""I had a leader [tell me], 'This is like Christmas. You don't understand what you've done for me.' And I didn't do anything. I just signed a contract. It's the work that [they're] doing that has made things flow a lot easier.""
— Elizabeth Boelens, EA Team Lead
The Challenge
Service Express, a global technology company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was experiencing rapid growth — and with that growth came an increasing strain on its executive team. Leaders who had been with the company for a decade or more had developed a deeply ingrained, self-sufficient mindset, accustomed to handling administrative responsibilities themselves rather than delegating.
Elizabeth Boelens, the EA team lead at Service Express, recognized the pattern clearly:
"With our rapid growth, we realized that we needed to add on some additional executive support. A lot of our leaders have been here 10-plus years, and they've just kind of grown with the company. I think at times, that mentality can be a little bit defeating of, 'Oh, I'll just handle it' or 'I'll just take care of it myself.'"
The cumulative weight of day-to-day operational tasks was pulling leaders away from the higher-level strategic work the business needed from them. As Elizabeth put it plainly:
"They were starting to struggle."
The Solution
To close the executive support gap, Elizabeth partnered with BELAY to bring on a dedicated team of three Virtual Assistants: Ashley McClanahan, Emily Sandidge, and Dena Mauro. Each VA was embedded within a different part of the organization, providing tailored administrative support to the sales directors, marketing directors, and service leaders respectively.
Elizabeth took a structured approach to onboarding, using a custom EA manual and regular check-ins to ensure each VA was fully aligned with team processes from day one:
"When they first came on board, we did a lot of weekly check-ins. We have an EA manual that, when each VA came on board, we took a couple of sessions to walk through that just so we're all doing things the same way [and] using the same processes."
A standing Friday morning huddle was established to keep the VAs connected and integrated with the broader team:
"We check in [to see] how we can help each other or what kind of projects we have going on. I want them to still feel like part of the team."
""Adding that extra support allows the leaders to really focus on the strategy that they need to be focused on rather than worrying about the day-to-day things.""
— Elizabeth Boelens, EA Team LeadThe Impact
The results were immediate and unmistakable. Executives who had initially approached the arrangement with a cautious "we'll see" attitude quickly became vocal advocates, with positive feedback flowing back to Elizabeth about the time they were reclaiming and how it was benefiting their entire departments.
Elizabeth shared what she was hearing from across the leadership team:
"I've just gotten huge, positive feedback of time saved, which makes the company more efficient, which [in turn] makes their departments more efficient."
"Adding that extra support allows the leaders to really focus on the strategy that they need to be focused on rather than worrying about the day-to-day things."
The emotional weight of one leader's reaction said it all. Elizabeth recalled:
"I had a leader [tell me], 'This is like Christmas. You don't understand what you've done for me.'"For Elizabeth, the credit belonged entirely to her BELAY team:
"I didn't do anything. I just signed a contract. It's the work that [they're] doing that has made things flow a lot easier."