As virtual assistants, we have responsibilities.

1: We Manage Up

What is Managing up? When I'm managing up, I am reaching up to my client or somebody that I report to, to get what I need. It is also me pro-actively reporting up to my client what's going on, what I need, what's running late, what's on time, so then my client is never having to communicate down to me, wondering what the status of various projects are. Now “never" is a bit extreme. It's not like my client is really going to never have to initiate communication with me. But we consider the onus, or the burden, to be on us, the rock star VA, to be the primary communicator of what I need. I'm also communicating with my client to elicit what might be wanted and needed from them, or by them.

Sometimes Managing Up includes continuing to bring up something that your client is either ignoring or hoping will go away. We all have stuff we just don’t want to deal with. An excellent VA kindly keeps bringing this item up, and forwarding progress with it. We don’t stop until it’s complete - really complete - not just “kicking the can down the road” leaving you and the client having to address it again every month. (Oh ya, that project . . . ya, it’s still not done . . .)

2: We are Accountable and Own It

A high performing VA has the ability to be accountable for an entire result getting produced, not just a piece of it; not just the piece they know how to do, or feel is their part. A strong VA “Owns It” all the way through to completion. Strong VAs can oversee and tend to a result getting produced even if they're not directly involved with it. Sometimes they're like a football quarterback in the middle of the field, or like a coach on the sidelines that’s watching where all the players are. They can see all the players on the field and where they are; they can see what the next play is and support getting the ball moved down field. While a busy executive is busy running their business, their VA is looking to see what the next step is, who should take it, and what will get this project closer to being done.

Strong VAs ask questions of whomever they need to in service of forwarding a project getting complete. It is not the client's job (the busy executives) to give their VA every detail they need to do this project perfectly. We know the burden is on us to ferret out, or seek out, the information that is needed to move something forward. Strong VAs don't care whether they have never done anything like this before. They Own It until the matter is complete and they learn what they need to learn to get it complete.

• Ask yourself: What all do I need to know? How else can I move this forward? Who can help me? Where else could I look for answers? 

• Move things forward with discretion. It may be inappropriate to ask questions of certain people. When in doubt check with the client. 

• Don’t get stopped by not knowing what’s next. Keep asking, “What’s next here?” People will tell you. 

3: We Own the Communication Loop

Becoming an effective communicator doesn’t happen overnight. And certainly busy executives and business owners don’t always have the time to write things in an email the way they may like. You however, have the ability own the "communication loop" for your executive. What does this mean? Your client likely doesn’t have the time to track what is happening in an email conversation between a group of people. You can provide that and it is very valuable.

You can watch and track who has said what in regards to a business email thread. You can keep track of what is needed next, and from whom. Does your client need to say something now in the email conversation, or not quite yet (maybe not until Steve answers Jennifer’s question)? You can look for whom to follow up with to move things forward. Whether you are the instigator of the communication or not, you can own the entire communication loop. Does a key part of the communication need to come from your client? If so you can be their partner in making sure that happens.

Until everything is done and complete, and all parties involved know that everything is done and complete, it’s not done. You can be the concierge/ the quarterback/ the ambassador in the midst of a complex conversation or set of emails, making sure they are all moving forward professionally and gracefully and that is invaluable for many of our clients.

4: We Leverage Time (the client’s and our own)

A strong VA gleans from their client what they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. Your client can’t waste time chasing you down for information. A seasoned VA will find their client, and "manage up” (as we’ve talked about before) to get what they need. This is a real time-saver for your client. Taking five minutes from a busy executive or business owner, gives a strong VA what they need to move five projects forward, while their boss moves on to more important things. The less time you take from our client, the more time they get to spend on the areas of their business that need their expertise, their energy and their creativity the most. This is why they have hired you, for the opportunity for themselves, to be able to spend more time on the areas of their business that need what they uniquely have to offer.

Before coming to their client, and taking some of their precious time, a great VA asks themselves, “What can I do to figure this out on my own? Where else can I go for answers? Is there someone else I could ask?”

We also know that clients are not always going to give perfect instructions. This is not a problem for a strong VA. They’re not even bothered by it. Our clients are running from meeting to meeting, and maybe have just a minute to shoot their VA a quick text. A VA knows it’s their job to ask the questions to get what they need to do a great job, and do that as efficiently as possible.

High performing VAs maximize their time with their client. They are strategic about the use of that time.

5: We Bring You Certainty

A high performing VA brings certainty to their client in the midst of the swirl that it is to be a busy person juggling many priorities and a variety of deliverables. It is most likely your client would easily know what to do next with a particular project, if they knew what the latest status was. If they knew that they had heard back from two of the three people they needed to hear from, they would know the next step to take.

A great VA sorts through the chaos and emails to find the answer to “Where are we at now with that? Have those people gotten back to me yet?” Often executives and business owners don’t know where a project is at because it’s not moving forward. No one has anything to report, so they aren’t reporting, no one is saying anything. There may be radio silence for a while. A strong VA finds out the latest update and gives it to their client straight, even when that update is “There is no update”!

That brings a busy businessperson power, because "No update" is an update, and once again, that leaves your client now able to determine what the next steps are to take (or delegate). If an executive asks a high performing VA for an update and they don’t have one, that VA will say, “I don’t have an update for you and I will by X time.” They will not fudge or guess what the update is. They will not say something to make the situation sound better than it really is. They will bring something that is certain and factual to their client. They are masters of reporting “Just the Facts,” without a lot of editorial or commentary.

6: We Track It All (from wild ideas to latest concerns)

How do you keep in existence, and keep organized, all that you have to do and handle? Everyone has a different way of doing this. However, people with high performing VAs utilize their VA for support with this constant challenge. (So “tracking it all” a challenge for the client, for which you are the solution. Then “tracking it all” becomes a new challenge for you.)

With a high performing VA, an executive can regularly throw ideas, thoughts and concerns over the fence at them. Executives can get all kinds of things out of their headspace. You then keep them in existence, and keep them organized for your client. Some of those things, you will be able to take on yourself and get it off their plate. Some of those items, you are just tracking so that idea or project doesn’t get lost. A high performing VA, can keep track of all their clients' latest ideas and concerns in a place that the client can see them from anywhere when they would like (such as in Trello, Asana, Google Sheets, Todoist, Wunderlist, etc).

A powerful VA can bring the client’s latest 4AM-wild-idea back to them in their next one-on-one conversation with them. A great VA is a huge receptacle that can hold and organize many loose ends for a busy executive or business owner. What’s most valuable about that isn’t so much what the VA is doing with all this, but most valuable is that the busy executive has freed up their brain space to go to work on issues and opportunities that really need them.

7: We are in Full Communication with the Client

What does that mean, "full communication"? In addition to many common notions about speaking and listening, there are a few elements of communication that a strong VA brings to the party that are uncommon. An effective VA not only listens attentively, but also has the confidence to bring to the executive both what they want to say, and what they don’t want to say. They have the courage and professionalism to bring up sensitive questions thoughtfully. A strong VA knows when their opinion brings value to a situation, versus when it is simply a distraction.

Most rare is that a rockstar VA is able to say to their client what they will, and will not, be able to accomplish, while still being accountable for the result. A common assistant might say to their boss, “I can’t do that. I’m too busy!” as a victim of the situation or circumstance. Some people will just shine their client on and say yes to everything, then not deliver, and hope no one really notices. A strong VA is straight and accountable in their communication, particularly about what will and won’t get accomplished and what can be expected in what timeframe.

8: We are a Yes

We do not always know how to do what is asked of us. We may not even be the right person to do it, but we are a YES about it getting done. Maybe we will do it. Maybe we will coordinate someone else to do it. Maybe we will brainstorm with our client about possible next steps, and see how we ourselves can forward the action. Sometimes we may take the first few steps toward getting something accomplished, then the executive will take the next couple of steps and hand it back over to us to complete.

Want a reservation at a popular ski resort for tonight? Ok, Yes! We may not know how that’s going to work out. We don’t really care that we don’t know. We simply get into action and figure out how this could be possible. Not knowing how does not stop a powerful VA.