Leading Virtual Teams: Angelene Balansag on Empowering Workspaces

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Angelene Balansag Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today in the house, we’ve got a special guest, Angelene Balansag, and she is new to one of my clients. She’s on our WIN team. She’s come through our, she’s starting our leadership program and she had some really valuable insights that I thought would be really interesting for us to have a conversation and share it. So welcome to the show, Angelene.

[00:00:26] Angelene Balansag: Hello, everyone.

[00:00:28] Kris Ward: Okay. All right.

[00:00:29] Angelene Balansag: It’s really a pleasure to be here.

[00:00:30] Kris Ward: Fantastic. All right. You, when you were hired, we find hire and onboard virtual assistants for our clients and we have this leadership program and then we bring you in. And one of the things we do every month is we have a live training and everybody gets together.

[00:00:45] We do this and we do different topics every month in the leadership program. And you were only with us a day or two and you were able just by the time of the month, you, it started with our Leadership Program. And I remember you were surprised at the live training. Like you were talking about how I talk to people and how they talk to me.

[00:01:01] And I just thought that would make for an interesting conversation here. So can you tell me what was so interesting to you? What made you so excited? What was different? Let’s just talk about that.

[00:01:11] Angelene Balansag: Okay. First of all, what really get me so excited? What really surprised me? First thing is the interview. On the very first interview, because usually…

[00:01:23] let’s talk about my first job. The first job that where I landed, which is the BPO industry. It really took me for two hours, one hour for an interview for to measure our communication skill and a second hour or another hour to measure our skills with the computer. So basically, all in all, it costs two hours for us to finish the interview.

[00:01:49] Now, when I had the interview with you, Kris, actually, that really amazed me, because when you accepted me on Zoom, you just said, Hi, okay, so here’s my question. And then, what? I was amazed. That’s it? There’s boom, there’s the question. And then you answer it. And then boom, we finish the…

[00:02:11] Kris Ward: oh, my gosh.

[00:02:13] Angelene Balansag: Yeah

[00:02:13] Kris Ward: That’s crazy. I didn’t know that. I’ve never heard this before. You do a two, two hours of your time. How grueling is that? Do you even get a job after two? You might not get the job after two hours.

[00:02:25] Angelene Balansag: No, I actually waited for at least two, three weeks before I was accepted into the company. Yeah.

[00:02:32] Kris Ward: Okay. Oh my gosh. Okay. So that is crazy.

[00:02:35] So yes, my interviews are really quick. We have this 12 point hiring process. What happens in case you don’t know, is when you come on the screen right away, there’s about six things I’m looking for. So right away, I’m assessing you. And then I asked you, “Hey, this Angelene, this is a quick interview to see if you make it to the main interview.

[00:02:53] Angelene, can you tell me why you’re a good fit for this job?” And I’m looking to see, can you have a conversation or do you recite things to me? Can you say, Oh yes, I just want to see how your eyes light up and how you talk. And are you thinking on your feet? I don’t want a big long answer of tell me about your resume.

[00:03:09] And then you start going through this rehearsed dialogue. I want to see how you think on your feet. So there’s a whole bunch of things that go into that, that I’m evaluating. And for the most part, I can do that in about two minutes. So I would say I didn’t know this. So my interview initial, and I say, it’s a quick interview to see if you make it to the main interview.

[00:03:31] So you’re right. My quick interview is about two minutes and yours, Oh my Lord was two hours. Okay. So we do that. Then we go to the main interview. Fine. All right. So then you get hired. This is nuts to me. I didn’t know. So then you get hired and you’re in our leadership program. So you attend our live training. What did you think? What was that like for you?

[00:03:50] Angelene Balansag: First, I really sitted on the room, like observing what’s happening. I really thought there would be like a teacher and the students, like a teacher speaking while the students are listening, something like that. But it’s very entirely different because upon entering the room, I saw all the people very accommodating.

[00:04:11] They really are actually more speaking their thoughts. Yeah. And then there you go, just assessing what’s your idea. “Can you please tell me, speak” your something like that? Yeah. And I was so glad to be there. Yes, because I really felt how fantastic the people are, how warm they are, how you really hear them.

[00:04:31] You never really let the people go at all won’t be able to share what they need to share on the meeting or what they learned on the meeting. Wow, this is amazing. Yeah. They’re really amazed me.

[00:04:46] Kris Ward: Yeah. You bring up a really good point. Let me just pause you there for one second. You bring up a really good point is most of the corporations, even in North America, they’re very parentified.

[00:04:55] So you show up to a meeting, like I’m the teacher or the parent and I, you guys all whatever submissive or some sort of whatever student type situation. And that’s not what we’re looking for at all. Every, we want people that have ideas that are dynamic. We want you all to be leaders. And so we come at it, you’re right at a very different thing.

[00:05:14] And you’re right. I won’t let people off the hook if they don’t participate. That’s a problem for me. That’s a performance issue. If I say, okay, who’s got an idea? I want to hear ideas, good, bad, or indifferent. I just want to hear ideas because we can’t read minds. And if you can’t come up with ideas and share and we bang ideas off each other, collaborate, then you know, what are you good for?

[00:05:35] So I’m very passionate about it being a team thing and everyone contributing. So you’re right. It’s not about the teacher things. And then when everybody’s relaxed giving ideas, talking, then they feel like that. You felt like we’re being warm. It’s just because then you’re not sitting there waiting for the boss to say something.

[00:05:53] You’re all nervous. Okay. So you noticed it was very collaborative participation was a must. Yeah. What else did you notice?

[00:06:01] Angelene Balansag: Yeah. And also during that, during the huddle, I noticed that everyone is, are all smiling because back on my first job, the BPO industry, whenever we get it to the huddle, it would also take for at for only at least an hour, but it, it will take an hour, but all the people there are very silent.

[00:06:25] They were very, they were. They were listening to all the runs that our team leader would tell us because they only spot the bad things that the agent does during the work. But it’s very entirely different because you do help us or you do help the pe the team. Or yeah the virtual assistants during the meeting, asking if they were, what’s something they’re confused about, or is there something they need help?

[00:06:52] But it’s very entirely different back on my first job. Because

[00:06:57] Kris Ward: yes, so you’re talking about a huddle because I know Alex. Who you work with, he calls them huddles, we call them scrums. So we have scrums every day. And the first thing you’re bringing up is the scrums that we have, they’re like 15 minutes. So they’re short.

[00:07:10] It’s not somebody showing up to check your work again, like a parent or a teacher. Yeah. And then the WIN team training, the leadership training that we have every month. Yeah, that’s a little bit longer. Cause it’s, we’re all getting together. So it’s going to be like 45 minutes, but it’s not there for me to point out who’s not doing stuff.

[00:07:27] It’s us collaborating and me saying, Hey, who has issues? Can we help you? Or like I had someone last week, reached out one of the win team members and they wanted to ask for a raise. And they’re like, okay, I want to know the language to do this. And here’s why I think I deserve a raise. I’m like, okay, let me help you with this.

[00:07:41] Say this, don’t say that. So I will work with them as much as I work with my clients, the team leaders, teaching them, how to encourage you to speak up, how to give you more responsibility. So we’re coming at it from both sides. So you’re right. It’s very different. We’re not there to micromanage.

[00:07:57] And so then people show up and you’re right. They’re smiling because they like their job. It’s easy to like your job when nobody’s criticizing you all day. Not that there might be times where maybe I need to give you feedback, but I can do it in a way that’s empowering, not criticizing.

[00:08:14] Angelene Balansag: Yeah.

[00:08:14] Kris Ward: Makes sense. Okay. Yes, absolutely. And with this approach, how do you find it so far now that you’re working with Alex? How do you like, and I’m, you’re watching it in the learning center that you have access to. We give you videos to watch. So we’re still supporting you and doing all kinds of things. How do you, how does that affect your confidence when working with your team leader, Alex?

[00:08:33] Angelene Balansag: Yeah. Yeah, that thing too also the learning center. It really helped me a lot because there are a lot of videos there that you organize for us to become more confident when we worked with our client or our team leader, because there are a lot of tools that could help us there for easier and faster work.

[00:08:55] So that really helped me a lot. And it, what you call that one, it somehow gave me really, it really built my confidence working with Alex because I could share him some details that, he might haven’t known yet or something. So that really built rapport between us. Yeah.

[00:09:19] Kris Ward: Yeah. I think from what I can hear from what I hear from people going through agencies and stuff, cause we’re not an agency.

[00:09:25] It’s one of the things we do is find hire onboard virtual assistants, but why we’re not an agency is I don’t take a piece of your pay. I just match you with him. And then I help him and he pays for my coaching and I just don’t want him to have the learning curve of having to learn how to find somebody.

[00:09:41] So we do that for him. But I think previously you’re so on your own, like even when you work for an agency, they assign you to a client and they just expect you like, Oh, this client decides you’re going to load, whatever, learn how to do YouTube videos. You better figure it out tomorrow. You’re so on your own.

[00:09:58] And we’re not here. First of all, I wouldn’t let one of my clients say, okay, Monday, she’s doing YouTube videos. Tuesday, she’s writing copy. Like I would guide them like, no, that’s too many different directions. So I’m going to protect the job description and your job bio, but more importantly, I’m teaching you the skill set of how to be heard, how to communicate, how to get ideas across and whatever, how to co collaborate and be a business partner with this win team person.

[00:10:26] And I think because of that, if somebody thinks you’re smart and they teach you how to articulate your smartness, cause I do think you’re smart and I’m helping you go from good to great to excellent, your confidence has nowhere to go but up, right?

[00:10:40] Angelene Balansag: Yeah. That’s true. That’s true. Yeah. It will never go low.

[00:10:44] Kris Ward: No, he’ll never go. You’ll never have less confidence. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t even imagine being on your own and the stress of being on your own. Like when you’re working for an agency and then your client wants something crazy that you’ve never done before. Now you got to Google your face off before work tomorrow and try to figure it out and then learn like that’s stressful.

[00:11:01] So even if you had confidence, they would beat it out of you. Really? Yeah. That’s true. That’s true. That’s true. Cause I do remember that first win leadership training program and you look so excited. Like you’re like looking around the, like the room in the virtual room, like what the heck is going on here?

[00:11:16] This is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this. And you kept commenting. You’re like how I spoke to people. You’re like, Kris, the way you speak to people and the way you let them speak to you, like you thought it was like crazy

[00:11:28] Angelene Balansag: though, because it’s actually. Because it seems like you put yourself on the virtual assistant’s feet, like you feel them, you’re not putting yourself in hierarchy, is that how you pronounce that one?

[00:11:43] Kris Ward: Hierarchy, yeah.

[00:11:44] Angelene Balansag: Yeah, hierarchy, like you’re really the top and they’re the lower ones. So it’s oh really? She feels like she’s really, she really belongs to the virtual assistants cycle circle. So yeah, it’s, it really, truly feels amazing to see a team very differently collaborating at each other. Yeah.

[00:12:07] Kris Ward: That’s the biggest compliment I think I could, Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I think the delay, go ahead.

[00:12:13] Angelene Balansag: Yeah, it’s okay. It’s okay. I actually even remember listening to one of your interviews,, she says, working with you feels like she’s owning the company rather than she’s working for you. And I really felt that during the meeting.

[00:12:28] Kris Ward: Yeah, that was more, she said in an interview on here, which I was so surprised she said she feels like it’s her company. I was like, Oh my gosh. But I think equal to that, and I thought it was great. I thought that was the best thing she could have said. I think equal to that’s a huge compliment that you just gave me for that.

[00:12:43] I, you feel like I’m in your shoes and that I’m one of you because we’ve all been employees. I’ve had bosses where they say they want this and you give them that and then they’re not happy or they come in cause they fought with their wife or who knows whatever. And you’re just so victim to their day.

[00:12:59] And I just don’t think that’s cool. Like even if I had something going on at home or it was difficult, I don’t think you bring that into the workplace. I just, I don’t think that’s cool. There’s so much more I want. I want to, I think business should be fun. And I think your team should have fun and do things happen or we have problems or make mistakes for sure.

[00:13:16] But then we fix them with super toolkit and we move forward. We don’t, there’s no reason to get cranky or blame people. So that’s what I want from all of you. And that’s what I keep pushing in the leadership program is I don’t want anybody to be submissive and obedient. I want you to get your work done.

[00:13:31] I want you to have a voice. I want you to like the work. I want you to have ideas and get excited when you see those ideas come into action and in your work. That’s what life is about is at the end of the day, you think you did something really interesting instead of just keep your head down, try to be invisible and do some admin work.

[00:13:48] So yeah, you’re right. I’ve, I want so much for you all to rise to your highest potential because not only is it fun. When I see people like in the WIN team blossom and it’s so exciting, but as you blossom, you’re only enhancing the team leaders, which are my clients. There’s just no way I don’t win. I get to see you love, like when you lit up that first time that you came to the training, you’re like, so excited.

[00:14:15] That’s fun for me. I created that. This is amazing. And then to know you take that same enthusiasm to go into work with Alex. It just says, and then Alex is benefiting from it. Now, Alex is leaving me messages about all the things that are happening in his business because Angel and I, Angelene and I are doing all this amazing work.

[00:14:33] Like it just keeps coming back and more amazing work. So it’s just fun. Like it doesn’t have to be hard. It can be fun. You can be very effective, systematic, successful, get a lot of stuff done and do it in a fun way.

[00:14:47] Angelene Balansag: Yeah, that’s true.

[00:14:49] Kris Ward: I agree.

[00:14:49] Angelene Balansag: That’s what I’m really experiencing.

[00:14:52] Kris Ward: So what are some other things that you notice now you’ve been here?

[00:14:55] You haven’t been here that long, but you’ve had some culture shock. You’ve seen, you’re like, this is a different game. What are some other things that surprised you?

[00:15:04] Angelene Balansag: Okay. One thing also that surprises me is that you don’t allow the team to work like in full graveyard shift. And like the previous job that I had, yeah, because actually with my BPO company too, I also requested to work at daytime, but the situation won’t really allow, because we’re working for people who work, who lives in United States, so their morning is our evening.

[00:15:32] So we were really should work on their time zone, but in your way, you only wanted us to just work half of their daytime so that we can sleep still in peace during the night in our time zone.

[00:15:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. So what I believe in is this. First of all, I don’t believe anybody in the world at all whatsoever can do a good job working overnights.

[00:15:56] And okay. What I mean, admin jobs, there are people like cops and firefighters. You have to work overnight. That’s fine. But what I’m saying is for somebody to do an admin job, From 11 at night to five o’clock in the morning. Oh my gosh. There’s just, you’re going to get sick. The sleep you get during the day is not the same.

[00:16:13] You have a family. It just doesn’t work. And so what I believe in is like my team, they’re around my mornings. So I’m in Easter time zone. So they’re around till about midnight. Which is my lunchtime. If I need to meet with them, collaborate, come up with scrum, do whatever. We can do that in the morning. So they’re full time.

[00:16:32] So the four hours are in my morning, their evening, they stop around midnight. The other four hours are fantastic because I come into work in the morning and they did that another, like in their afternoons or whenever they want it. When I’m sleeping, when I come into work, the things I need are done. And I would argue, if you think you need an assistant with you at your beck and call from nine to five all day long, then you’re not set up properly.

[00:16:58] You’re being reactive. So if you have to have somebody every time you text somebody or slack them or whatever, they have to be there. Then you’re still in this hysterical reaction mode and things aren’t done. So I don’t think it benefits the entrepreneur and it sure as heck there’s no way there’s, you could stay with Alex for the next 10 years and get promoted and do all these things.

[00:17:21] You can’t do that. If you feel sick, half the time working overnights, that’s true. That’s true. Yeah. So that is one of the first things I tell people when they get through the interview process is I say, listen, just so we’re clear. And now I can’t make my clients do it because it’s not an agency. I don’t control you.

[00:17:38] Once they hire you, they pay you. However, they do all listen to me and they do, they’re all very lovely people. And they do respect that even if you weren’t a nice person, it’s a bad business plan to have somebody working at four o’clock in the morning. It’s just silly. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. So we don’t believe in overnights.

[00:17:55] We don’t believe that you’re on your own or being submissive. I, this, I guess this is all kinds of fun for you. What else do you think is different? Yeah.

[00:18:03] Angelene Balansag: Yeah. Another thing is having noticed when you order a product online and that there will be a line, like you order what you get, what, and that’s when really I felt upon joining the company because you told me that you will not work on your own.

[00:18:20] You will not get like a cranky client, you will be able to have a supportive team. You will never be able to feel like working alone and you really have all this video that could help you to have a smooth flow work and you even gave me some things, be specific. specific things according to the video to do just for me to have just a wonderful day working on my computer with less stress.

[00:18:48] And that really gave me something like, wow, it’s really true. She’s not lying at all. And also, You also work on my because remember when you on board me and I told you that, Hey, Kris, I have something to do on my Wednesday. Can you please help me with this? And yeah, I really appreciate that. Yeah, because you work on my schedule.

[00:19:14] You also talk to Alex. So that I could do my stuff while working full time. And I really appreciate that.

[00:19:22] Kris Ward: Yeah. Okay. That’s a big compliment. So I do all tell my clients that too. So the WIN team leaders and you guys are the WIN team. And what I say to them is when we’re teaching them about the leadership program, how to communicate to you and how to be good leaders for you and how to make a collaborative environment for you.

[00:19:38] I tell them that all the time. I say, Just because you say, ask questions doesn’t mean they’re going to because we’ve all, you’re right. You said, I said all these promises to you, but then what you were surprised about is that I kept all those promises because it’s really easy for people to say stuff.

[00:19:54] They can say, Oh, I’m really easy to work with. And I have, I’m very patient. And then you’re, I’ve had jobs where they say that to me. And then all of a sudden, two weeks later, they’re yelling at me. I’m like, who’s, you’re not patient at all. You’re really quite horrible. That’s true. So you’re right. Just because somebody says something doesn’t mean they mean it.

[00:20:14] And I think that’s horrible. I do always say what I say, but that’s the whole point is usually I tell my clients that team leaders, “Hey, you’ve got to give them some time that they’re going to trust you that when you say ask questions, it’s okay because so many of them. Have had jobs, myself included, where what somebody says is not what they do.”

[00:20:31] So that is a really powerful point you bring up is yeah, everything. And that’s a big compliment. Everything I say I’m going to do, I do. So I really appreciate that. And then the other thing you said was because of the time zones. You’re working with Alex and he’s in England. So his time zones are crazy.

[00:20:47] Like he’s six hours ahead of me. So it works out in Alex’s favor that you do, you have a Wednesday evening commitment on your own time. So you have a commitment, like six to eight. So for me, if I had a commitment, let’s say I’m taking a course or I’m doing whatever Wednesday night, six to eight, that’s a reasonable time to have it.

[00:21:06] It’s not like you’re asking me to say, “Hey, can I have every Wednesday morning off?” If you, if I was working at a job down the street and they hired me and I’m like, Oh, okay, great. I work nine to five. I live 10 minutes away. Could I have Wednesday mornings off? So you said, look, I have this commitment and it’s Wednesday evening, six to eight, but in England time, that’s going to be in the later afternoon. How are we going to navigate that? So we met with Peter and said, look, she has her own life, six to eight Wednesday evening. She’s been doing this for years. She’s got this commitment and he’s okay. Of course, we’ll just, we’ll schedule around it.

[00:21:39] That’s fine. Now we know we’ll schedule around it. I just felt for you to have a commitment on Wednesday evening. Is reasonable, who are we to interfere with your evening hours and if you already have it, let’s dance around it. But yeah, I think that for the most time and especially again, I would argue that when the WIN team leader is set up properly, then Peter, sorry, then Alex should have his work set up enough that you can take two hours off when Wednesday evening, Wednesday afternoon, his time and make up for it later because you’re working independently.

[00:22:13] Make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I’m glad. Okay. I really do that compliment. Like I am as is, as described on the package. It doesn’t get any better than that. Oh my gosh. Okay. You have been absolutely fantastic. Angel. We’re so thrilled to have you. And I know. Alex has just loved working with you and you’ve only been here a short period of time.

[00:22:34] But like you said, when we have things set up like the leadership program and the super tool kits and the support that you get, it doesn’t take long before it feels like you’ve been here forever. It seems like we know each other so well.

[00:22:48] Angelene Balansag: Yeah, that’s true. That really happened the first day on the first time I joined the scrum team.

[00:22:54] Yeah. I really felt I belong to the team. No, it’s still my first time, but why does it feel like I belong to the back?

[00:23:02] Kris Ward: Yeah, that’s fantastic. I love hearing that because it doesn’t need to be hard. And the point is, I guess the point I’m making to the point that you’re making is when you show up and you feel appreciated and you feel like your voice is being heard and you feel like we’re approachable and that we really are a team that has got to bring out the best in you.

[00:23:21] So you’re not watching your words. You’re not worried about your job. You’re not stressful. And so that other people say increases their confidence. I don’t know if I increase your confidence, but I know I don’t suppress your confidence. So when you have other jobs or you’re on your own, or somebody is testing you for two hours, and you that chips away your confidence after two hours, right?

[00:23:42] But yeah, we’re here. You’re not being judged. If there’s a mistake, we just fix it with a super toolkit. No big deal. So it just frees you to be creative, to think, to share your ideas because you don’t have to second guess yourself all the time.

[00:23:56] Angelene Balansag: Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. That’s true. I actually agree to that.

[00:24:02] Talking about encouragement or like confidence. Kris, I remember going back to my interview with you. And then they, yeah, I was in the middle of answering your question and I was really nervous. Like I was really afraid at moment. And then you said, stop I really like your code, something like that. And then I was like, Oh no, did I fail?

[00:24:24] Then you told me, no, I’m complimenting you. That really ignites my confidence. Oh, wow. This is so amazing. And that’s one thing I found so rare, so amazing because it never happened to me that I was, Interviewed and then I was complimented with my hair, with my, with how I dress up because we all prepared for that.

[00:24:47] Kris Ward: You showed up looking so professional. You had this business jacket on and you look so good and you look so polished. And I think if I remember correctly, I think I could tell you were a little bit nervous and I wanted you to be you. I didn’t want you to be nervous. So I said, look, I think I may have said.

[00:25:04] Hey, you show up. You look really professional. I love your jacket. I could tell that you would put thought into this. You didn’t just show up for a virtual meeting. You were taking this seriously. And so what I wanted to do was say, look, I see you’re taking this seriously. So just talk to me. Don’t over rehearse this.

[00:25:21] So I think I was trying to get, because I knew you were smart and you came off so polished and so professional and so intelligent. I didn’t want you to get in your own way.

[00:25:30] Angelene Balansag: Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

[00:25:35] Kris Ward: Okay, you have been a treat. Everyone, please share this with a business buddy. There’s lots of content here and very helpful and really just allows you to have a business that supports your life instead of consuming it.

[00:25:45] So we appreciate you. We love the reviews. Keep them coming. We thank you so much for chiming in and we will see you in the next episode.