6 Levels of Delegation

We adapted a concept from one of our favorite thought leaders and business strategists to help you and your PVA Partner grow in empowerment.

Is your new hire still asking you a lot of questions to get their job done? This is totally normal in a new partnership.

It takes time for any new position to own their role and grow in empowerment (this is one of the 4 Es – Encourage, Equip, Empower, Engage).

Empowerment is what enables an executive assistant to “just take care of [insert outcome here] for you” without a lot of input.

(Remember – you should be outsourcing OUTCOMES not tasks.)

We adapted a concept from one of our favorite thought leaders and business strategists, Dan Sullivan, called the 6 Levels of Delegation to help you understand how an executive assistant grows in empowerment.

Level 1 – Do As I Say

This level requires the most input from you. You do a lot of the work, but your executive assistant pushes the outcome across the finish line. For example, if you want your executive assistant to buy you a dog bed, you’d send them a link to the dog bed you want on Amazon with specific instructions about which credit card to use and when it should arrive.

Level 2 – Look Into This

In this level, your executive assistant gathers information for you to make a final decision. Say you hear about a new CRM system but don’t know if it’s worth adopting for your company. Ask your executive assistant to do the research and present the information. Then, you make the final call.

Level 3 – Give Me Your Advice, I’ll Decide

Here your executive assistant moves into a more empowered role.

You relinquish more control at this level by asking your executive assistant to find the best CRM systems, do the in-depth research and present the best three options for you to pick from.

Level 4 – Explore, Decide, and Check With Me

Basically, look into the best options, choose the winner, but check with me before you put money to that choice.

Level 5 – Explore and Decide, Within These Limits

This is a highly empowered level for your executive assistant that we hope your executive assistant will operate from most of the time.

At this level, you simply need to give your executive assistant the frame — “buy me a dog bed, but don’t spend more than $100.” “Write my podcast script, as long as you touch on these talking points.”

Level 6 – Take Care of It For Me

This is true delegation based on a history of trust and empowerment to get the job done, no questions asked. At this point, your executive assistant knows your standard of success and your expectations. They feel equipped, empowered and encouraged in their role to act and decide on your behalf.

This is the gold standard we hope you and your executive assistant can achieve together.

Here is a PDF worksheet of the 6 Levels of Delegation.

Some leaders use this sheet for every outcome they assign to their executive assistant so they can specify, “this is Level 2. I’ve attached additional resources and my criteria for success with a due date.”

How can we help you make these 6 Levels of Delegation happen with your executive assistant?

Send us a reply for help!

P.S. Try using the 6 Levels of Delegation to help your executive assistant grow in empowerment.

It’s time for a 1:1 with Trivinia

It’s time to schedule your one-on-one call to chat about your experience with Priority VA.

We’re about a month into working alongside your assistant and it’s time to schedule your one-on-one call to chat with Trivinia about your experience with Priority VA.

Please schedule a time here in the next couple of weeks and you will talk about why you chose Priority VA, how things are going, what you’re looking forward to in the future.

As part of our Don’t Do It Alone Guarantee, we’ll use this time to unpack what your greatest needs were when you partnered with us and how we can continue to serve you well.

Trivinia is looking forward to connecting soon, so be sure to go here to schedule your call!

This call is an important part of our commitment to serve, so don’t delay in scheduling. Find a time that works best for you, here.

Any questions or concerns that have come up that. we can help you with?
You can email us anytime!

The Honeymoon is Over

You are officially six weeks out from our Celebration Kick-Off call. At this point, the honeymoon is (most likely) over.

Do you remember us telling you about the Relationship Arc of Building a Team?

There are 5 stages:

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning/Mourning

You are officially six weeks out from our Celebration Kick-Off call. At this point, the honeymoon is (most likely) over.

By now, it is normal for you to have experienced “storming” in your new relationship.

In storming, it is normal to notice conflict in personalities, frustration with differences, challenges to your authority, management style or the team’s mission.

You may also notice your EA’s true character or their preferred way to work, which could clash with yours or others.

If you haven’t experienced any of this yet, that’s great.

We want to remind you that storming is “when” not “if” so you are prepared to navigate the conflict, friction or miscommunication when it arises.

Unfortunately, some teams NEVER make it past storming.

This is a FRUSTRATING stage for leaders, who may regret hiring an EA in the first place.

Here are tips to navigate through storming as a leader:

• Prioritize development over discipline. All relationships — even the one with your dog — takes work. Stay the course and know this is normal.
• Be open to the fact that people see things differently, learn differently and approach tasks differently than you. That’s OK. Practice communication to align your perspectives or vision, even if you have different approaches.
• If what you saw in the interview is a good human and every indicator is that they are passionate about what they do, have a purpose in being there and are proficient — be patient with yourself AND your new EA until you move into Norming.

Remember, your Kolbe A to A™, A to C™ and Kolbe Coaching™ Report (which you received on the Kick-Off call) are great resources to work through tension in your conative approaches.

If you and your EA are struggling at any point, we want to help.

I will be reaching out soon to schedule a Calibration Call, with you where we can discuss any potential storming that may be occurring. We will walk through ideas to help guide you into norming and performing.

Remember, if you have any questions or concerns, you can email us anytime!

Just 2 questions

I have a really important 2 question survey I’d like you to take that will help us serve you better as we continue to grow at Priority VA.

Will you please take this super fast 2 question survey for me? Click below to get started!

Thank you so much for responding!

P.S. Really, I won’t lead you down a rabbit hole. It’ll be quick. Go here!

Blame vs. accountability

If you hold each other accountable, you can hopefully avoid blame and the ‘road of ruin’ altogether.

During a Kolbe Certification™ Training our team attended, someone in the training said:

“If you hold my hand down the road of ruin, you are just as much to blame as I am.”

As a leader, you are likely a quickstart. Quickstarts can sometimes struggle to follow through on projects or tasks.

If your assistant has a high follow through, they have an ability to get things to the finish line.

Here’s where the comment comes into play.

If you’re struggling to meet a deadline…

And your executive assistant (who has high follow through) DOESN’T hold you accountable…

THEY are just as responsible as you are for dropping the ball.

Likewise…

If your executive assistant is really struggling to come up with ideas for a blog post, and YOU don’t help (when you have ideas for days as a visionary) and instead let them struggle…

YOU are just as much to blame as they are for not getting the work done.

So, what do you do with this information?

We don’t want you to fixate on assigning blame or fearing the road of ruin.

Instead, acknowledge that both you and your assistant can and should hold each other ACCOUNTABLE.

In a healthy partnership with your executive assistant, they should feel empowered to say to you:

“Hey, you NEED you to record these videos so we can send them to this client by Friday. Stop moving the record time on your calendar.”

You should also encourage your assistant to raise their hand if they are stuck or having an issue so YOU can remove the roadblock.

If you hold each other accountable, you can hopefully avoid blame and the “road of ruin” altogether.

What do you think about this idea?

Let us know.

It’s time for our calibration call

In the next week or so, lets get our next call scheduled to connect.

It’s that time!

By now, you’re about 12 weeks into your new relationship. I want to know how things are going. Our strategy call, we worked together to lock in the vision for this role and the roadmap for success. I want to know if you feel there is more breathing room in your schedule and if you are seeing true “wins.”

Could you find some space on my calendar for us to sync up?

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything we can help you with. We’re here for you however you need.

Your role as a Leader doesn’t end here.

As you move forward with your PVA Partner, remember that your role as a leader doesn’t end here. Nurturing will always take work.

Can you believe that it has been 100 days since our Kick-Off call?

We are so proud of you for committing to the process to onboard your Executive Assistant.

We know it’s hard work to learn how to delegate, trust and empower a new teammate.

Hopefully, you are seeing results that it is WORTH IT.

As you move forward with your executive assistant, please remember that your role as a leader doesn’t end here.

Nurturing this relationship will always take work.

The 4 Es (Encourage, Equip, Empower, Engage) don’t stop just because your assistant is more comfortable in their role.

Show your executive assistant appreciation. Equip them with what they need to be successful.

Empower them to step up and own more responsibility. Continue to Engage in your standing meeting (now is a good time to check — is it still on your calendar?).

The more you put into this new relationship, the more you will get out of it.

We are ALWAYS available to you as a resource if you have questions, concerns or if you just want to tell us something badass about your assistant.

Here are some additional resources for you to continue developing your delegation skills, while also equipping your executive assistant.

• 5 Questions You’ve Always Wanted Answered About Leadership, Delegation and Team Building
• 10 Mistakes Leaders are Making with their Executive Assistants
• Appreciating your EA in New Ways
• Stop Blaming and Change The Way You Think
• Outsourcing Outcomes to Your Executive Virtual Assistant

Send us an update on how things are going! Otherwise, have a great day.