Vicarious Feedback

The most effective way to turn your assistant into an extension of yourself is real-life feedback, but traditionally you’re limited by the number of actual scenarios you and your assistant find yourselves in.

The vicarious feedback tactic trains your assistant with real interactions you have where the other person could have delegated more effectively.

The goal is to workshop better ways of operating, and feedback about someone else’s work can be easier to internalize in the moment. Your assistant won’t feel triggered or defensive, because the feedback isn’t about them.

You can take it a step further — set up an agreement with your assistant where you tell them:

“From time to time, I'm going to forward you emails or screenshots of texts that I receive. These will either be GREAT examples of how to communicate in tricky situations or examples of what NOT to do.

And I may sometimes forward an email with a note saying:

• Great communication example
• Bad communication example

Whenever you receive a message like this from me, please reply and explain why you think the communication was effective or ineffective. For the ineffective examples, take your best shot at drafting a great communication template for that situation.

Any great templates we create through this process should be stored and referred back to later.”

Over time you’ll naturally align your assistant's thinking with yours without constant corrections. The more examples you share, the faster you'll see results.