When you have a task that needs to be completed, who do you turn to? The odds are likely that you have team members or freelancers who complete tasks for you, but they’re not sitting in your home office. Working remotely has become standard practice over the years, and with the COVID-19 outbreak, we will likely continue to see a surge in remote work for years to come.

That’s why it’s crucial that you develop a plan for how you manage delegating tasks with virtual team members. Every business is different, so your preferences might vary, but in general, you’ll find the 7 tips listed below helpful as you delegate to remote workers in the future. 

Understand How You Operate

Before you can ask others to handle tasks in your business, you want to have an idea of how you operate. This includes knowing how projects are managed, what your expectations are, the tools and systems you use to get things done, what the result should be, etc. 

It helps to have standard operating procedures in place that outline how you manage the different parts of your business.

You can then share those SOPs with remote workers on your team, and this will help them to understand your expectations when completing tasks. 

Have a Communication Strategy

Another essential component of delegating tasks with a virtual team is having a communication strategy in place. 

As part of your strategy, you should have a plan in place for

• Project Management: Having a project management tool like Asana or Trello or even a simple document created in Google Sheets can help you ensure that all task information is shared. 
• Communication: You also want a standard way to communicate with your team members. This could include phone calls or apps like Slack, or Zoom. 

Having a combination of project management and communication tools in place should help to ensure that everyone is on the same page about the project. 

When determining how you will communicate about the task at hand, you want to think about the best way to share what needs to be done. 

Some information is best relayed initially through a phone call or Zoom conference while you might complete check-ins through email or Slack messages.  

Provide Clear Background Information

Clarity is vital when delegating tasks to virtual team members. You want to clearly explain your expectations and how the job relates to your business as a whole. 

For example, if you’re delegating researching potential podcasts to pitch, you want them to understand the type of interviews you’ll be conducting or the topics you want to discuss along with the audience the podcast should cater to. Share your goal for getting on the podcast and how you’ll be using the opportunity in your business. 

All of this background information helps your remote workers have a better understanding of the task they’re completing. 

Break The Task Down

The degree to which you break down your task will depend on the skillset of the person completing the project, along with how familiar they are with your expectations. 

In general, it’s a good rule of thumb to overly explain the various stages of a project that you expect to be completed. 

For example, instead of just sending an email requesting that a team member create a lead magnet for your business, you can break down the tasks into smaller sections.  

• • Develop a topic
  • Write the outline
  • Complete research
  • Do the rough draft
  • Get the content approved
  • Find a graphic designer
  • Have the graphic designer submit a rough draft
  • Ask for revisions
  • Submit the final draft to for approval

While you don’t want to micromanage every part of the project, having this clarity will generally lead to better results. 

You might find over time, that as team members become more comfortable with your expectations, or standard operating procedures are in place, you don’t have to break down the tasks as much. 

In general, it’s a good idea to share this information when delegating tasks to limit confusion and increase the odds of receiving the intended result on submission day. 

Set Deadlines

Deadlines provide a level of clarity and expectation that you need when delegating tasks remotely. If you say “get it done soon” or “as soon as possible”, those expectations are very vague and can lead to miscommunication on both ends, which can lead to a negative experience.

You can easily add deadlines to your project management tools so due dates are clear for every team member.

If it’s a large project, it might be a good idea to set an overall deadline and then mini checkpoints throughout to keep the project on track. 

Follow Up

Finally, you want to follow up. While micromanaging tasks shouldn’t be your goal, you do want to make sure projects are progressing according to your expectations. 

There’s nothing worse than assuming that all is well, getting to the project submission date, and realizing the process didn’t go smoothly.

If there’s communication throughout the project, it can help to make sure that everyone is on target and the intended goal is met. 

Delegating Tasks With a Virtual Team 

When you’re delegating tasks to virtual team members, it requires a balance of communication, organization, follows up, providing project clarity, and more. 

As a business owner, you might find it time-consuming or challenging to manage several members of your team while also wearing the CEO hat.

One of the responsibilities of an online business manager (OBM) is managing projects, contractors and employees so that you have one point of contact instead of many. 

I support many successful business owners by taking project delegation and team member management off of their plate so they can focus on handling the other significant components of their business. 

If you’re ready to remove this from your to-do list, let’s chat. 

You can schedule a free consultation on my calendar so we can discuss how my online business management services can help you with delegating tasks to your virtual team.