Written by Pam Christie of Christie and Associates

How important is your Executive Assistant or Project Manager to the stability and growth of your business? Do they manage as much, if not more, than you do?

In many cases, they are the glue that holds it all together….as long as there is a trusting relationship in place! An essential part of the relationship building process is priorities – do you know what you should be spending time on? Do you discuss ideas, goals and top priorities with your right-hand person?

Why do I ask these questions? We are starting to see a pattern in the virtual support industry with entrepreneurs who are unhappy with their support person or team. Accountability, time management, and lack of skills seem to be the top three issues.

So how can we assist small business owners in finding the right fit for their ongoing support needs – by offering some steps to follow:

Step 1 – Be Focused – Being scattered and flying around from activity to activity is not conducive to results, instead it creates chaos for you and your support team. Anyone supporting you needs to be clear on your vision and goals!

Step 2 – Consistently Communicate – Schedule weekly calls, communicate often via email/ phone/Skype, bottom line: make time for your support team! The more you invest in the relationship, the more ROI you will receive!

Step 3 – Be Honest – If a support person is not working out then don’t “try” to make the relationship work – find other support. Working with a team allows you to draw from any number of support people without having to hire constantly.

Step 4 – Recognize Excellence – When you do have a support person or team that is doing an excellent job – acknowledge them! An important part of leadership is to recognize attitudes, skills and behavior.

Motivation is a direct result of recognition – do you ever just reach out to say thank you? Do you express appreciation “just because”? Do you offer incentive, whether monetary or in the form of a gift? Let’s face it feeling appreciated goes a very long way in wanting to do more of the same!!

Step 5 – Support is an Investment, Not a Cost – Invest: To spend or devote for future advantage or benefit. By investing in support, you have the advantage of more time available, experts in their field helping you, and abundant rewards (ie increased sales, more visibility).

Step 6 – Share your Future Vision – You know where you want your business to go – share those details, no matter how small with your support team! Do you have a revenue goal? Do you have a product sales goal? Bring your Project Manager into the Big Picture thinking! Talk strategy, look at goals and plan action items from them … By confiding in your support person or team, you are getting it out of your head and into the hands of those that can make it a reality!!

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Pam Christie owns Christie and Associates Canada.  They offer outsourced business management support to entrepreneurs seeking to grow their businesses and not having to manage all the day to day activity themselves. You can listen to an interview we did with Pam on the Biz Women Rock podcast here!  You can also visit her website here.