216 | Mastering the Art of Delegation and Balance with Tricia Sciortino, CEO of Belay Solutions

What if you had an extra pair of hands, a resource to take over tasks that consume precious hours of your day? Imagine having more time for your family, your dreams, and your work passions. Sound impossible? Enter Tricia Sciortino, the CEO of Belay Solutions, who has figured out the secret: delegation. Tricia shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder to leading a thriving business, Belay Solutions, all while maintaining her family life.

This week, Tricia reveals the secrets of her success, insights on delegation, and her 'third option' philosophy. Learn how she shifted her mindset from delegating out of guilt to delegating out of trust, empowering her team, and creating a balanced life. She narrates her journey as a woman in leadership, finding the perfect harmony between her career and motherhood through strategic delegation.

As we journey through the world of virtual assistants, Tricia unveils the benefits and practical ways of building a successful relationship with them. She elaborates on how to recognize and redirect ambitious team members who might be straying from the path. We also delve into the complexities of hybrid workspaces, discussing the importance of understanding a leader's delegation language and style. Tricia shares the importance of being intentional and communicating frequently with both in-person and virtual teams to create an extraordinary culture. Join us for this LeadCulture conversation that will shift your perspective on leadership, delegation, and balance.

About Tricia:
As CEO of BELAY, Tricia strive’s to lead and inspire her team to provide extraordinary services while finding great talent along the way. She empowers her team to live their mission: Glorifying God by providing solutions that equip our clients with the confidence to climb higher.

For ten years, Tricia served as District Manager for the retail chain Pacific Sunwear, however, when her first child was born, she – like many other parents – found herself struggling to balance a high-profile career with her new role as a mother.

Enter: BELAY. As BELAY’s first employee and virtual assistant – and then onto serve as Director, Vice President, President, COO, and now CEO – Tricia has spent the last nearly 10 years ‘walking the walk’ of what they call the Third Option: the ability to cultivate a balanced life with a successful career while making family and personal relationships a priority.

As a leader, she is passionate about each of us owning and forging our own paths, careers, and professional development, putting each of their valued employees and contractors in the driver’s seat to cultivate the balance of work and life that best suits them.

Learn more about Belay at belaysolutions.com
Download Delegate to Elevate Ebook

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Episode Transcript

Jenni Catron (00:10):
Well, hello, friends, I'm your host, Jenni
Catron, and this is the LeadCulture Podcast, where I coach
you to lead yourself well so youcan lead others better.
My team and I at the 4sightGroup are committed to building
confident leaders, extraordinaryteams and thriving cultures.

(00:30):
Each week, we take a deep diveinto a leadership or culture
topic that will give you thetools you need to lead with
clarity and confidence and builda thriving culture.
So today I'm going to sharewith you a webinar that we
actually did for some of our4sight clients, our Women in

(00:51):
Leadership alumni and our 4sightLeadership Institute students.
So we kind of did thisexclusive webinar for those
groups and, as we recorded it,we thought you know what?
We need to share this with afew more people.
So we're going to talk aboutthe subject of delegation, and
I'm going to tell you about thatin a minute, but before we get
there, I want to remind you thatCulture Conference is just a

(01:13):
couple of weeks away.
If you're listening to this whenit released, we are just a
couple of weeks away fromCulture Conference happening on
August 10th, and so, friends, itis time to get registered, it
is time to make sure it's onyour calendar.
We want to help equip you tobuild that thriving team,

(01:34):
cultivate an inspiring workplaceand achieve your mission, and
that is what Culture Conferenceis designed to do.
So it is a one-day digitalconference on August 10th, and
you'll hear from top leadersabout how to build that thriving
team, and so you want to makesure you are registered to join
us for the live event.
It is live streamed or you canupgrade to the Culture

(01:58):
Conference All Access Pass,which will give you a year-long
access to all the content and abunch of fun extras.
So go to cultureconference.
org, make sure you getregistered.
It's free to you because ofamazing sponsors like Leadr,
Ministry Brands, Thrivent andClever, and thank them and just

(02:19):
know you'll get a little bit ofinformation about them and from
them, because they are helpingmake this possible.
But you guys, we're going tohear from Pat Gelsinger, the CEO
of Intel.
We're going to hear from JohnAcuff, Annie F Downs, Josh
Howerton, myself, Valorie Burton, William Vanderbloemen and
several more amazing speakersthat are bringing you very

(02:39):
thoughtful content on how tobuild an extraordinary culture.
So go to cultureconference.
org, make sure you'reregistered, and we'll see you in
a couple of weeks for thatevent.
Okay, so today I'm sharing thisreplay of a webinar that we
hosted, all about the subject ofdelegation, and I'm joined by
Tricia .

(02:59):
Tricia is the CEO of BelaySolutions and, if you're
familiar with Belay, they are aremarkable company that helps
staff.
They're a staffing organizationthat helps you with virtual
assistance, bookkeeping servicesand even social media support,
and they are a phenomenalcompany.
I have been friends with thefounders and Tricia and many of

(03:22):
her team members through theyears because we just have a
heart connect over helping buildgreat teams, and so they're
helping it via staffingsolutions.
Tricia has a high value on theimportance of organizational
culture and she really strivesto lead and inspire her team to
provide extraordinary services.
While finding great talent, sheempowers her team to live their

(03:46):
mission, which is glorifyingGod, by providing solutions that
equip their clients with theconfidence to climb higher, and
we personally work with Belay.
My assistant is a Belay virtualassistant and we love our
partnership with Belay, and soTricia has a fantastic story.
I just love her story.

(04:06):
She was in the corporate world,she was the district manager
for the retail chain PacificSunwear, and then she had her
first child and, like many otherparents, she found herself
struggling to balance a highprofile career with her new role
as a mother, and that's whenshe connected with Belay.
So Belay was just gettingstarted.
Tricia was actually Belay'sfirst employee and virtual

(04:29):
assistant and then she went onto serve as director, vice
president, president, coo andnow CEO, and so she has spent
the last nearly 10 years walkingthe walk of what they call the
third option, which is theability to cultivate a balanced
life with a successful career,while making family and personal

(04:50):
relationships a priority.
Isn't that what we all long foras leaders?
Like this balance of, I want asuccessful career, I want to do
good, meaningful, significantwork, but I don't want to
abandon my family.
I want to have a personal life,and Belay models that.
Tricia models that, and you'regoing to hear from her today

(05:11):
about a topic that is kind ofcore to their business the
subject of delegation.
So you're listening in on awebinar.
So you'll hear me talk to thewebinar attendees and you'll
hear me asking them for somequestions, and they post some
questions that we cover at theend.
So you know it's a littlelistening in, but the content is
so powerful that I felt likeyou needed to hear it as well.

(05:32):
So enjoy this conversation withTricia .
Good morning everybody, good tosee you all.

(05:48):
Oh, it's fun to see a bunch of faces I haven't seen in a long
time, hi guys.

Jenni Catron (05:52):
I know so good to see you all.
How's everybody's summer going?
Everybody good?
We were just saying, Tricia andI and Maddie and Kelsey were
talking before we got startedand we said the summer's already
going so fast, it's like it'sgoing by so fast.

(06:07):
Okay, so we're letting a few more people in, but we have a
little icebreaker and you caneither shout out or put in the
chat.
But if you woke up with thesuperpower to delegate anything
on your list today to somebody,what would it be?

Jenni Catron (06:20):
Oh, I like this.

(06:23):
I guess I just made magic editing videos for culture
conference, which is really fun.
That is really detailed, sothat would be mine.
I delegate, I'll let somebodyactually I don't know, I really
do enjoy watching them, butmaybe the detail part will let
somebody else do it.

Jenni Catron (06:38):
I'll just watch for the fun part of it.
Emily's got it.
Expense reports I think likeeverybody wants to delegate
expense reports.
Jodi, volunteer management Kcopywriting Yup the good one, oh
.
Credit card balancing, tani Yup.
Oh, now we got some good onescoming in.

(07:01):
Oh, carmen, I'm with youshopping for groceries and
cooking.
I tell my husband all the timethat I'm like I will feel like
we've made it when I can hire ahousewife, like I can hire
somebody who does all of theshopping and the cooking, like
if I can hire a chef gamechanger in my life.
So I am with you.

(07:23):
I think I would eat better, Iwould like if somebody was,
because I actually like healthystuff.
So if somebody was just buyingit and cooking it for me, I
would do it.
I would do it.
Alona, children's ministrydirector yeah, that's a big
delegation.
Menu plans yes, yeah, angela,I'm with you.

(07:44):
I'm not too Good stuff.
I'm trying to think, maddie,what I would delegate.
I mean, there's so much I needto delegate.
So this is why I need to havethis conversation with Tricia,
and Tricia needs to teach mebecause I am so slow to delegate
.
And it's yeah, we'll get into,we'll, we'll, we'll dig into
that.
But I'm trying to think of whatelse I would delegate.

(08:05):
Carmen Carmen said it for methat was my big one.
Maddie, what was yours I?

(08:10):
mean I would say culture conference.
But once you said cooking, Iwas like that's it.
That's 100% what I woulddelegate to.
Yes, for kids.
We're like having chickennuggets every night this week,
so it's fine.

Jenni Catron (08:22):
I, you guys will appreciate this story.
My niece and nephew are eightand six and they they now live
away, but they used to live liketwo blocks away from me and now
they live in Virginia.
But their running joke was theywould you know when they would
come over for like a sleepoverat my house.
I think their dad asked himwell, what do you think you're
going to have for dinner at AuntJace's?

(08:43):
They called me Jace because Icouldn't say Jenny, so it came
out Jace.
And my nephew was like the onlything Aunt Jace knows how to
make pizza, no-transcript.
So his, like his interpretationin his first, like five years
of life was that the only thingI knew how to make was pizza.
Now, I was purposely makingpizza because you know they're

(09:04):
kids and that's what we have,but in his mind, that's all I
knew how to make, which is notfar off, like, if I'm honest,
it's not far off, so funny.
All right, maddie, you thinkwe're ready to get started?
Yeah, I say let's do it.
Go ahead and get started.
Fantastic, all right, you guys,I am so thrilled.
So it's a great time out of yourbusy summer schedules and all

(09:25):
the things you have going on.
First of all, it's alwaysreally good to see all of your
faces and catch up a bit.
We have a mix of folks heretoday.
We have some of our women inleadership alumni, so all of our
women in leadership alumni goodto see you guys.
And then our ForesightLeadership Institute
participants, so the folks thatare a part, and some of you are

(09:45):
both, some of you are both and.
But our Foresight LeadershipInstitute we launched earlier
this spring and it's aleadership development resource
for individuals and then teams,and we're having some fun
conversations over there withthat group, and so we invited
them in, as well as some otherForesight clients, and so so we
kind of have a mix with us today.

(10:06):
But I felt like all of us wouldbenefit from a conversation
around the subject of delegation, and so I am thrilled to have
Tricia , who is the CEO of Belay.
Belay is a long time friendsand partners with us.
I have worked with and beenfriends with the Belay team

(10:28):
since the very beginnings of theorganization.
They are just a phenomenalcompany that's really dedicated
to serving leaders, and I'll letTricia actually tell us how
they do that and give us thescoop.
But Tricia has such a fantasticstory of her own journey in the
company and getting to the CEOseat, and she is just a

(10:52):
powerhouse when it comes to thesubject of delegation.
So, Tricia, thanks for joiningme, thanks for being here, and I
would love if you'd just startout, introduce yourself, give us
the background, tell us aboutBelay, and then we're going to
dig into this topic togethertoday.

Tricia Sciortino (11:05):
Yes, thank you , Jenni, for the wonderful
introduction.
It's always great to sit andtalk with you.
This is my favorite topicdelegation.
So, hey guys, it's so great tobe with you today.
I'm the CEO of Belay.
Like Jenni said, we're actuallya staffing organization that
provides fractional virtualassistant, bookkeeping and

(11:28):
social media managed support tosmall business owners and
entrepreneurs so that they cantake some of that administration
off of their plates and put itonto other people's plates, and
that is how we elevate ourselves.
Right is just continuing to lookfor ways with which we can get
the things we shouldn't be doingoff of our plates onto other

(11:48):
people so we can do the thingswe're supposed to be doing, and
so I've been with yourorganization since founding,
which has been 2010.
So it's been 13 years ofpracticing what I'm preaching
and delegating to elevate, whichkind of goes into my story,
like Jenny said, about how Iwound up with the privilege and
honor to be the CEO of thisorganization.
I actually started as a virtualassistant and, through

(12:11):
understanding what it meant todelegate to those around me, was
able to continue to take onmore and more and elevate my
professional developmentleadership so that I could have
the honor of sitting in thisseat for the last couple of
years, so that's a little bitabout me and Belay, love it,
love it so good and friends.

Jenni Catron (12:30):
I didn't say this at the beginning, but we will
leave space for questions.
So as Tricia and I are talkingand she's sharing, like, feel
free to post questions in theend.
Maddie will help keep an eyeon those and then towards the
end we'll leave space to askyour questions and just kind of
dig deeper on the points thatare most helpful and meaningful
to you all.
So just a note for that.

(12:52):
So, Tricia, there's a lot ofladies on the call today, and so
I know that we're going toparticularly resonate with your
journey as a woman in leadership.
And then I know we're going tohave guys that are also
listening, because delegationmatters to all of us.
Delegation is a critical skillfor every leader, but I would
love to hear just your journeyas a woman in leadership,

(13:15):
something that really can youknow, obviously really connects
with this group, and a topicthat has resonated for us is the
idea of setting limits as aleader.
So I want to kind of start outjust talking about this idea of
limits, because I don't knowabout the rest of the ladies on
the call, but like I struggle somuch with healthy limits and

(13:37):
even knowing and understandingmy limits.
So we talk about that a littlebit of just your career journey,
of like that idea of limits andhow you've, how you've wrestled
with that topic.

Tricia Sciortino (13:48):
Yeah, I mean, it's so foundational for me as
just a human and a person as itis, to how we've started this
organization so many years ago,before Belay existed, I was a
career mom.
I was working too many hours.
I was a career woman, let mesay I was working too many hours
and then I had my firstdaughter and through all that

(14:10):
experience I realized that thework I was doing was taking away
from the opportunity for me tobe a great mom and I didn't want
to miss that, and so I kind ofleft where I was just to go,
hunt and seek this opportunitywhere I could find great balance
.
And I really did believe thatthere are places in the world

(14:30):
and there are things you can dothat you can do them so well and
be super successful while alsohaving limits and boundaries
around your day, so you can't bevery present as a mom and a
wife and all of those otherthings.
And I feel like I was pulled inthose directions where I really
love my career and I love mywork, but I also really love

(14:50):
being a mom and I didn't want tosacrifice either of those
things.
And so you know, belay wasfounded on the principle that,
for women specifically, we wouldhave this third option.
So option one is you have yourcareer woman.
Option two is you're a mom.
And we believe there's optionthree, which means you are both
of those things.
And so what it means to have tolive this third option, it

(15:14):
means of putting a lot of limitsand boundaries in place as to
what you're going to allowyourself to do, what you're
going to spend time on, whatyou're going to allow to take
away from your family, and sothat's how delegation entered my
life was that I don't wantsilly things like booking travel

(15:35):
or scheduling meetings orexpense reports.
Taking away from that was anhour I could have spent with my
daughter, so I really had toquickly figure out, you know,
what are the things I must do todo my job really well and then
let others do the other things Idon't have to do, so that I
could have a very limit settingwork, week and life and be a

(15:59):
very present mom.

Jenni Catron (16:01):
Yeah, yeah, Talk a little bit more about like.
What does that look like?
How did you approach this ideaof limits, of like.
Okay, where, like?
What are my limits?
Where you know?
And then, how did you use thoseto help you make decisions?

Tricia Sciortino (16:15):
Yeah, in the beginning it had a lot to do
about revolving, creating anideal work week if you will that
worked around my life, and sofor me what it looked like was,
you know, early in the morningsI wanted to get my children
ready for school or whateverthey were doing, and once I was

(16:37):
done with that, I would start myday.
So my start of day was very itwas a very specific time.
Even though I'm remote, I don'treport into an office, I work
remotely but it was like thetime with which I was starting
and then what the rest of my daylooked like also revolved
around that.
So there were limits aroundtimes when I would not take
meetings because it would be thehour with which the kids came

(17:00):
home and I wanted to spend, youknow, two, 30 to three, 30,.
I was going to be with the kidsand get them set with a snack
and prep them for homework orwhatever that looked like, and
then I might resume a meetingafter that, because then they
were they were having somedowntime post school.
So I really looked at whatwould my ideal work week and day
look like for a mom.
Now, today it's a littledifferent, because my kids are

(17:23):
grown One's in college.
I don't know how this works.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Oh, does that happen?

Tricia Sciortino (17:27):
I'm 29 and I have a college kid but I do and
then, once you know, going intoher senior year in high school,
so it looks different, but it'shelped me create this pattern of
what works best for me, Sure.
When I want to start my day,when I'm going to end my day and
all of the breaks I need totake in between you know,
mandating that I I pace a limiton I'm taking a lunch break, no

(17:48):
matter what.
Mandating and putting a limiton I'm stopping by five, no
matter what, and reallyfunneling into what worked into
my life and then my assistant'sjob from there is to take my
ideal work week and help it bereality.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah.

Tricia Sciortino (18:06):
By helping me say no to actually a lot of
things.
I probably don't think we do.

Jenni Catron (18:09):
Yeah, that's so good.
I am a big fan of the idealwork week as well, because I
think and maybe a lot of you canresonate with this but
especially over the past fewyears when hybrid work schedules
became a much more common thingfor all of us.
Belay has been doing this foryears and recognize this was
this is where we were all headed, but now it's become the
reality for a lot of us, and Iwas doing a lot of coaching

(18:32):
early on with people saying, youknow, just because they hadn't
prethought how do I want to usemy time, especially if I'm
working from home more than Ihad no boundaries, there weren't
any limits on my time or mycommitments.
And so, you know, all of asudden you end up frazzled.
And when I started foresightand I was working for myself, I

(18:53):
realized that, you know, if Iwasn't diligent about a
lunchtime, if I wasn'tthoughtful about when I started
my day and when I ended my day,like if I didn't have fixed like
commitments on that, all of asudden everything stretches and
keeps growing, and so I thinkjust recognizing the value of
limits and those priorities isreally really, really critical.

(19:17):
So that's super helpful.
Any other thoughts there or likethings that you've noticed like
we people have had to makeadjustments to around.
I like what you said aboutalmost the accountability piece
of like your assistant helpingsupport that.
How would you coach somebodywho's like, okay, great, I wish

(19:40):
that I could adjust some things,but my employer or my manager
expects me to be available atthis time for this thing.
How do we kind of do the bothand like know our ideal week and
deal with the expectations ofour job?

Tricia Sciortino (19:56):
Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with allowing
for flex time in your idealwork week so that when there are
things that come up that areurgent or important that you
have to address, you're notcramming them, in, that you've
allowed yourself time for themto see themselves into your
calendar when necessary.
We see that all the time right,that things will always pop up

(20:18):
that are unnecessary, that wedidn't plan for.
Of course it would.
Life would be great if we couldplan everything.
We just can't.
So I think it goes into, youknow, allowing enough time for
buffer inside what your idealwork week looks like.
So, for example, I mean myideal day I'm only in three
meetings, three one hour zoonosbecause we work virtually and so

(20:39):
technically do I have fiveworking hours that I'm not
sitting in a meeting to handlecrisis, to handle last minute
requests, to jump on a quickphone call to have a meeting on
demand.
I've allowed myself time.
I think what happens is we seewe have eight hours, we cram it
full with eight hours worth ofthings we're going to do and
then the unplanned for happensand then we're working 10 hours

(21:02):
a day.
Well, are you working throughlunch?
You're working later.
So I think it's the best youcan to put those limits on what
you know will fit into a day andthere's also a lot of, I would
say.
I would say I would say I wouldsay I would say I would empower
most people and I did this formy boss over the years is that

(21:25):
you know, having a good enoughrelationship to talk about those
boundaries with the person youare reporting to.
So, story way back in the day,this is like go back 2011,.
I was a virtual assistant forMichael Hyatt.
Michael Hyatt he's fantastic.
This world revolves around 24hours a day.

(21:49):
It was in the beginning, whenhe first started his
organization.
So the work was coming inmorning, noon, night, weekends,
travel, everything and I feltlike I truly was on call 24-7.
And I actually didn't want thatto be my choice because, as you
know, my choice was for that notto be the case.
I wanted to have limits.

(22:09):
So I really came to him and Isaid, hey, I'd like to talk to
you about creating, putting someboundaries around my work
schedule when you need me andwhen I could really truly unplug
, and we just had a very greatconversation around.
Hey, I'd like to wrap up byfive and I'd like to not be
present or available on weekendsunless there's an emergency.
And honestly, he received it.

(22:29):
He was like absolutely, I wantthat for you and your family.
So I think it even becomes partof just a courageous
conversation you have with thepeople you work with, because
most people want that for you Iknow I want that for my entire
team Is that time to unplug isso important to disconnect so
you can come back fresh the nextday.

Jenni Catron (22:50):
Yeah, I love that about even having those
conversations.
We have a lot of that withinthe foresight team because a lot
of our team work.
Maddie's a busy mom of twoalmost three so she's juggling a
lot and all of our staff havevarious responsibilities that
they're juggling.

(23:10):
And then I work really oddhours of the team can tell you,
I was speaking in an eventearlier this week and so it
occurred to me yesterday morningI was getting on a plane at 5
am and so I was in the Sky Clubbefore the flight sending emails
because I was up and going.
So we even have just someinternal boundaries around the

(23:36):
expectation of when you reply.
But it's like, because we allwork crazy hours, we're not
expecting everybody to reply atall of those wild hours.
But we know that some of uswill work really erratic
schedules because we want thatflexibility that comes with it.
But without those healthyconversations you can
unintentionally createexpectation that makes people

(23:59):
feel like they can't honor theirown limits, and so, yeah, I
mean.

Tricia Sciortino (24:03):
I will absolutely find myself sending
an email and not find go, do notread till tomorrow morning.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Right.

Tricia Sciortino (24:10):
And, like I'm not trying to, I'm clearing off
my what I need to do.
But that doesn't mean I'm notalways trying to create work for
you.
And I think when people receivesomething on the other side of
the CEO, they feel like that'sabout whatever they're doing and
immediately address it becauseof the title that is carried.
And I want to make sure, toyour point, that you're kind of

(24:31):
giving them permission to nothave to be responsive at those
times.

Jenni Catron (24:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's new behavior we'relearning as we all get more
comfortable with more of aflexible work schedule is
understanding and honoring eachother's limits.
But that requires us havinggood communication about those
things so that you know thoseexpectations are clear.
So you talk about delegationbeing the remedy to those limits

(24:59):
, Like, so can you speak to thata little bit?
You know how do that?
Delegation is one of thoselimits that sets us free.
So speak a little bit to thatconnection between limits and
delegation for us.

Tricia Sciortino (25:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think, in order to be able to
hold your limits which Ibasically look through the lens
of, these are the priorities, mylimits are my priorities.
I'm putting them into place inorder to be able to set those
limits and really havepriorities, you have to be able
to look at your finite resourceof time and consider it of value

(25:38):
and look to how you candelegate in order to get all the
work done, knowing all the workdoesn't need to be your work,
and so, for me, I feel verypassionately about the fact that
the only reason I've been ableto have the career I've had here
at Belay and be able to rise upa ladder here is because I

(25:59):
figured out really early on howto resource those around me and
how to delegate really well.
Like even in the chat when wewere doing the icebreaker, I
couldn't think of anything toput in there because I have
mastered delegating everythingat this point, like there's I'm
like this very few things left Ithink I could delegate, because

(26:21):
I've really had to figure outearly on how to master this so
that we could set me free,because the only way I've been
able to hold my boundaries isthe only way I've been able to
elevate my career is reallybecome a master at how to lean
into others to help.

Jenni Catron (26:36):
Yeah, prisha, how did you get over maybe this
wasn't a challenge for you, butI think this is something I
recognize is that sometimes Ifeel bad for delegating, like I
feel guilty, like askingsomebody to do something that
maybe I just don't want to do orI shouldn't be doing.
Because you feel like you.
You know you want to have thatwillingness to do whatever it

(26:57):
takes and you know a lot of thefolks on the call are in
ministry related roles and soyou know you feel like you
should be that servant leaderand so sometimes I feel like
there's this internal wrestlingwith delegation and, you know,
just feeling like you're dumpingsomething on somebody else.

(27:17):
Can you, yeah, speak to thatfor us?

Tricia Sciortino (27:19):
Yeah, and it's totally on us right, like we.
That's literally a thing wehave to get over.
Most people actually arehonored.
You would let them do thatthing for you.
You know, if it's anotherleader per se and I want them to
own a specific deliverable orown a project on my behalf,

(27:43):
they're yes, absolutely, she'sentrusting me with this thing,
and so it speaks volumes totrust.
When you let others do thingsfor you, it says I trust you,
you're going to do this as good,if not better, than I'm going
to do this, and I think it trulydoes empower them from for the
small things, like from avirtual assistant or assistant

(28:04):
perspective, where you mightfeel like, oh, expense reports,
nobody feels empowered to dothose.
But honestly, you find theright executive assistant and
I'll call out my assistant todayCameron.
She loves serving me, she lovestaking every.

(28:25):
It is like a challenge for herto get me to delegate more to
her.
She feels empowered, she feelsconvicted that she is here to
take things off my plate so thatI can do what only I can do.
So you find those personalitytypes who, literally, they feel

(28:45):
gratitude and they feel theircup is filled when they get to
do these things.
Whether it's somebody who justloves administration, they could
sit in spreadsheets and emaillike they just love that.
That is literally their giftingis to organize things.
They want those things.
And then there's people,especially ministry.

(29:07):
They are here to serve, and ifserving looks like booking
travel, that's great, because ifthat's serving the cause and
serving you so you can go on anddo your ministry, then they've
done their job.
So I think it's really amindset shift and you know most
people don't view it as you'redumping things on them and so we
just have to kind of get overit.

Jenni Catron (29:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah it is.
It's a mindset shift that youknow to recognize and you know,
and I think sometimes it's areminder that just because
there's something that I'm notgreat at or I don't really enjoy
, doesn't mean that it's not.
I mean there is somebody whoabsolutely loves that and would
love to use their gifts to dothat.
So I think you have to remindyourself, too, that sometimes

(29:51):
the things that you know aren'tas life giving or energizing
might be absolutely life givingor energizing to somebody else,
and so that's helped me too, andI don't you know the number of
times where my team has said,hey, like, let me help, like,
let me, let me help, I want to,I want to help, I want to help
move things forward.
You know, one of the notes thatwe had, you know, prepping for

(30:12):
the discussion, was thatdelegation actually elevates
everyone, right, and that's kindof what you're saying, isn't it
?

Tricia Sciortino (30:19):
Yeah, it gets everyone an opportunity to get
their hands in there and showoff what they can do.
You know my, you know the team,you know likely you're
surrounded by some people whoactually want to learn, they
want to absorb, they wantopportunity to grow on their own
, and by not giving themopportunities or things to own

(30:42):
or manage, you could potentiallybe stunting their professional
growth, their professionalskillset and the opportunities
for them to do more.
So I really do look ateverything I delegate to my
assistant or whoever as anopportunity for them to learn a
new thing and to grow theirskillset.
Whether they do it with me orthey move on and they do it with
the next organization they'rewith, it's a great training

(31:03):
ground to lift people up.

Jenni Catron (31:06):
Yeah, well, I'm just going to say and there's
that perspective shift again too, it's not about just getting
things off my plate, it's havingthat development eye as a
leader to go hey, here's anopportunity for somebody you
know, for this person on my team, to grow in their skills, or
you know, and be developedprofessionally as well.
So, trisha, what are some ofthe things that leaders should

(31:27):
be delegating?
Like, what are some of thethings that we should be
delegating?
Maybe we're hanging on to themtoo long.
What do you see over and over?
Because, again, you guys areworking with thousands of
leaders, helping support them,with assistants and bookkeepers,
etc.
Like, what should we bedelegating?

Tricia Sciortino (31:43):
Yeah gosh, there's so many things.
I mean.
The basics that we see mosteverybody start with are
scheduling anything on youraccount, whether it's scheduling
meetings, scheduling personalappointments, scheduling travel.
Scheduling is a huge one.
Like I never want to touch mycalendar.
My assistant takes care ofeverything for me.

(32:06):
Email is another huge one.
We all get hundreds of emailsevery day, and having to filter
through even if it's thesimplest beginnings of they just
reduce the spam or they replyto things that are just hey,
thanks, even if they're justcutting out some of that to
start with email is huge.
We don't want to spend eighthours a day in our email inbox,

(32:28):
travel, of course, agenda prepfor meetings agenda prep and
follow up from meetings.
So that could be like settingthe stage for what's in the
conversation joining theconversation, taking notes in
the conversation and thengathering action items from the
conversation and then, myfavorite part, following up on
the action items fromconversation.

(32:49):
Yes, I have the follow up monkeyon my back, so I give it to her
and I said, hey, you've createdthe action item list, we're
sharing it with everybody.
She will follow up on theaction item list on my behalf
and kind of holding everybodyaccountable to do things we're
going to do in the meeting.
And that is huge.
There's also other things, youknow social engagement.
My assistant helps me with myLinkedIn.

(33:11):
I get lots of LinkedIn messages.
I don't want to be abandoningmy LinkedIn messages, so she'll
go in there for me, reply for me, bring some things to me if
needed.
There's a lot you can do withscript prep and marketing
assistant thing, a saunaorganization, project
coordination.
The list could really go on andon.
It can be very specific to whatyou do.

(33:33):
So a lot.

Jenni Catron (33:37):
A lot, yeah, and would you want my personal
experience?
So, just in full disclosure,like bit of a control freak, so
early on I was not great about.
Well, this is probably stilltrue, but like I remember very
specifically, this was back whenI was at Crosspoint in
Nashville and I got, I hired myfirst assistant to work with me

(33:59):
and of course we had other staffand you know they were
delegated very, you know, veryministry specific
responsibilities according totheir job descriptions.
But the first person who wasreally an extension of me, like
you know that that person who'shelping me fulfill all of my
responsibilities, was myassistant in Nashville.
And you know, so you start outwith the usual suspects, but as

(34:22):
time went on I really began tosee that she was able to speak
on my behalf, anticipate for me,you know, and just be be a true
extension to help me acceleratemy work and kind of take the
lid off of my leadership.
Because, again, at that stagewe were a fast growing
organization, myresponsibilities were just

(34:43):
continuing to increase and sothe more that I could help
spread out that work and bringalong somebody who really could
begin thinking on my behalf.
And what I noticed.
Tell me if this feels true toyou, trisha, but I noticed it
was like I would learn you know,delegation skills at one stage,
and then I'd realize I'd kindof hit another hurdle where I'd
have to learn another level ofdelegation.

(35:05):
It's like, ok, now I need todelegate even more.
Like you know, it's like Istarted with delegating tasks
and then it went to almostdelegating responsibility and,
you know, it's like I kind offeel like there's these waves of
learning and growth for us asleaders as we're delegating.
Does that, does that feelaccurate?

Tricia Sciortino (35:23):
So accurate, yeah, so so, so accurate.
I agree, I think you know youcan start off with some great
baseline things, but as your, Iview it as my role, as a
leader's role, as your role isconstantly evolving and changing
.
Your business and yourorganization is evolving and
changing day after day, so doesthe needs of your needs and the

(35:43):
needs of the business, that'sright.
Revisiting over and over againwhat it is you're delegating.
I mean, my assistant and I lookat what we're doing together
quarterly, Like we have a formal, like quarterly review and we
say, OK, are there new things ornew responsibilities that have
come to me that I want to help?

(36:04):
Have you help me with them?
Are there things you've beenhelping me with that are lower
impact and there's other thingsI would like you to help me with
instead?
So we're constantly evaluatingon a quarterly basis how she
helps me, what she helps me withand are there new things she
can help me with?
And she will come to me, andthis is my favorite part.
She will come to me andsometimes say hey, I see a gap

(36:26):
here in this area.
I like to insert myself andhelp.
Maybe I can.
I love when she comes withsolutions.
Maybe I can do X, Y and Z foryou and get it halfway done and
then you can take it from there.
Like she could start things forme and maybe she can't finish,
but the start is that's a gamechanger.
I mean it's 50% of everything.

(36:48):
Right, so you can start thingsfor me.
So I think it's an evolutionand totally to your point, as
I've worked with my assistantlonger and longer, now she's to
the place where she can ownthings truly for me, like we
have board meetings quarterly,she will own it from start to
finish.
I mean you know the schedulingand the traveling agenda and

(37:11):
communicating with the board andscheduling the board and
getting the deck prepped, and itgoes all the way through and
I'm just the bystander.
So it's been great, but it isan evolution for sure.

Jenni Catron (37:23):
It's a process and a commitment.
I think you know, one of thethings I noticed in myself and I
coach a lot of leaders aroundthis is that there's a
difference between delegationand application Right, like it's
, like you can.
Sometimes we think we'redelegating but we're just kind
of dumping it.
Maybe it's delegation ordumping Right, we just dump
things on somebody and just like, well, you just handle it Right

(37:45):
, but then there's not thelearning and the growing.
Where they're truly partneringwith you is so that you know
they're able to take on more,they're able to like own more of
what you're doing.
So I've noticed for myself,like being intentional about the
coaching process of as I'mdelegating, that I'm making sure
that I'm equipping that personwith an understanding of the

(38:08):
bigger picture so that they cancome and say, hey, let me take
this on or let me get thisstarted for you.
I have been working with aballet assistant for six months
now, but at least she'sfantastic, and so we're at the
stage where now Emily and I arehaving conversations because a
lot of the like, the you know,the real Ordinary early stuff,

(38:28):
like we've got that prettylocked in and now I'm saying,
okay, I want you like to know myschedule better than me, like
backwards and forwards,anticipate what's coming and
what do I need.
And you know, like, if you werehaving to like do this webinar
today, what would you need?
To make sure you know we were,you're, we're all prepped and
ready for that and you know soshe's.

(38:50):
You know, now we've had enoughtime under our belt that she
understands our, the scope ofour work and what we do and who
we connect with.
But now she's anticipating moredeliberately on my behalf, and
so I I feel the load continue toget lighter as she gets more
and more, you know, involved inwhat we're doing.

Tricia Sciortino (39:08):
So that's the beauty of it, right?
It's like the longer you do it,the better it is.
Oh, for sure see people whoquit early on.
I'm like no, started yet, don'tquit.
You got to keep going.
It gets better.
It's like a fine wine.

Jenni Catron (39:29):
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, you.
Just that relationship becomesso, so key.
So talk a little bit more aboutthe virtual assistant dynamic,
because the lay was early on tothis, like you guys, like you
know, came on you know earlysaying hey, this is kind of this
is where work is going and andI think there's a lot of leaders

(39:49):
like we, we think I Rememberthinking this way, you know,
even rewind a handful of years.
It's like, well, I don't havethe budget to hire a Assistant
because we're thinking it has tobe full-time, we think it has
to be in person.
And you guys kind of rewrotethe model by saying, you know,
this virtual assistant idea thatcan be very fractional, so
we'll work with a lot of leaderswho think they just don't have

(40:12):
the budget for it when in fact,like when you do the virtual
assistant fractionally, you canstart, you know, giving some
time, energy and resources tosome support Without having to
commit to, you know, anotherwhole full-time hour, which,
again in ministry context, isalways a big concern.
So can you see the virtualassistant component a little bit

(40:33):
and just some of the pros andpros and cons of how that
dynamic works.

Tricia Sciortino (40:38):
Yeah, I mean it's a couple things that come
to mind.
I mean there's there's there'stwo parts of this.
I mean, first of all, you know,fractional was specifically the
need we were filling and stilldue to this day.
We started, you know, 13 yearsago, saying not everybody needs
a full-time executive assistantsitting at a desk in an office

(40:58):
Next to them.
There are so many leaders outwho need 10 hours a week.
You know they, they need somehelp.
You know either they're a smallbusiness or they're they're
just getting started, or there'snot a full-time need, whatever
those reasons are.
We knew that that was um a Gapthat we wanted to fill.
We also knew that and believedthat you did not have to be

(41:22):
physically in the same place aspeople to be able to support
people.
So we immediately knew that ourfirst few clients, for example,
our first client, actually wasin Wyoming.
He could not find locals.
He had been through thecommunity.
He's been like, you know,family members, a friend of the

(41:44):
church, daughter, you know hedid all the things and he could
not find great talent in hislocal community and so we knew
the second part of that is youdidn't have to be in the same
place To do great work togetherand so that's how we can't.
Those are our foundationalforming principles.
It's like you could havepart-time help and you don't
have to be in the same room aspeople, and we will show you how

(42:06):
you do that, because we'regonna do it ourselves, because
we're virtual.
So that's the first part aboutfractional and being virtual.
The second part of it is as faras the the, what someone can
afford.
The way I look at it is what isyour hourly rate?
Because right now you're yourvirtual assistant.

(42:27):
That's literally what you'repaying for virtual assistants.
Today You're paying your hourlyrate to do email, to do Cal,
where a virtual assistant'shourly rate is what should be
way less than yours.
So that's how I look at.
The cost perspective isstarting small, that's, you're

(42:49):
literally Converting your timeto somebody else's time and, in
theory, your time has a higherticket price than there.

Jenni Catron (42:58):
Yeah, yeah.
So just even like that goesback to a stewardship principle,
right, like you know, just eventhinking about, am I, you know,
giving my best time and energyto the things that only I can do
, one of the Tools that I'vedone through the years?
I don't even know where I gotthis from.
I don't know if I made it up orif I got it from somewhere.
I'm sure there's an iterationof it somewhere out there, but I

(43:20):
will.
I will take myself through thisexercise, like every six months
, where I will say okay, threecolumns, what are the things
that only I can do?
This is my highest and bestcontribution to the organization
in the role that I sit in.
If I don't do this, nobody elsewill like.
This is my, this is what, thisis what's mission critical.
I have to do these things.

(43:40):
What are the things that I dobut I could delegate, like maybe
, maybe it's not clear wherethey can delegate or when I
should delegate them, andthey're usually a little bit
higher level.
You know, it's like gosh, Iwant to move this off my plate,
but it might be a little waysoff.
And then, what are the thingsthat I must delegate?
Meaning I would be embarrassedto tell Trisha I'm still doing

(44:03):
this, right, like you know, likeI Shouldn't be spending time
when I calculate the cost of medoing this Piece of work.
It is not the best stewardshipdecision for our organization.
And so every six months I willdo those three columns and just
kind of take an evaluation ofwhat's in those columns, because

(44:25):
this stuff here Okay, I got tosolve this today, like this has
to get moved, and then I have tohave an eye on this middle
column, right Of like, okay, Igot to have an eye on, you know,
because maybe as I'm planningyou know, doing strategic
planning and budgeting I'mthinking through, okay, there's
some things here that I reallywant to scale, you know, this

(44:46):
work and and delegate tosomebody else, and then I need
to make sure my best hours ofthe day are given to these
things that are really my bestcontribution to this
organization.
Do you is there?
Do you do something like that?
Does that make sense?

Tricia Sciortino (45:02):
Absolutely beautiful.
Yes, and we actually have our.
All of our leaders do that,because if your intention is to
grow, everybody around you isalso growing, and so it's such a
great exercise.
I love that you do that, jenny,and I think it's great to teach
others how to do that with youalso.
Exactly because there are thingsabsolutely today, I feel like

(45:27):
if I am doing something tooadministrative, I feel like I am
not doing a service to thecompany is paying whatever
dollars an hour for me to sithere and do.
What am I doing right now?
So I, you know, I have to makesure that I am a good steward of
the organization by spendingthe majority of my dime doing
high-impact CEO things yes, andthat is not typing meeting notes

(45:53):
and following up that I'm so,absolutely Absolutely.

Jenni Catron (45:56):
Yeah, that's so good, that's so good, awesome.
Well, friends, I am curious ifanybody has any questions that
you want to ask.
Tricia, maybe you've got somequestions around delegating.
Maybe it's a specific scenariothat you're kind of navigating.
I'll give you a second to popthose in the chat.
And, maddie, maybe you can takeinventory and be ready to ask
those.
But, tricia, tell us a littlebit more about how Belay works

(46:18):
with leaders and you know, forpeople that are maybe curious
about Delegating and andengaging resources like your
virtual assistants, bookkeeper,social media support, like what
does that look like at Belay?

Tricia Sciortino (46:31):
Yeah, so we, we're a very Consultative,
relational organization.
We know, especially with avirtual assistant making the
decision to do that.
It's a very personal hireBecause, to your point, jenny,
this person is works for you,their extension of you, and we
really do understand theimportance of that and you have

(46:51):
time you will spend with thisperson.
So what it looks like for us isyou know, we have a great
consultative conversation withyou.
We will walk through what yourneeds or your areas of
opportunity are and we will helpyou determine Maybe where you
should start.
It could be in how many hours aweek, based on what you're
trying to do, would serve youwell.
From there, if you join us, wego through a discovery process

(47:15):
where you will have an accountmanager who will walk you
through a discovery process andreally get granular about not
only the tasks and things youwant to upload, but about your
work style.
And your personality stop,because this is big again.
This is a very personal hire.
So we'll we'll talk a littlebit about your soft skills, your

(47:36):
delegation, language, if youwill, your behaviors.
Have you delegated before?
What type of Delegator are youor leader Are you?
What kind of communicationstyle do you have?
And then we'll ask you and we'llwork through what is the type
of assistant you need, becausethere there are there are many
different varieties ofassistance.

(47:58):
There are some who you knowemail calendar.
There are some who wereproactive.
There are some that might haveskills that are more in the
marketing area.
There are some that haveexperience in church and donor
management.
So we'll kind of filter throughlike what is the true need here
and what are the soft skillsand the type of personality that
we think would work best withyou Love that.

(48:19):
And then from there we go intoour placement process.
We have a team of virtualassistants and bookkeepers
already vetted and waiting, sowe bring them on before you are
here so that we can go ahead andvery quickly Go through and say
, okay, these are the five mostimportant things we need in an

(48:39):
assistant for Jenny.
We sort that, we pick theperson and say this is the one
that we believe will work bestwith you.
And then we do a jointintroduction With you and your
assistant and we walk youthrough what that relationship
will look like, and then fromthere we stay with you, so we
don't just match and leave you.
We check in, we have lots ofresources for you Teaching you

(49:02):
how to delegate, holding youaccountable to delegate and the
same thing for your virtualassistant.
They have a ton of resources.
We actually have a communitywhere all of the assistants
collaborate together so theylearn from each other.
So you're not just getting yourone virtual assistant.
Your virtual assistant hasaccess to our community of 2000

(49:22):
virtual assistants so theyleverage each other's knowledge
and expertise.
And then and then we we hope wecontinue to evolve with you
over time we help recalibrate inthree months and six months and
nine months and say, okay, howare we doing?
What else?
Yeah, so that is our plan.

Jenni Catron (49:38):
Yeah, I love that and we've we've been a personal
recipient of that process and infact, I have my call.
It was supposed to be today.
We had to reschedule for nextweek, with our calibration at
six months, and you're, you know, the team just checking in and
helping you.
You know, especially whenyou're learning as a leader, how
do I delegate Well, how do Ireally lean and in utilize

(50:00):
Support well?
Having that infrastructure it'ssomebody coaching you along is
really really valuable.
So, maddie, what questions dowe have?
I saw a couple come in, so I'lllet you read them out to us.

(50:10):
Yeah.
So Carmen asked one Are thereany books or resources you would
recommend to help leaders growin delegation?
And I will add, if there areany two, we can put them in a
follow-up email as well, just tomake sure we we have access to
those.

Tricia Sciortino (50:24):
Yes, well, I'd love to give you guys I can
give you guys a free copy of abook that I wrote about
Delegating to my assistant.
Had him had a best do that, hadto maximize your time to, to
help your efficiency, and I gothrough all of the how to manage
time, how to communicate, howto delegate.
So happy to give that to youguys.

(50:44):
Kelsey, maybe you can help mefigure out how to get.

Jenni Catron (50:48):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get that.
We'll send that back out toeverybody that out.

Tricia Sciortino (50:52):
That's, that's good one.
Another one is your world classassistant, by Michael Hyatt.
So he has a book out that talksa lot about how to leverage
assistant, why you should haveone and what are the best ways
to delegate.
So that's another good one thatcomes to me top of mind also.

Jenni Catron (51:06):
Yeah, that's really good, and I've had
clients of mine that I work withwho have used both of those
resources and they were likegame changer just gave me more
awareness of how to delegatebetter and really leverage.
You know, especially againsometimes I think when people
have a very specific role,related responsibility were

(51:29):
better at delegating there, butwhen it comes to helping support
us or being extension of ourwork, we get stuck in knowing
how to delegate and so thoseresources are really valuable.

Tricia Sciortino (51:40):
And I will say there and I encourage this is
kind of off topic, but there isa lot to be said for delegating
things that are also personal.
You know you can't aboutcooking and whatnot, but but
realistically we recommendactually, as a leader you're a
whole person and if, if you havethe opportunity, my assistant

(52:00):
helps me on a lot of personalthings sometimes that's actually
what falls is self care caneasily kind of all through a
crack, but she's holding meaccountable to personal
appointments that she will bookfor me and make sure I'm taking
care of myself, which is greatto have somebody looking out for
you as a person holistically,so I do that's good personal
support also.

Jenni Catron (52:21):
That's really good .

(52:22):
That's really good, awesome.
Okay, hillary said can youdiscuss best practices for
someone who takes delegation toownership in a way that is not
helpful, or decides what needsto be delegated and moves forth
without input from leader?

Tricia Sciortino (52:37):
Okay, so say it.
Can you word that?
Say that again, can you just?

(52:41):
I have you read that out loud for me, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Yeah.
So the idea of you give youdelegate and somebody takes it
to ownership or moves beyond theboundary of which you delegated
, does that make sense in a way?
I mean, we all we want to beempowering and raising people up
, but into a way that's oftennot helpful or creates double
work, because they didn't talkto the person next to them that

(53:05):
you did get delegated,potentially the next step or
different step in a project.
Or then somebody who said, oh,I can do this and just does it
without being, without it beingdelegated to them, and doesn't
necessarily come up and say, hey, can I help you or give me more
, like you were talking aboutthat idea.
Does that make sense tosomebody who's kind of confused

(53:27):
about what should and shouldn'tthe delegating, I guess, and
kind of how they handle what'sdelegated to them?
Yeah, does that make more sense?

Tricia Sciortino (53:35):
Yeah, it's absolutely somebody that they
just took it a little too far.
Maybe go a little wrong.
I'm going off the rails alittle bit.
Yeah, I think that that has alot to do with a constant
delegation feedback cycle thatcan be created.
You know there's differentlevels of delegation and it
could even be something veryformal that you create to handle

(54:00):
a specific person.
But you know, I've known a lotof leaders have used very
specific types of doubt.
There's like delegation numberone Hi, I want you to go
research this one thing andreport back specifically on just
that thing, don't do anythingelse.
And there's level number two Iwant you to go do this thing,
come up with some solutionoptions and then bring it back,

(54:20):
but don't do anything else.
And then there's delegate.
Then there's level number threeI want you to go do that thing,
the entire thing, all the wayto the end, and then I want you
to come back and report to mewhat happened.
And then so there's steps andlevels.
So I think you can communicatethat high.
For this thing I want you tojust do X, because I want to
review it before we go to why,and I think it's just setting

(54:44):
the expectation that it'siterative.
Whatever this thing is, it'siterative and it's not go to the
end.
It's actually stop at thisplace and come back to me for
review before you move forward.
And I think you can communicatethat inside how you delegate.
And there will be times whenyou delegate the opposite and
you say I want no part of this,just go do the whole thing.

(55:05):
But I think delegating the yourpreference on how you want it
to look might help avoid some ofthat.
If it's already happened, thenright, then it's a, then it's a
feedback conversation like hi,thank you, and so, whatever,
that is not, that is not how Iprefer it going forward.

(55:25):
This is how I would like thisto happen.
Please come back to me, xyz.
And here's one.

Jenni Catron (55:30):
That's good, that's helpful.
I think of that blanchardsituational leadership model
where understanding where theindividual is and how much you
should give them at what point,and that is that those, those
levels of delegation like and usbeing clear.
So that comes back to us as theleader of our yeah, how well

(55:52):
are we communicating and beingclear about our expectation?
And you know those check inpoints, etc.
Because I I recognize sometimesI assume they know how much I
want them to do or not do, and Ithink that's what I think is
really important is that theycan actually communicate it very
well, and so that often gets mein trouble.
And then sometimes Hillarysounds like you've got somebody
who just as little ambitious andgoes a little rogue, and so
then you have to be a littlemore specific and clear to pull

(56:15):
them back and you know, andredirect, which can take a lot
of energy.
But I find sometimes thosepeople, once you give them a
little bit of more feedback,they are like they can be, they
can be fantastic.

Tricia Sciortino (56:31):
And that's just the person who, like you,
have to push them because theydon't do enough.

Jenni Catron (56:34):
So yeah yeah, yeah , that's good.
All right, maddie, do we have?
I think there's a couple more.
We probably got time for one ortwo.

(56:40):
Yeah, I wanted to ask the one that Jodi brought up, because
this is our situation in ouroffice how do you reflect
culture with your assistantsthat are in person but also
virtual, like how do you figureout how to ensure that the
culture is going through bothways?

Tricia Sciortino (56:56):
Yeah, well, this is I mean, this is the
stuff we live and breathe, right, jodi?
Yeah, you know, we virtualculture.
It has to be so intentional.
It cannot, it will not organic,it cannot be organic.
It can be organic, but thenyou're going to wind up a place
you don't want to be on.

(57:16):
So you know how to integratethat connectively.
I think it doesn't necessarilyhave to be a.
For my in person team, I do Xand for my virtual team, I do.
Why I think you have to come upwith a communication strategy
that encompasses everybody andensure that you are constantly
putting your values, remotelyand in person, together, and so,

(57:39):
if you're hybrid, specifically,I think you have to be super
intentional on how you'rebringing your virtual team into
what is happening in the office.
It probably is a.
It's a lot more communicationand a lot more frequency,
because a lot can be lost ifyou're not in the office.
So it's it's probablycommunicating 10 times more

(58:01):
about something than you wouldto somebody that's sitting next
to you.
Fortunately, unfortunatelyreally teaches you how to be a
really great communicator,because it, when they cannot be
seen, it will be lost, and youcannot see it when you're not in
the same room, so it gets lostand so you have to fill the gap
constantly with your culturewhen it comes to virtual.

(58:21):
So it's like daily, weekly.
You're talking about a corevalue, talking about a project
initiative.
You're talking about a mission.
You're talking about yourvision, because it's so easy to
disconnect when you can't seethe placards on the wall in the
office.

Jenni Catron (58:35):
That's right, yeah , yeah, I think in.
So in many ways, I love thatthe, the virtual world, the
hybrid workspace world, isforcing us to think more
deliberately about culture,because I think in some cases we
got there by accident, just byproximity, and I think in you
guys at belay were have alwaysbeen thoughtful about shaping

(58:57):
culture in a virtual context andit doesn't make you think more
deliberately about that, jody.
Jody, I love that you're askingthe question because you're
recognizing, okay, it takes alittle bit more effort and
intentionality, but I think thatalso helps shape culture in a
much healthier way.

Tricia Sciortino (59:15):
And I would say one thing I would add to
that is that it's the specificwords you use are more important
when you're virtual.
So, very specifically the wordslike do I say we serve the
client or do we say, hey, we gota new client, so it's just you
have?
The nuances of communicationbecome super highlighted.

Jenni Catron (59:37):
That's really powerful.
That's really helpful.
Okay, trisha, I know we need towrap up.
Last thoughts from you howwould you encourage us to keep
delegating?
Well, what would you what?
How would you encourage ustoday?

Tricia Sciortino (59:49):
Yes, I would say, first of all, do it.
That's number one is recognizethe opportunities with which you
can elevate yourself and yourleadership by offloading some
things to those, whether it's avolunteer or an EA or spouse or
a friend, whatever that lookslike.
You know leaders go together.

(01:00:11):
They don't go alone.
So look at who's around you andand get the support so that
truly, you can focus on what'sthe most important thing you
need to be doing in a role.
So that that is just my finalsay on you know the importance
of delegating, so that you cancontinue to elevate yourself and
your organization.

Jenni Catron (01:00:28):
That's so good, and we can find you and your
team at belay solutionscom.
Is that right?
That's right, fantastic, okay,guys, thanks for joining us
today, thanks for just leaninginto your continued growth as a
leader.
I think this is one of thosetopics that we need to stay
present to regularly, because Ido think we're always learning

(01:00:49):
new skills of delegation, likeas we're growing, we're having
to learn how to keep releasingand empowering other team
members so that we can keepgrowing and learning ourselves.
So, trisha, thank you for yourwisdom and insight.
Thanks for your example as ajust incredibly successful woman
in leadership who has just justmodels this so well and such an

(01:01:10):
encouragement to all of us.
So, friends, check out belaysolutionscom, tell them that
foresight or Jenny sent you,because they are just really
wonderful partners with us, andwe will make sure we send that
free resource back to you all aswell.
So, thanks everybody.
Thank you, trisha.
Thank you, we'll see you allnext time.
Okay, gang, wasn't that sohelpful?

(01:01:31):
Like, I think, perspective ondelegation and how we think
about it as leaders and therecognition that you know we're
constantly learning newdelegation skills, like,
especially if you have anassistant, like bringing that
assistant along with you andyou're growing.
They're growing and you'remultiplying your efforts as a

(01:01:51):
leader because of how youempower and equip them and
delegate to them.
So I want to encourage you tocheck out belay solutions, belay
solutionscom, learn whatthey're about in the show notes.
We'll have that link to theresource that Trisha mentioned.
And, just if you've been on thefence about, I know I need some
support but I'm not exactlysure how to do it.

(01:02:11):
I have found that hiring avirtual assistant is such a
great next step, like it's agood step, without going way
into the deep end of findingsome fractional support and
helping you learn how todelegate and and how to do that
and then delegate and and bringon more support for you and your
organization and specificallyto help you as a leader.
So go to belay solutionscom tocheck that out and then, of

(01:02:35):
course, let me know what youthought about this week's
episode.
Send me an email at podcast atget foresightcom, or reach out
to us on social media at getforesight, g, e, t, the number
four, s, I, g, h, t, or you canfind me at Jenny Catron, and
then I'd love it if you share it, if this, if there's somebody
on your team who needs to learnto delegate better, or you have

(01:02:56):
a friend that you've beentalking about this topic with,
share it with them.
Talk about it together, use itas a starting point for good
conversation as a team or asleaders, to help you grow in
your delegation and to createsome accountability with others
around this topic.
And then, if we can help youwith more resources, be sure to

(01:03:17):
sign up for our insightsnewsletter.
If you go to get foresightcomthat's g et, the number four, s,
I, g, h, tcom you can find allkinds of free resources.
You can sign up for a weeklyinsights email and we'll be sure
to keep equipping you in thebest way we can.
So thanks for listening today.

(01:03:37):
Keep leading well and I willsee you next week.