“I didn’t want to cost you more money” was the VA’s response to why she posted a bad video.
What???
Ok, take a step back.
This was shockingly insightful to me.
2 weeks ago I sent an email about a terrible video my OFS published.
Mary responded to me with her own terrible video story:
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This “bad video got posted” event happened to me as well. The person had worked on it, done all the edits… but had not re-watched it. She “did the tasks” and then posted it.
The cultural part… when I work with her (any anyone) I always say “it’s all good – we’re just learning to work together…to smooth out our processes and communication…” (No blame. Just open conversations.)
So in the open, all-is-well mode I had a live chat with her and her CULTURAL belief was that it’s best to DO THE WORK (exact tasks, edits requested) and then post it as efficiently as possible to NOT COST ME MORE MONEY in her time / hours.
————-
Me…inserting a mind blown emoji.
So your OFS is so mindful of what’s happening that she purposefully didn’t re-watch the video [or insert whatever work your OFS is doing poorly for you] so she didn’t waste an hour of time for which you are paying!
That’s why the results are poor? Taking more time to do a better job is costing the boss more money so they don’t want to cost you more?!?!
Continuing with Mary:
———-
So in learning that, I told her that it is actually a very valuable investment and extra expense to have her re-watch an entire 45-minute video to make sure there are no problems.
She thought that would be sort of falsely adding to her work hours and falsely increasing her paycheck.
I let her know that even if the video is perfect and she is just sipping tea and relaxing, watching a video for 45-minutes, it is a very valuable investment and I consider it actually part of the whole thing. So it was actually about giving her permission to “take” vs. “just be a good, compliant, check-box do-er.” And that permission gives a new sense of agency and ownership.
So there were good intentions as you can see. It took just some seek-to-understand, and encouragement (freedom) to “use up extra time” to ensure quality.
———–
When I heard this my mind was seriously blown. I’ve had people in the Philippines since 2005! I had never considered that poor work might actually be them trying to be a more conscientious employee. That the value system might just be different:
– They value the extra financial cost more than the improved quality
– I value the marginal gains in quality from spending more time
Strive to understand.
When we have valued team members with good intentions, taking a moment to ask questions to bridge the gap in understanding can do wonders. A few questions can reveal cultural assumptions or value systems or beliefs that we never knew were there.
Mary also said
…when I collaborate with my team members, I try and nurture a mindset of experimentation without judgment. This mindset makes it easier to openly communicate (without the fear of judgment) about things we try, but that just don’t work out. We just review whether or not something worked, and then agree to try a different way if needed.
I have an email to send to my entire team explaining that I prefer to spend more money on better work.
John
PS. If you’re considering hire a VA or an OFS, now’s a great time. www.OnlineJobs.ph