The Importance Of Having A VA Fit Into The Company's Culture
When considering a VA, it’s important for you to think about how the VA is going to fit into your company’s culture. If you’re a solopreneur, you’ve probably never thought about your company’s culture; whatever culture there is is derived based on your personality and values. If your company is small, but larger than a one-person show, the culture is still probably based on your values.
Anyone you bring into your business needs to be a match to that culture, including any VA you work with. As much as skills matter, consider that this kid of fit matters every bit as much, and maybe more. This is, after all, the person who is going to be your right hand. Who more needs to be on the same page, sharing similar or congruent values and drivers than she? No one, that’s who.
By way of an example, here at AssistU, one of the core cultural values revolves around grace. It’s incredibly important that every person who has a role that touches customers be infinitely gracious. Graciousness cannot be feigned. When it is, it’s immediately felt, and felt as seductive and manipulative. So our need is to find people who aren’t simply skilled at acting gracious, but who are, in fact, gracious.
If graciousness was key to your culture, you’d need to find a VA to partner with who had that trait. Skip over it, maybe for someone who seems to have other skills you need, and you’ll end up miserable.
It’s not about finding someone with great skills and trying to then get her to morph into someone who fits in, but about finding someone who fits in, and who can also get everything you need handled. A great VA has the ready resources to get anything you need handled, so focus on fit to find the virtual administrative partner meant for you!