feedback. Don’t be so rude or straightforward while giving feedback. Instead, more positive feedback, discuss the process, challenges, or mistakes.
Celebrate the achievements and encourage. If the VA do any mistakes, correct them and show ways how they can overcome those mistakes.
7. Monitoring Progress and Evaluating Performance
Another step in training a virtual assistant is monitoring their progress and performance. To monitor you can use software or simply a spreadsheet. Note down where the personal assistant is doing well and taking less time to complete specific tasks. Make their progress reports. Know that these are your virtual helper strength.
In the same process mark where they make frequent mistakes, and skill gap and is facing problem to complete a tasks. They may need support or more practising in correcting and improving these areas.
Next, share the file with the VA or directly speak. This show that you not only helping the VA improving their skills but also recognise their strong points.
9. Create a Feedback Loop
Constructive feedback loop means not only you will be giving reviews about the work of the VA, but also the VA will be sharing his thoughts and problems.
Arrange an open-ended session where ask the VA how he is adapting things and responsibilities. Does he need any additional training? How would they like to tackle responsibilities and what is their preference for using digital tools?
By sharing feedbacks, you can assess your virtual helper communications skill, which is essential for a good VA.
10. Foster a Collaborative Working Environment
The feedback loop will help you create a collaborative working environment. A good working environment means that you and your employees have the freedom to share how they want things to go. You can get fresh and innovative ideas to grow your business, and the employees will be more encouraged to think of better ideas for business growth.
This is the same for your VA. Instead of ordering him to work only according to you, ask for feedback. We already discussed how you can create a feedback loop. Based on that, you can discuss and reach a point where you make a mutual working process and work based on that.
11. Set Expectations for Long-Term Success
You are given enough time to train your virtual executive assistant, so you want to work on a long-term basis. This is obvious, and you should work on it.
You can share what the VA can achieve and about their professional development if they work with you for longer. Share your company’s vision and plan for success. If you can create a good bond with the VA, chances are high he will agree to work with you further.
Conclusion
Hiring a virtual assistant means you have precise time and struggle with responsibilities. Training a VA may seem like another time-consuming task, but forgetting that can be your long-term and safest investment.
So, if you do not want cost-hefty mistakes by your VA, start the training sessions by defining your expectations first. The best is to create a training schedule and follow it accordingly. First, give basic, simple tasks, then increase the complexity of the responsibility.
Following the step-by-step procedure on training a virtual assistant you will get a VA who works exactly what you want, and understand your needs precisely.
