Microsoft Teams usage is exploding across the globe right now. Many companies, like ours, use it not only out of the box, but also find other ways to integrate it, and even augment its capabilities.
LiveTiles spoke with Digital Strategist from the Digital Workplace Company, James Dellow. They took a deep dive into what Microsoft Teams offers for you and your remote workforce, beyond just the facilitation of amazing calls.
Unlike many of us, James is no stranger to working remotely, having worked in a distributed way on and off since 2003. Here’s his key insights on working away from the office.
Get your rituals right
“If you’re leading a distributed team, or you are part of one, you really want to make sure that everyone has got clarity about expectations. The most important thing you have to focus on is really ensuring your team’s success,” he said.
To do this, James said it’s important to look at “rituals”.
“Borrowing from agile project methodology language here, ‘rituals’ are all the different ways of communicating how you’re going to run meetings, the virtual lunches, the ways you recognize success, and you reward people,” he said.
“You need to create these specifically for your distributed team.”
The Swiss army knife on your computer
As an expert in effective digital workplaces, it’s not surprising James is a fan of Teams.
“I actually don’t think of Teams as an app. Teams is a user interface that taps into all these different features and functionality of Office 365, and through APIs integrated with other tools.
“I think it’s one of the key things that makes Teams such an interesting solution is that it really supports all modes of collaboration. You’ve got video, you’ve got audio or telephony, and you’ve got chat.
“If you’re going to be working as part of a distributed team, it’s like a Swiss army knife.
“Effectively it’s a hub that lets you do all the things you might need to do. It’s a really brilliant bit of kit. it supports the transparency that you need for an effective distributed team,” he said.
“Your chats are secured and archived, all the files are in SharePoint, so you’re not using a tool where the information is disparate. That’s a really big tick for Teams as well.”
Getting the work done, with Teams’ superpower
Once you’ve got your rituals and your tech, you have to actually get the work done. It might sound simple, but when it comes to distributed teams, it’s a balancing act.
Once again, Teams is the best tool for the job.
“It’s that sweet spot right in the middle where we have meetings, group communication, and getting work done that really makes Teams stand out as a solution.
“As an individual worker, you’ve really got that fantastic hub where you can actually do things. You can take action. I think that’s a really important mental concept to think about,” James said.
“Teams’ superpower is its ability to integrate other tools, information, knowledge, and people into this hub where you’re trying to do work.”
Check out James’ blog at Chieftech.com.au
Learn more
Visit the LiveTiles Teams Support page and find out how we can help you become an expert in Teams.
