Collaborate and conquer: Strategies for team productivity
The Leadership Project
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Episode breakdown
Barbara Turley is the CEO and Founder of The Virtual Hub, a digital first support assistant company. Despite having more experience as an individual contributor than leading teams, her strong sense of self-leadership and process efficiency helped shape her ability to lead teams effectively as she leads a 350-strong workforce of offshore support assistants.
In this episode, Barbara shares about how they were able to increase retention rate by engaging all her employees to provide solutions. She also shares the importance of collaboration and ideation when leading remote teams, as well as maximizing digital platforms to align the entire organization towards common goals, thereby reducing miscommunication and increasing accuracy of output.
- Barbara Turley’s leadership background
- How Barbara Turley addresses challenges in leadership and manages her business problems
- The importance of asking the whys and why not when confronted with challenges in your business
- How to know what the people in your team want
- Barbara talks about one of The Virtual Hub’s core values which is ‘We find SOLUTIONS until solutions find us
- How to get your team to ace your expectations
- How to delegate effectively
- How to help people who have grown up in an industry reliant on meetings and traditional updates to transition into a more digital approach
- Optimising your platforms, processes, and people
- How to get success working with an assistant in a different time zone
I think to be a great leader, you have to first have the ability to be able to look in the mirror at yourself and to see your own areas for improvement, let's call it, or areas that might not be serving you well and then to have the ability to say, ‘What am I now going to do?’, so that I get where I want to go
In this episode
00:04 Self-leadership and leadership discovery
Barbara Turley shares her unconventional leadership journey from individual contributor roles in finance to leading a remote team of 300. She emphasizes the importance of self-leadership, self-awareness, and self-motivation as foundations for effectively leading others.
04:49 The power of curiosity and root cause analysis
Barbara discusses curiosity as a core value and leadership tool, explaining how digging deep to find the root causes of issues — often hidden behind emotions like fear or overwhelm — is essential before crafting solutions and taking meaningful action.
06:49 The “Why not” mindset for breakthrough growth
Highlighting a real-world example of reducing employee attrition, Barbara illustrates how challenging the status quo with “Why not?” questions can push teams to expand their thinking, innovate, and take ownership of impactful solutions.
12:08 Listening to clients and employees for innovation
Barbara underscores the importance of prioritizing client and employee feedback over competitor comparisons. By addressing frustrations others accept as normal, businesses can discover unique opportunities and create standout customer experiences.
16:23 Solution-oriented action and avoiding paralysis
Drawing from her experience as a trader and business leader, Barbara encourages immediate, proactive decision-making. She advocates staying in motion — even imperfectly — because action generates new pathways and prevents stagnation.
18:43 Effective delegation framework
Barbara outlines a structured approach to delegation: clarifying objectives, ideating together, setting success parameters, and empowering team members to act within a safe, collaborative space, especially when working with assistants.
22:26 Clarifying initiative vs. Mind reading in delegation
Barbara addresses the misconception that using initiative means guessing a leader’s intent. Instead, leaders must provide clarity and context to enable resourcefulness and effective problem-solving within defined boundaries.
24:07 The role of platforms and processes in alignment
Emphasizing operational frameworks, Barbara discusses how digital tools and clear processes align teams, remove inefficiencies, and keep everyone moving toward common goals without excessive meetings or communication gaps.
26:50 Platforms enhancing, not replacing, people
Barbara reiterates that technology should amplify human potential, not replace it. Platforms and processes free up key players to focus on their strengths, while structured change management ensures smooth adoption and engagement.
29:07 Managing time zones in virtual teams
For global teams, Barbara recommends a mix of asynchronous tools like Asana and Loom, alongside overlapping meeting windows for real-time collaboration. Clear, precise communication is crucial to prevent misalignment across time zones.
31:21 The real purpose: Freeing key people for impactful work
The ultimate goal of delegation, platforms, and processes is to liberate high-value employees from routine tasks so they can concentrate on strategic initiatives that drive company growth and meaningful results.
34:19 Reframing the talent shortage conversation
Instead of focusing solely on hiring challenges, Barbara suggests optimizing existing resources through better delegation and operational efficiency, thereby reducing the need for additional headcount.
36:34 Mastering delegation for business and life freedom
Barbara positions delegation mastery as a life-changing skill that unlocks both business scalability and personal freedom. She shares personal examples of building a company while raising a family, crediting effective systems and leadership.
