Chapter 1
Meeting: The Most Important Meeting Of Your Week
First, raise your right hand and repeat after me: I promise to make one-on-one meetings with my VA a priority.
Seriously – please make one-on-ones with your VA standing meetings, or block time every single week where you know you’re going to get facetime via Zoom, for example.
Because here’s the truth about these meetings: They aren’t just for you. They’re for your assistant. They need access to you and your time to help move things along. You are their leader. There is no auto-pilot button here.
So these meetings are critical to the success of a work-from-home engagement. As remote leaders, this is our time to ask questions, talk through priorities, get clarity where needed, and make sure that they’re moving the ball down the court – and that requires some recalibration.
Some things that were priorities last week may no longer be priorities for this week. And these conversations really help uncover that. You can also share feedback with one another during these calls because feedback often doesn’t translate well via email or a voicemail or text.
So having those conversations eyeball-to-eyeball is super productive, builds the relationship, and creates a real sense of honesty where you can share and receive feedback.
Make this time a priority for you and your VA and it will truly help your momentum, productivity and, ultimately, your shared success.
What This Looks Like In Application
Setting the week up is the single most important thing I do to have a successful week – so Melissa is my first meeting every week.
It looks a little something like this …
- We have our one-on-one Monday morning at 9 a.m. on Zoom.
- We meet for 45 minutes to an hour.
- We make sure she understands what her priorities are for the week.
- We confirm that she has what she needs to help me.
- I take the opportunity to talk about what’s coming up for me.
- I tell her some of the things with which I’ll need her help.
- I tell her things she might not already know.
- I answer any questions she has.
- I take the opportunity to ask how I can support her.
- What are the top 3-5 ‘Bigs’ she is working on this week?
- How can I help her this week?
- Any professional and/or personal development she is advancing in this week?
- Is there anything I should just know about her week, like doctor’s appointments or having kids home from school?
And then, at the end of the week, Melissa sends me a recap of what’s been accomplished. That way, I have a really good idea of all that’s been done, what still needs to be done, if there are any questions, and if there are any hurdles to wrap up the end of our week.
She also sends real-time updates as things are completed or scheduled throughout the week so I see action and movement – and can mentally let go of those tasks.