How to improve leadership skills by partnering with a VA

The first thing you might think of when working with a VA is getting more time – but that’s not the only benefit. Partnering with a trusted virtual assistant also stretches and enhances your leadership abilities, as you have someone there to help maximise your productivity and make better decisions.

Being a great leader will make or break your business’ success. It’s what sets you apart from your competitors and allows you to reach your potential. By improving your leadership abilities, you will run a more profitable (and enjoyable) business. 

5 ways working with a VA improves your leadership skills 

Let’s go into the specific ways working with a VA pushes your leadership skills to new heights. 

1.    Learn how to delegate effectively

If you keep doing every task yourself and not letting go of control, you’re holding your business back. It’s far too easy to become the CEO of everything and get overwhelmed. Learning how to delegate effectively means you can offload low-level tasks that draw your attention away from strategic thinking. 

Delegating makes you a better, more focused leader. Putting your trust in others fosters a great working relationship, gives you more mental headspace, and builds authority within your team. 

Now sure how? The best advice is to simply start… once you delegate tasks to a VA, you’ll soon realise how much relief you’ll get from having someone to share the load. 

Take us as an example. When Virtually Priceless was in its infancy, our founder Holly found it difficult to pass tasks to others, wanting to do everything herself. To get over this block that was holding her back fast and allow her to grow the business, Holly hired another VA. 

This fabulous VA gradually encouraged Holly to hand over time-consuming tasks around operations and team support, meaning she could focus on growing the client base and recruiting more incredible VAs. Now, we’re a thriving team that couldn’t have grown without this initial delegation. 

2.    Increase your productivity as a leader 

The whole point of hiring a VA is to get more of those important, business-critical tasks done… You may feel a sense of relief and a flurry of excitement at the shorter to-do list or clearer diary, but without proper management, you could spend hours wasted with no real aim. 

Reducing your admin tasks should reduce your time, right? Even though in theory that should be the case, as a leader it’s easy to fill your schedule with non-productive work. Parkinson’s Law states that the work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. So if you suddenly have more time in your diary by working with a VA, if you’re not careful, tasks you do could take twice as long. 

A great way to combat this is to not only pass on tasks to your VA but also work with them to get the support you need to stay on track. This could look different for each leader, as you might need support managing projects, ensuring deadlines are met, or researching a new business venture. 

No matter the high-level task you choose to focus on, you should work with your VA to remind you of what needs to be done and avoid procrastination. Your VA can help to diarise time for deep work and hold you accountable by regularly checking what your priorities are, including what you need to achieve and by when. This will massively improve your productivity as a leader. 

3.    Manage your time better 

If you are someone who struggles to manage their time well, or you want to maximise efficiency in this area, getting support is crucial. To improve your leadership skills, you need to know how much you can take on without letting things slip – and learn how to say no to unimportant tasks. 

A great VA will take control of managing your day-to-day schedule and all the associated back and forth with stakeholders. They will also ensure you are realistic about how long commitments take, building in buffer time, making sensible allowances for travel, and planning routine tasks. 

Your VA can also act as a gatekeeper, protecting your time from unnecessary meetings and handling communications on your behalf when you need uninterrupted time to focus on deep work. Imagine if everything from prepping for meetings, rehearsing for presentations, and catching up with team members was planned for you… just think how much more headspace you would have to grow the business. 

4.    Get more time to build relationships 

Don’t forget, less time spent on admin means you’ll have time to attend industry events, meet more clients, and brainstorm with your team (all seamlessly coordinated by your VA, of course). All of this builds your relationships and brand awareness – a key factor in growing your business and generating more revenue! 

We’ve worked with so many clients who rarely had the chance to step out of their business before working with us, and now regularly attend conferences, courses, and networking events. We love that they’re now able to say yes to so many more opportunities they previously felt unable to accept due to the time constraints of their business.

5.    Reduce stress and improve work/life balance

Not only does working with a VA bring all the benefits we’ve already mentioned, but it dramatically reduces stress levels and enables you to have more balance between work and home.

Running a business is a huge responsibility and sometimes the role of leader can feel lonely, even if you have a great team. It’s also downright difficult and often brings challenge after challenge that you have to deal with.

For many of our clients, and our founder Holly, this is often one of the biggest wins at having help in business – having someone by your side who can act as a trusted confidante and who is always looking out for you. This type of support feels hugely reassuring and means you can let off steam, bounce ideas around, and share the odd joke around the absurdity of it all.

Start being a better leader by partnering with a VA 

So if you’re considering working with a VA, you should now understand how our support is not just time-saving – yes, we do that too – but it improves your overall business. 

To recap, partnering with a VA helps you to: 

• Delegate more effectively
• Increase your productivity
• Manage your time better 
• Build your relationships 
• Improve work/life balance 
• Reduce stress

As a team of highly skilled and proficient VAs, we can help you become a better leader and transform your own business success. If you want to learn more about how we can support you, please get in touch.