How Much Time Should I Spend Training a New Hire or VA?

Hey Girl!

Today we have a Quick Tip Tuesday question from Ellie Conklin. She asks, “How much time should I spend training a new hire or a Virtual Assistant?” This is such a great question and I dig into specific, tactical advice for Ellie! I think anyone who has a team, or wants a team needs to listen to this quick episode.

Find out what to do and what not to do when it comes to building a loyal, epic team that will support your mission and help you save time, energy, and more.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey friends! Welcome back to another Quick Tip Tuesday. Today I am answering a question from miss Ellie Conklin. Listen in!

(00:08):
Hi, Stef! This is Ellie from the Spanglish Mama podcast. I need help understanding how much time I need to be spending training my virtual assistant. I feel like there should be a cap as far as like how many months I spend giving them a task and then them running with it, especially if I can give you a specific, especially something like Pinterest or podcast pitching, or emailing.

(00:48):
I am a very busy mama and I need help building my business, I need help setting this things up and I just feel like a lot of handholding is very detrimental to me. So how can I troubleshoot this?

(01:06):
Hi Ellie! How are you? God, I just love Ellie. And when she says she is a busy mama, she is not plan. Ellie took P2P a couple sessions back and she had like given birth five seconds before our first training. So Ellie knows what is up when it comes to trying to build a online business while having all the children guys. Go, Ellie! You rock, girlfriend!

(01:33):
And I’m so excited to hear you say you have hired help. That’s amazing to outsource things inside of your business guys, to find resourcefulness and to be able to begin to hand things off. The problem and the trouble sometimes comes in finding the right person for the right stuff.

(01:53):
So the first thing Ellie that I want to bring up to you is that sometimes we’ll hire someone with the intention that they’re going to take on whatever it is that we hand them. And then what we come to find out is they actually have a different skillset than what we initially anticipated for them. So the fact that you said, I really do love my VA. It shows me that you care about this person, that she maybe is a good fit personality wise for you, but maybe what I’m hearing is that she’s not a great fit for the work that you’re having her do.

(02:21):
I would definitely say that in my own business, I typically train for a month max, but that person’s already beginning to take on tasks week one. I kind of have like a, I’m a throw it at you and see what you can run with kind of attitude. And then hopefully that person really begins to shine. I am not a micromanager. I do not like to hand hold and preferably I don’t even like to be in the weeds at all. I like to see this person take on a project, make it their own and bring it back to me with a bunch of solutions.

(02:54):
Stef, I optimized this, I redid this because your way wasn’t that great. I organized this. So like, I’m looking for those go getters, those people who are super effective, super efficient, super visionary, and want to be part of this team for the longterm. That’s what I’m looking for. And that’s what I’m praying for. So that being said, there have been people that I’ve truly loved that have come on the team, we’ve tried it out and we’ve decided that, Hey, maybe this isn’t just the best time for them because they have a lot of other things on their plate or maybe that’s not the best fit for them.

(03:24):
And we’ve moved them to different places within the organization. So the question that I have for you is, is there something that this person does do well and why don’t you just position them for that one thing. Let’s say it’s just community management, maybe they’re just great with talking to people and they’re not so great with the admin style tasks that you had mentioned. Maybe they’re only really shining when it comes to like creating graphics for the Pinterest posts or whatever, like find where they are doing well, position them there.

(03:53):
And then I would probably recommend hiring someone else for the other admin stuff that this person’s having trouble with. Because we have to look for where people shine, where they’re enjoying themselves and where we are seeing exceptional work.

(04:06):
Otherwise we’re going to continue to stay in the weeds of our business. We’re going to continue to be frustrated and maybe they’re going to continue to feel maybe inadequate in a way, or like they just can’t seem to get it, but it’s just not their skillset. It’s okay to bless it and release it. Okay. So that would be the first thing.

(04:22):
And then the second question that I really do want to address for you is how long should you be training someone? Well, I think the question becomes, how long do you want to be training someone and what type of business do you want to be running? And, you know, I have women who are in my mastermind community and who have equally as successful businesses as me who are very in the weeds of their training.

(04:43):
They have created workflows for people, they have created SOP and procedures for their new hires. And it’s like, you’re going to do this thing and then you’re going to report back to me every single day. And that’s fine if that’s the type of manager that you love being, and that your organization looks to you to be, then be that. And you’re going to train a lot longer and harder.

(05:03):
Which is fine. You’re probably going to have an optimized business a lot sooner. On the other side of the spectrum is me. And I’m a bit more like, Hey, I’m a need you to create a blog post for me. Here’s how you do it. One time I record it for them. Here’s a couple tips for you guys. I do record any tutorials so that I don’t ever have to do it again. It is recorded once it is handed to you and then I expect you to go do it.

(05:25):
I will go spot check their work two or three times, I really don’t have a lot of wiggle room. So if I see a mistake, once is okay, but that mistake will not be done again. And it’s not done again because those expectations are out there from the get-go. I am a super clear communicator as well.

(05:42):
Like, Hey, this one thing is off. Let’s not let that happen again. Other than that, I’m the funnest, most amazing hands-off, I think, you got to ask the team, but hands-off boss that there is because when people are doing great work, then I am super excited for them and I allow them to roll with it.

(05:59):
I also really empower my team to make changes and make things their own. As long as it’s optimizing what’s already there. So Hey, look for weak spots. Look for ways we can optimize. Look for automation solutions, look for us to shine as a whole.

(06:14):
And I think through that empowerment, we allow people to have some responsibility and have a bit of stake in the game when it comes to building this company with you. If you’re not seeing those vibes from the people that you hire after a couple of months, maybe it’s not the best fit.

(06:29):
And I think it’s okay to recognize and realize when it’s not the best fit. There’s never been hard feelings against me and someone who leaves the team. There’s never been hard feelings from someone else leading the team because God’s got it all under control. He has the perfect peoples positioned for you and positioned for me and positioned for everyone listening right now for your team to grow, for you to feel empowered for them to feel great and for it to be something that can grow and flourish over time.

(06:54):
I hope that this bless you Ellie, and keep shine, girlfriend! Let me know what ends up happening. Guys, do you want to be featured on a Quick Tip Tuesday episode? Just like this. Do you want me to answer your question in 10 minutes or less? Head to stefaniegass.com scroll all the way down and click the Ask Stef button.

(07:12):
You can ask me anything as it pertains to business, online marketing, being a mama and running a business, how to scale, you can ask me about where you’re stuck. I would love to hear a specific pain point that you’re experiencing or come share a win with us, mam. Like anything you got girl, I want to hear about it. And I want to chat with you right here, live on the show and be sure that if you’re a podcaster that you do mention the name of your podcast in the recording.

(07:40):
And last but not least, if you have not left a review for this podcast and you’re enjoying it, will you do me that one solid? It will take 30 seconds or less. I promise. All you’re going to do is head into the Apple Podcast App on your phone, go to The Stefanie Gass Show, scroll all the way down to the review section and click write a review.

(07:57):
It will bless me. It always does. It makes me smile. They make me laugh. They make me so excited to continue serving you guys. And it’s the only way that we spread awareness of the show on the podcasting platform is reviews. So if you would do that for me right now, I would be super, super grateful for you. I already am, but I’d be doubly grateful for you.

(08:16):
And I will see you on Thursday for another episode of the show. Bless you. Just sending you love, hoping that God will walk beside you today and with you today and empower you. And you would find so much amazing fruit, abundance, and favor inside of your obedience and saying yes to his calling over your life. See you back here real soon. Bye, friend!