Extraordinary action is the call of 2020. It’s what will lift businesses and their communities so they grow stronger and create more jobs locally after the COVID-19 pandemic. But how do we make extraordinary action possible amid uncertainty, worry, or fear? Our GoTeam Founder Matt Kesby shares some powerful ideas in this episode of All In!
Gem: Does your business have all the skills you need to get ready for post-pandemic growth? Hello, I’m Gem and welcome to All In, where we talk about how remarkable virtual assistants can help your business adapt and thrive, even in the midst of the pandemic.
Gem: Today, it’s our pleasure to hear from GoTeam, Matt Kesby. Now, Matt has been outsourcing offshore for the past 13 or so years, long before he started Go Virtual Assistants, now, GoTeam. Our team recently had this conversation with Matt about why it makes great business sense for most companies to outsource now. Hi, Matt! So what do we say to business owners who don’t want to send jobs offshore?
Matt Kesby: Thanks, Gemstar. That’s such a great question. In fact, it’s one of my favorite ones to answer. As an outsourcing business in the offshore environment. The first thing we will say is, hire locally for high value strategic roles. In fact, we want to see more high value strategic roles being placed onshore. And in fact, that’s been the net outcome of our approach to outsourcing offshore. It sounds very counterintuitive that we’re going to say we encourage hiring more onshore, because most people think our business model is designed on low-cost labor offshore.
Matt Kesby: In fact, that’s not the case. The case is that our actual driver is to see businesses to scale, to increase three times results every three years. Now how do you do that? You do it with the right team. And that right team is going to be both local and global to make this work.
Gem: It also feels like right now, everyone is going to need all the help they can get. The way everyone works has dramatically changed, and yet that’s not the end of it. There’s a lot more to learn, and certainly a larger volume of work to do.
Matt Kesby: There’s also a lot of emotional strain on challenges in relationships, because they’ve gone through the work from home environment, the stress at home. Kids have been at home doing homeschooling more, stress going on. This literally raises the cortisol level of people’s bodies, and they are unable to think as effectively as before. When we then place the volume of work on top of an individual in many cases, they needed to do more than they’ve ever done before, because employers have actually scaled back their operations. You further add additional stress to the team member.
Matt Kesby: Now if you want to get great results for individuals, you need to drive high engagement and high morale. An individual who is overwhelmed and stressed doesn’t have high morale. And although the engagement might look high because they’re working so hard, when the morale is low, it becomes counterproductive.
Gem: Yes, it’s interesting how more people than ever before now work in distributed teams, yet the need for connection and collaboration has never been greater. And there’s a need to use tech better as well, such as automation.
Gem: Now for business leaders that are determined to grow beyond the pandemic, what do they need to do?
Matt Kesby: So what do we need to do? We actually need to unleash the potential of these leaders by actually delegating core components of their work, to people who are 100% focused and dedicated to delivering those results. Now, most businesses will struggle to afford to put on an extra person right now, that’s the reality. And in their local environment.
Matt Kesby: Now, what you do when you take a different holistic view to this, one that is designed around generating more jobs locally, is you look to things like automation, in order to make that person’s role more effective in their. Right? And therefore, some would also argue that automation is taking jobs locally. Reality Check, it’s going to happen. You can’t avoid this. There’s no point protecting it. It needs to happen otherwise, these businesses are not going to survive.
Matt Kesby: So as long as we can be adults about this and say, is the end game, creating more jobs locally, and building that business, so it will be strong and flourish for the future? If that is the end game, then we need strategies that will drive the results. So one is automation. Two was in fact outsourcing to offshore or building a global team. So that there’s core work that can be done to leverage up the results of that strategic individual back in the host country. That actually frees up their mind, reduces the stress, allows them to deliver bigger results than ever delivered before.
Matt Kesby: You see, it’s not about replacing jobs, and it’s not about taking jobs. It’s actually about augmenting the work with a lower-cost solution, which is either going to be automation or outsourcing offshore. The key is for the people in the onshore locations to now further enhance their learning education become more strategic in their roles and add more value. It’s not about sending jobs offshore, it’s about augmenting to get greater results in business.
Gem: For business owners who have never outsourced offshore before, this can be an idea they’re both excited and a little fearful about, right?
Matt Kesby: And this has always been the way. But one thing right now, it’s really natural that there’s a lot of fear at the moment and people fear anytime there’s ambiguity, uncertainty. Everyone will go back into sort of this like shell type safety mode, lock it all down. And what we have there is, no, it’s not growth, it’s attrition. It is atrophy. In fact, it’s like of a muscle that doesn’t get used goes into atrophy. And as people cower down into, like retreating from action, what they’re doing is they’re stopping growth.
Matt Kesby: Where right now what we need is strength, determination, perseverance, willpower, moving forward in a direction for growth, and moving really quickly, and it needs fast decision making, which is really difficult when people are stressed and overwhelmed and freaked out. So there’s going to be businesses right now that take a level of action, that some are going to those that are uninformed, or uneducated in this play with automation and outsourcing offshore. They’re going to look at it from a negative space, because they’re very short, they’ll be short sighted, or without, their just lacking experience. And that’s okay, that’s normal. This is what has happened throughout all the ages, especially if you look at when the Industrial Revolution kicked into place.
Gem: It really helps to remember that despite all the challenges, there’s a lot of room for businesses to thrive and even grow after COVID-19.
Matt Kesby: So the key within all this is, if you desire prosperity, if you desire for greater growth, if you desire to have a greater quality of life in a more sustainable way for the future, then look to the strategic options that will allow a business to thrive. These are going to be automation, and they’re going to be outsourcing. And the opportunity for skilling up and growing is brighter than it’s ever been, especially after we come out of a really tough time or, during a tough time like what we’re about to see, which is most likely the greatest depression since the Great Depression.
Matt Kesby: At this point in time, businesses do need to pivot. They do need to scale, and they’ll need to take extraordinary action. And there’s a statement that we’ve worked with all throughout this and that is, don’t let a good crisis go to waste. Now, don’t misread this one, because it’s the second line to this, which is often not said that needs to be heard. And that is in a crisis, it gives you permission to execute in ways that you’ve never done before, because your ego used to stand in the way. Your ego would often have too much pride and get hurt by what others might say and how they’re being judged, and people judge all the time. It’s normal. It’s part of life.
Matt Kesby: Right now, be committed to prosperity of growing the businesses to actually generate more roles locally, that will be long term sustainable.
Gem: And there you have it, friends. Don’t let a good crisis go to waste. Give yourself permission to execute in ways you’ve never done before.
Gem: I’m Gem and we’ve all just heard from Matt Kesby, founder of GoTeam. Catch the future episodes of All In, brought to you by GoTeam. We’re driven to help businesses to scale and be a catalyst for people to exceed. Thanks for listening.
About GoTeam (formerly Go Virtual Assistants)
GoTeam, formerly GO Virtual Assistants (GO-VA) Inc. is a registered Australian-Filipino owned company growing in the heart of Cebu City, as well as a growing number of key cities in the Philippines.
Our HQ is situated in an IT complex with modern facilities, although since March 2020, more than 70% of our team members have been working from home.
Our enhanced operations and streamlined services provide scalable opportunities that spell sustainability, growth, and success for any business venture. As your global team members, GoTeam’s goal is to create winnable games and strategies across all the work that we do, knowing that your success is our long-term fulfillment.
We help Australian, NZ, US, and UK businesses increase revenue, reduce costs, and scale through outsourced offshoring. This also creates for us the opportunity to be a catalyst for people to exceed.
AU (+61) 2 7227 8809
US (+1) 302 207 2767
PH (+63) 032 238 7448
9th Flr, i1 Bldg, Jose Ma. del Mar St, IT Park,
Cebu City, Philippines 6000
Website: https://go.team
Careers: https://go.team/ph/
Email: sales@go.team
Email: careers@go.team
