Most VA placements don't fail dramatically. They fail quietly — the VA goes 3 weeks without a real conversation, starts guessing on priorities, gets demoralized, and one Tuesday they're gone.
This is the 5-question Friday script we coach every PHVA client to use. Total time: 8–12 minutes. Copy-paste it into Slack or email, or run it as a quick Zoom.
The two strongest predictors of whether a Filipino VA placement is still working at month 12 are:
"Real" is the operative word. "Hey how's it going?" in passing on Slack doesn't count. The VA needs a recurring, predictable moment where you actually look at what they did, validate priorities, and surface blockers.
Send this in a single Slack message or email at the same time every Friday. Block 10 minutes on your calendar to read the reply and respond.
Read it carefully and reply with a specific compliment. "Nice work" is worthless. "The way you handled the inspection issue on the Maple Ave file — that saved us 3 days" is gold. Filipino professional culture rewards public acknowledgment and remembers it for a long time.
Look for patterns over 3-4 weeks. The same task slipping repeatedly is a signal — either the priority isn't actually a priority, the task is harder than you scoped, or there's a tool/access blocker you haven't seen.
If their #1 priority isn't the same as yours, don't wait until Monday to fix it. Reply Friday with the actual #1 in writing, not in your head. Misaligned priorities are the most common cause of "I don't understand what they're doing all day."
Most blockers are tiny — access to a tool, a missing template, an intro to the broker compliance person, a decision you've been sitting on. Filipino VAs are culturally less likely to escalate proactively. This question gives them a structured permission to do it.
Anything below 8 is the most important data point in the whole check-in. It means they're spending hours executing on something they're guessing about. Spend 10 extra minutes on Friday clarifying it — it'll save 5 hours of wrong-direction work next week.
We'll send you a Notion template version with auto-rolling weekly entries, blocker tags, and a 90-day retention dashboard so you can see if your VA's clarity score is trending up or down.
No spam. We'll send the template + 1 follow-up email with our weekly check-in tips.
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