What happens when you believe you have the perfect business process and your virtual assistant STILL gets it wrong?
Virtual assistant mistakes are so infuriating and can drive you demented.
I know because I have been there over and over again, not just with my own businesses but with clients of The Virtual Hub too. And even with business processes in place, VAs still slip up now and then.
When our virtual assistants make mistakes, our natural tendency is to blame the VA and then think ‘this is just not working for me’ or, worse still, say to yourself ‘I just knew a VA would not work for my business’.
This strong and destructive belief has tripped up many a client and seen them let the tools of scalable business success and real entrepreneurial freedom slowly slip through their fingers. Letting go of a VA because of a mistake may be a drastic measure, especially the situation can be a learning opportunity.
What If All These Virtual Assistant Mistakes Are Actually Super Gifts Showing You Where There Are Little Holes In Your Business Process, Or A Harder-To-Spot Problem Like Holes In The Understanding Of Iterations Of Your Process?
Let Me Use An Example To Explain What I Mean.
Right now at The Virtual Hub, we are currently handing over a lot of specific areas and processes to designated leaders in our team. The handover absolutely has to work and needs to happen preferably in the next 4 weeks. Business process management is a lot of work and consumes time but it is also a complete necessity.
Why?
Well, for one, we are growing very rapidly as a business so appointing leaders of the various departments is a natural evolution for us, but, I am also personally growing very rapidly… Literally!
I am 7 months pregnant so there is a hard deadline looming for me as the Founder and CEO of a fast-growing business to get stuff sorted quick smart.
In fact, that deadline could all of a sudden move itself forward too so it is a unique situation to be in. One that many female entrepreneurs out there will totally get (high five to all you leading ladies driving scalable businesses while embracing childbirth and motherhood too).
We have created business processes, videos, and steps – the lot – but still, we are seeing errors and things happen that are tripping the team up.
I could start to panic and get really frustrated at everyone but that is really not going to help me or the business at all. Especially when I have a great team, and the members are keen to support me as I journey into motherhood for the first time.
So What Exactly Is The Problem?
It’s absolutely not the team’s fault at all – when someone takes over a new area in someone else’s business, making mistakes is inevitable; after all, it’s through trial and error that we determine the best solutions to most problems.
We have had several flaws appear in testing out some internal processes but they are such huge gifts that I want to share with you all exactly why I believe this.
Mistakes and errors mean we get to a perfect process faster. We learn the most and the fastest by our mistakes so sometimes it is a blessing to have as many as possible happen early in the piece so you can refine and perfect quickly. It’s all part of it.
Welcome Mistakes.
Virtual assistant mistakes are key in identifying the holes in your business process, or at least in showing you how your team interprets the processes you’ve already laid out.
Once you and your team gain a full understanding of the mistakes and how they were made in the first place, treat the situation as a learning experience instead of playing ‘the blame game’.
You can even create a process around how to navigate through them and make it a part of your business process improvement exercises so that the same errors could be avoided in the future.
Ultimately, it is through learning from mistakes and gaining new knowledge from them that your business can improve, grow stronger, and become more resilient and successful.
Want to learn more about virtual assistants? Our Ultimate Guide to Virtual Assistants breaks down everything you need to know about virtual assistants like what they do and don’t do, who hires them, and where and how to hire one.