With Virtual Assistants, Your Business Gains a Powerful Advantage

Worldwide, COVID-19 is compelling businesses to accelerate digital transformation programs. The energy and electricity industry is no exception.

What makes the challenge more complex is a gap in industry-specific skills, particularly in engineering, that has kept growing in recent years.

Here’s where we can help. Go Virtual Assistants is an Australian-led managed operations business that can find you the engineers, estimators, procurement assistants, marketing assistants, or general virtual assistants your business needs now.

We are deeply grateful that, along with other BPO and export-oriented businesses in the Philippines, we have continued operating all throughout the lockdowns that began in March. This means our clients have not had to bear the disruptions and loss of service that have hit many other businesses.

So, you want to transform your business without driving up costs to unsustainable levels. That’s what will get you ready for post-pandemic growth. We’d love to help you find remarkable Virtual Assistants to help you and your onshore team get that done.

https://www.go-va.com.au/energy/

What Our eCommerce and Retail Clients Love

“We are very lucky to have Rio on our team. The workload Rio produces is precise, timely, and accurate, which is exactly what we need in the accounts team environment. Rio gets through a large workload without any fuss, and can work on her own as she knows exactly what is required of her without any prompting. She is very much a quiet achiever.”

Client:Australia’s largest independent coffee roaster that delivers freshly roasted beans to cafes and other businesses

The Love Language - Love by Adrian Ding For GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA)

Happiness isn’t about the accumulation of things. For our monthly event in February, the coach and motivational speaker Adrian Ding shared his ideas for finding meaning and showing appreciation and love at work.

Care and discovery are such important guideposts of the culture we’re building in GO-VA.

GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA) February 2021 Recap

Here’s a peek at how each Discover You session begins.

Making our culture more visible in a virtual setting is a work in progress. Leaning on our values helps us March past another month with determination and hope. ]

Here’s a special shoutout to our Chief Happiness Officer Michelle and our photography and video master Jason from our marketing team, who put a lot of thought and love into this video!

What Is Digital Body Language

Five years before the pandemic, the American author Erica Dhawan and her co-author Saj-nicole Joni came up with the term connectional intelligence. They defined this as “the ability to combine the world’s diversity of people, networks, disciplines, and resources, forging connections that create value, meaning, and breakthrough results.”

This year, she has a new book out (“Digital Body Language”) and shared some points from it in a recent Growth Faculty masterclass.

"Trust totally,” she recommended as one of the 4 laws of digital body language. “Assume others are doing the best they can and show vulnerabilities."

Here’s the challenge: When the team has different generations, like digital natives and digital adapters, as business leaders we’ll have to communicate in different ways, using different platforms. We’ll have to figure out when to collaborate and how to encourage diverse teams to do that, as well as when to let our teams work on their own. (Holy hours!)

Learning to communicate more often and more effectively takes curiosity and courage. (And the ability to recognize and recover from things like Zoom fatigue.) It’s also one of the most rewarding things we’ll ever learn to do as leaders. 

5 Languages Of Appreciation At Work - GO Virtual Assistants

So, one of the many things this pandemic changed about the way everyone works is that even appropriate physical touch (handshakes, first bumps, high fives) as a way of showing love and appreciation at work is off the table.

Substitutes like elbow bumps and a quick bow from a safe distance (like what the Japanese do) have taken the place of these gestures.

For those of us that now depend almost entirely on virtual huddles, the use of emoji also helps. (For some of us who associated emoji with casual exchanges, this took some getting used to!) 🙌💯💙

An important point that Gary Chapman and Paul White made in their book, “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace,” is that while both are important, recognition and appreciation aren’t the same thing. (This was the work-appropriate version of the 1992 bestseller “The 5 Love Languages.”)

How are we letting our teams know that they’re doing #WorkWeLove and, more importantly, that we appreciate and value them even when they’re going through a challenging or low-energy slump, when their performance isn’t quite up to their usual level?

Thanks so much Adrian for the time and insights you shared with the tribe in last Friday’s event!

GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA) Employee Review and Feedback - Christine

 

Our work anniversary virtual celebrations are also opportunities to reflect on our work relationship with our clients. Here, for instance, is Hana, who works as an Admin Assistant for an electrical contractor in Brisbane.

If you’re curious about joining a work tribe that encourages an attitude of gratitude, do visit www.go-va.com.ph/home for a list of our career opportunities!

Come join our tribe!

#WeAreGOVA

GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA) Discover You Event Highlights - January 2021

Go Virtual Assistants CEO Fiona Kesby, CTO Matt Kesby, and the GO-VA tribe gathered virtually to celebrate all our highlights from January 2021 and to talk about the link between our mindset and our growth. There’s also a behind the scenes look at some of our breakout sessions during the event!

If you’re curious about our open job opportunities, do visit www.go-va.com.ph/home. Come join our tribe!

GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA) Employee Review and Feedback - Christine

 

We want to thank Christine for her hard work, for sharing her talent (you should hear Christine sing!), and for acknowledging a GO-VA teammate who leads by example! Christine works as an Accounts Receivable Specialist for a fast-rising property management and corporate housing business in the U.S.

We have several open career opportunities for accountants and bookkeepers, among other finance professionals. Do check out www.go-va.com.ph/home and you may find the opportunity that would be a great fit for you!

Day 12 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

There’s just so much to be grateful for that I had to make this second post for Day 12 of the #12DaysOfGratitude challenge. I am grateful for all the kind team members who have joined GO-VA and for the range of their career experiences and talents.

Find out more about the varied skills your very own GO-VA team can add to your business here:  https://www.go-va.com.au/available-team-members/

Day 11 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

 

Today is Day 11 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge.

Something tells me we will find it easier this year to write 2021. That we won’t have so many of those early days in a new year when we keep writing down the previous year in our messages and notes, out of habit. Because who doesn’t want to put 2020 behind them as quickly as possible, right?

One thing I will remember fondly from last year, though, was the opportunity to catch up with the http://www.go-va.com.au tribe and keep working on our culture. 

Thanks to virtual platforms and lots of coordination by our Chief Happiness Officer Michelle, we could keep up our tea sessions with new team members and those who had successfully completed their probation period! We also celebrated GO-VA work anniversaries online and pulled off some virtual birthday surprises.  

Here’s hoping we’ll get the chance to hold in-person events safely again this year. In the meantime, I’m grateful to see and listen to the tribe every chance I get, even if it’s only on a screen.

Day 9 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

One of the many moments I am grateful for this year was hearing the motivational speaker and leadership coach Adrian Ding say: “You have one of the best onboarding systems and processes that I know.”

I hope our new GO-VA team members felt that they belonged and were truly cared for, even if many of them joined us after about 80% of the tribe had already started working from home for most of the week. 

Grateful for the opportunity to welcome new team members this year and excited to welcome more people to the tribe soon! Today is Day 9 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge.

Day 8 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

How well did your huddles go with your distributed team this year? 

Daily huddles are great for inspiring accountability and teamwork in distributed teams. When about 80% of us in the GO-VA tribe began working from home last March, some of our weekly or twice-weekly meetings became daily (but shorter) huddles. That helped us execute and, more importantly, stay connected. 

And that’s what I’m grateful for today, Day 8 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge.

We believe you, too, will benefit from daily huddles with your team in 2021. Here’s how we make our daily huddles work well:  https://go.globalofficeph.com/huddle-board

Day 5 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

 

Once we “get the questions right, the answers tend to appear,” wrote Verne Harnish. His book Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It and Why the Rest Don’t is a manual for business leaders who want useful, proven advice for making effective decisions. 

“Most of the teams we work with are wicked smart,” he wrote. “With enough perseverance and grit, they’ll find answers. Our concern is they might be working on the wrong question.” 

HIs book was such a source of inspiration and practical advice this year, along with Mark Goulston’s book Just Listen, and Todd Herman’s The Alter Ego Effect. 

What books did you discover or revisit this year?

Day 5 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge is for members of the http://www.go-va.com.au tribe who devoted more time to reading this year. Some have read as many as 6 or 7 books in a month!

Day 6 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

 

Day 6 of the #12DaysOfGratitude: Grateful for digital platforms that allow businesses and recruiters to search for qualified candidates from anywhere in the world, without waiting for applications to come in. 

This year, Rembrand Koning, Ines Black, and Sharique Hasan surveyed more than 13,000 workers in the United States for their study “Hunting for Talent: Firm-Driven Labor Market Search in America.” 

Among their findings: almost 18% of workers had been recruited by their current employer or a recruiter working on their behalf, and that’s the highest it has been in 30 years. 

If you’re looking for exceptional candidates to help your business scale, the Recruitment Team in GO-VA would be happy to assist. Message me here!

#12DaysOfGratitude

Day 4 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

It was an honour to join Mike Grogan and Dr. Shirard Adviso of Calamba Medical Center for the Lunch and Learn session last 16 December, the last one Mike and the Kaizen Leadership Asia team hosted this year. 

What’s the best advice another business leader or mentor has shared with you about encouraging openness in your team?

Day 3 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

May your holiday season be truly remarkable! It’s Day 3 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge, and I am grateful for this chance to wish all of you a Merry Christmas from my family and the entire  http://www.go-va.com.au tribe!

Day 2 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

One of the many opportunities I am thankful for this year was the chance to have a conversation with Adrian Ding, who is a motivational speaker and CEO (Chief Empowering Officer) of a leadership training business in the Philippines. 

This is Day 2 of my 12 Days of Gratitude challenge.

The pandemic stopped us from having a big celebration of GO-VA’s 6th anniversary last May. We won’t let it stop us from choosing to be grateful for each day of this entire journey. 

Day 12 of Fiona Kesby's 12 Days of Gratitude Challenge

For about 9 weeks in late March to the end of May 2020, a strict lockdown was in place in Cebu. While some businesses like export and IT-enabled services were allowed to keep operatingーsomething we are grateful for in the GO-VA tribeーenhanced community quarantine (ECQ) made it very difficult to cross from one city to the next.

Over a 6-week period last summer, our developers designed and built a remote video support software (quicklook.to), so businesses could provide support even if they couldn’t make site visits yet. 

Who would gain from this? Well, for starters, repairs and maintenance teams, rescue services, builders, inspection teams, and health care providers.

What a difference a combination of skills, teamwork, and determination makes. That’s what I am grateful for on Day 12 of my #12DaysOfGratitude challenge.

Go-VA is A Value driven Virtual Assistant company

 

Go-VA provides team members with private medical insurance and supply them with one dependent as well. So they could have their mother, their father, husband, wife, or child on that medical insurance. And that’s a really good attraction and retention strategy as well. They can access that medical help that they normally wouldn’t be able to afford to access because it’s in a private hospital and not relying on the the public system that is not at an international standard.

About GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA)

GO-VA Inc. is a registered Australian-Filipino owned company growing in the heart of Cebu City, Philippines. Situated in an IT complex with modern facilities, GO-VA's Managed Operations & Streamlined Services provides scalable opportunities that spell sustainability, growth, and success for any business venture. As your offshore workforce, GO-VA's goal is to create winnable games and strategies across all the work that we do, knowing that your success is our long-term fulfillment. 

GO-VA helps Australian, NZ, US, and UK businesses to increase revenue, reduce costs, and scale through outsourced offshoring.

If you need to build or expand your virtual assistant team, we can help you. Schedule a meeting with us: https://calendly.com/klein-serrano

Send your resume to careers@go-va.com.au or create your profile here: https://go-va.com.ph. Come join our tribe!

AU (+61) 2 7227 8809 

US (+1) 302 207 2767 

PH (+63) 32 410 7523

9th Floor, i1 Bldg, Jose Maria del Mar Street, IT Park, Apas

Cebu City, Philippines 6000

Website: https://go-va.com.au

Blog: https://blog.go-va.com.au

sales@go-va.com.au