One of the biggest challenges we have had in building and managing a Virtual Team is understanding the different personalities.
Let me ask you these questions (depending on which country you are from):
- In baseball, how many star pitchers is there that are also star hitters?
- In soccer, how many goal keepers can run the ball through the opposition and score a sensational goal?
- In the Decathlon, how many sportsmen are exceptionally good at ALL of the events?
The short answer is NOT MANY. There are all-rounders, but they are few and far between.
Along this same line of thinking – I have seen virtual business owner’s time and again say “My Virtual Assistant is just not doing a good job; I need someone to handle……”
In a lot of cases we found that the Virtual Assistant or Virtual Employee was doing a great job in specific areas (which they were originally hired) but struggling with other skill-sets that were added later.
So many people will get rid of one Virtual Assistant however this might not be the right move. You will most certainly hire virtual employees with exceptional skills in some areas but will have other weaknesses.
So before you do personality tests, hire a consultant or sack your Virtual Assistant/Employee here are some questions:
- What are the jobs they perform well?
- Do I still have a need for those jobs to be performed?
- Are the weaknesses just a training issue that could be resolved with some time and attention?
- Would it be easier to hire someone to do the new tasks leaving my current Virtual Assistant to do what he/she does best?
Here is a point that will save you a lot of money.
Build on someone’s strengths and understand their weaknesses
Don’t waste time training your goalkeeper to shoot goals. You want them to be the best goalkeeper they can be.
A decathlete will want to improve his weak events BUT not at the expense of his strong events.
The advantage of building a Virtual Team is that you can hire someone for their expertise. You can have a team of individuals with exceptional specific skills. What’s more with a Virtual Business you have the whole global virtual talent pool to tap into!
It’s WIN WIN for all parties. It will boost individual virtual team member confidence and boost the virtual team morale.
If you liked this or have a specific question relating to this please get some dialogues going by commenting below.
Still want to know more about how personality impacts the working style of individual virtual team members?