I’m excited to announce each Tuesday you will be able visit this blog to read FAQ of multi-VA owners and managers.  The questions will be sent to the multi-VA firm, answered and then posted for comments from viewers.  It’s a great way for them to share their experience through answers they give.  Visit the blog next Tuesday to see the first multi-VA firm answers.

Give them the tools to help manage their time. Have team members do the following:

Record where time is going each day.
Analyze use of time to look for ways to get more effective.
Make an action plan to attach areas of wasted or unproductive time.
Eventually get rid of impacts to your project and your sanity from having to spend valuable time on the wrong (or not best) things!

Smart entrepreneurs are becoming more profitable and getting more done everyday.

Many virtual business owners use outsource resources in India, Philippines, Australia and other parts of the world often motivated by cost. These resources are effective, but their are often challenges centering around language nuances and time zone differences that can cause some communications issues. When most think about outsource they think about offshore but should they with so many knowledgeable assistants right here in the US?

What are your thoughts?

Have you tried it? Or what are some of the practices you use to get your team to work well?

People view the world differently. They differ in the way they:

Perceive and organize information
Communicate
Make decisions

Understanding the differences is critical to leading a team successfully. Differences in team members’ personal styles are often at the root of conflicts or misunderstandings. If the Project Leader and team members recognize this fact, such conflicts can be more easily resolved and pose less difficulty to the team’s performance.

Who is on a (cross-functional) project team
What cross-functional role they are filling
What they are responsible for in that role
Specific duties they’ll perform to fulfill those responsibilities
Contact information (optional)

Help each member understand the scope of their role – what they are responsible for in terms of work and results. Being specific about responsibilities and duties can often clarify each person’s task and review responsibilities in unexpected ways.

Help ensure that all needed cross-functional team members are involved early enough in the project. Bad project results such as overall unprofitable products, un-manufacturable devices, under-performing systems, and hard-to-use user interfaces can often be traced to lack of involvement by non-development personnel early in a project – manufacturing, business users, support personnel, documentation writers, etc. The earlier such team members are included, the more influence they can have in what the project delivers, and the more problems or ‘off target’ results they can help the team avoid.