In this episode of Untangled Vines, Barbara Turley, founder of The Virtual Hub, shares her journey of building a successful virtual assistant company while maintaining a work-life balance. She discusses the importance of creating a digital-first company, the challenges of remote work, and the need for visibility and transparency in remote teams. Barbara emphasizes the significance of OKRs in managing remote work effectively and highlights the role of company culture in employee engagement and retention. She also touches on the impact of remote work on parenting and the necessity of fostering human connections in a digital world.
Key Points in the Conversation with Zach Wright of the Untangled Vines Podcast:
- Introduction to Barbara Turley and The Virtual Hub
- Navigating the Future of Work
- Building a Digital-First Company
- The Importance of Visibility and Transparency in Remote Work Environments
- Micromanagement vs. Active Management
- The Role of OKRs in Remote Work
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Hiring
- Creating a Strong Remote Culture
- The Future of Work and Human Connection
- Employee Engagement and Retention Strategies
- The Impact of Remote Work on Parenting
Key Takeaways:
“Culture is really, it's a set of beliefs and behaviors around the mission. And like, you have to attract people that are actually bought into your mission. You have to be intentional about it. And what that means is you must put resourcing behind it. You must put energy and financial behind it. We've built an entire employee engagement and experience team. Within our teams, we have talks and conversations. So we have an entire initiative around our conversation rhythms and what we're talking to people about”
"If you want to build something that is scalable, you need that strong foundation. And if you want to build something that is saleable. Because at the end, of course, we all want to build an asset. The asset value of this thing that you have is way higher, the better you build the foundation, the better the culture is, the more magnetic it is as a mission. Of course, look at Atlassian, look at all these amazing companies that have built this. This is what they did"