How to Boost Your Productivity with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is more than just a chat and video call app. It's a powerful platform for online collaboration to help you work smarter with your team

How to Boost Your Productivity with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is more than just a chat and video call app. It's a powerful platform for online collaboration that can help you and your team work smarter and faster. Whether you are a personal executive assistant, a virtual assistant, or any other professional who uses Teams, you need to know how to use it effectively and efficiently. In this blog post, we will show you how to use Teams for different aspects of your work, such as project management, task tracking, communication, and organisation. We will also share some tips and best practices that will help you avoid common pitfalls and make the most of your Teams experience.

How to Set Up and Organise Teams for Successful Collaboration
How to Manage Projects and Tasks with Teams
How to Communicate Effectively and Efficiently with Teams
How to Keep Your Teams Organised and Up to Date

How to Create and Manage a Well-Structured and Collaborative Workspace with Microsoft Teams

Creating and managing a well-structured and collaborative workspace with Microsoft Teams is not something you do once and forget. It is a continuous process that involves planning, communication, and feedback. In this section, we will show you how to create and manage a well-structured and collaborative workspace with Microsoft Teams. We will also discuss why this is important and what can go wrong if you don't do it well.

Creating and managing a well-structured and collaborative workspace with Microsoft Teams has many benefits. Here are some of them:

It helps you organise your team's work in a clear and consistent way. You can use teams, channels, and tabs to group related information and tools according to projects, topics, or departments. This makes it easier for you to find and access what you need for your work.
It helps you prevent duplication and confusion. By creating and managing a well-structured and collaborative workspace with Microsoft Teams, you can make sure that everyone in your team has the same information and resources. You can also avoid creating multiple teams or channels for the same thing, which can cause confusion and waste time.
It helps you improve your communication and collaboration. By creating and managing a well-structured and collaborative workspace with Microsoft Teams, you can promote a culture of openness and transparency in your team. You can also use the various features of Microsoft Teams, such as chat, calls, meetings, and apps, to communicate and collaborate effectively with your team members and external partners.

How to Build and Maintain an Organised and Productive Team Environment with Microsoft Teams

Building and maintaining an organised and productive team environment with Microsoft Teams is not a one-off activity. It is a dynamic process that requires planning, communication, and feedback. In this section, we will guide you through how to build and maintain an organised and productive team environment with Microsoft Teams. We will also explain why this is important and what are the risks of not doing it well.

Building and maintaining an organised and productive team environment with Microsoft Teams has several advantages. Here are some of them:

It helps you create a logical and coherent framework for your team's work. You can use teams, channels, and tabs to categorise information and tools based on projects, topics, or departments. This allows you to easily locate and access the relevant information and tools you need for your work.
It helps you avoid duplication and confusion. By building and maintaining an organised and productive team environment with Microsoft Teams, you can ensure that everyone in your team has the same information and resources. You can also avoid creating multiple teams or channels for the same thing, which can lead to confusion and wasted time.
It helps you enhance your communication and collaboration. By building and maintaining an organised and productive team environment with Microsoft Teams, you can foster a culture of openness and transparency in your team. You can also use the various features of Microsoft Teams, such as chat, calls, meetings, and apps, to communicate and collaborate effectively with your team members and external partners.

Here are some steps to follow when setting up and organizing Microsoft Teams for effective collaboration:

Plan ahead: Before creating a team or channel, consider the purpose, scope, and audience of your work. Determine the goals and objectives, the people involved, and how you will communicate and collaborate with them. Based on this information, decide on the number of teams and channels, their names, and their contents.
Communicate clearly: After creating a team or channel, clearly communicate with team members and external partners about the purpose, scope, and expectations of the work. Clarify the roles and responsibilities of each person, the rules and guidelines of the team or channel, and the available tools and resources. Encourage questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement.
Review regularly: As the work progresses, regularly review the structure and organization of the teams and channels. Make adjustments as needed to ensure they remain relevant, useful, and effective. Seek feedback and suggestions from team members and external partners on how to improve the teams and channels.

Some of the issues and difficulties you might encounter if you don't set up and organise Microsoft Teams effectively are:

You might lose sight of your team's work and progress. Without a clear and consistent structure, it might be hard to follow what your team is doing, when are the deadlines, and what are the outcomes. You might also overlook important updates and notifications from your team members or external partners.
You might waste time and energy. Without a clear and consistent structure, you might spend a lot of time and energy looking for the information and tools you need for your work. You might also end up doing the same work twice or creating unnecessary teams or channels that clutter your workspace.
You might affect your team's performance and morale. Without a clear and consistent structure, you might face communication and understanding problems with your team members or external partners. You might also feel frustrated and overwhelmed by the disorder and confusion in your workspace.

How to Use Microsoft Teams Channels for Effective Communication

Microsoft Teams channels are special areas within a team where you can chat, share files, and have meetings. You can set up different channels for different subjects, projects, or departments. For example, you can have a channel for general news, a channel for client feedback, and a channel for casual chat.

Channels help you sort out your conversations and keep them related to the team's goal. But using Teams channels well requires some best practices to prevent confusion, mess, and lost messages. In this section, we will give you some advice on how to communicate in Teams channels, and what happens if you neglect them.

Following best practices for communicating in Teams channels can help you and your team gain the following advantages:

Make communication clearer and more efficient: Use simple and direct messages, suitable channel names, and relevant attachments to avoid misunderstanding and confusion, and save time and energy.

Boost cooperation and participation: Use @mentions, reactions, and replies to recognize, thank, and engage your team members, and build a feeling of belonging and teamwork.
Keep professionalism and etiquette: Use courteous and respectful language, stay away from spam and disruptions, and respect your team’s choices and limits to create a positive and productive work environment.

Here are some best practices for communicating in Teams channels that you can apply as a personal executive assistant, a virtual assistant, or any other professional who works with Teams:

Pick the appropriate channel: Before you post a message, make sure you choose the most suitable channel for your topic. For example, if you want to share a client’s feedback, use the channel for that client, not the general channel. This way, you can prevent filling up the wrong channel and reaching the right audience.

Use simple and brief messages: When you write a message, use straightforward and clear language, and avoid extra details or jargon. For example, instead of saying “Please kindly find attached the latest version of the document that I have revised based on your comments and suggestions, and let me know if you have any further feedback or questions”, you can say “Here is the revised document. Please review and comment.” This way, you can communicate your message more clearly and effectively.
Use @mentions carefully: When you want to address a specific person or group, use @mentions to alert them and get their attention. For example, if you want to ask a question to your client, use @client name, not @channel or @team. This way, you can avoid bothering or irritating everyone in the channel, and get a quicker response from the right person.
Use reactions and replies: When you receive a message, use reactions and replies to recognize, appreciate, and respond to it. For example, if you receive a compliment from your client, use a thumbs up or a heart reaction, and reply with a thank you message. This way, you can show your thanks and engagement, and build relationship and trust with your client.
Use relevant attachments and links: When you want to share a file or a website, use attachments and links to make it easy for your team to access and view them. For example, if you want to share a document, upload it as an attachment, not as a screenshot or a copy-paste. This way, you can maintain the quality and format of the file, and enable your team to edit or comment on it.

If you don't follow the best practices for communicating in Teams channels, you may face some negative consequences, such as:

Miscommunication and confusion: You may cause miscommunication and confusion among your team if you use messages that are unclear or complicated, channel names that are inappropriate or vague, or attachments that are irrelevant or outdated.

You may also waste time and effort on clarifying or fixing them. Isolation and disinterest: You may cause isolation and disinterest among your team if you use too many or too few @mentions, no reactions or replies, or no attachments or links.

You may also miss chances to work together or communicate well. Tension and anger: You may cause tension and anger among your team if you use language that is rude or disrespectful, spam or annoy your team, or ignore or break your team’s preferences or boundaries. You may also harm your reputation and relationship.

Integrating Other Apps Like SharePoint, OneNote and Planner into Microsoft Teams

SharePoint, OneNote and Planner are apps that belong to the Microsoft 365 suite. They enable you to save, arrange and distribute information, notes and tasks with your team. Here is a short summary of what each app does:

SharePoint: SharePoint is a web-based platform that lets you build and manage sites, libraries, lists and pages. You can store and share documents, images, videos and other files with your team on SharePoint. You can also make workflows, forms and surveys using SharePoint.

OneNote: OneNote is an electronic notebook that lets you take and arrange notes, thoughts and information. You can create sections, pages and subpages in OneNote, and insert text, images, audio, video and other content. You can also use OneNote to mark up, emphasize and look for your notes.

Planner: Planner is an app for managing tasks that lets you make and assign tasks, monitor progress and work with your team. You can use Planner to create plans, buckets and tasks, and add information, attachments and comments. You can also use Planner to see your tasks in different ways, such as charts, boards and calendars.

You can use each of these applications to enhance your project management using Microsoft Teams as mentioned below.

Managing Projects and Tracking Tasks with Teams

Being an assistant, you may have to work on different projects and tasks that involve working with and talking to other team members, managers, and stakeholders. Whether you are planning an event, writing a report, or updating a database, you need a tool that can help you organise, monitor, and complete your work well and quickly. That's how Teams can help you.

Teams is a cloud-based platform that combines chat, video meetings, file sharing, and apps into one workspace. It lets you make and join different teams, each with their own channels, where you can chat, share files, and edit documents together. You can also use Teams to create and assign tasks, set due dates and alerts, and track progress and status. Teams can help you simplify your workflow, increase your productivity, and boost your collaboration.

If you want to use Teams well for project and task management, you need to adhere to some good practices that can help you arrange your work, communicate effectively, and steer clear of common mistakes. Here are some suggestions to help you begin:

For each project or initiative that you have a role in, make a separate team. This will help you organize your work and avoid mixing up your chat and file history with things that are not related. You can also add the people who are involved in your team and give them roles and permissions as needed.
You can use channels to split your team into smaller groups or themes. For instance, you can make a channel for each stage of your project, like planning, execution, and evaluation. Or you can make a channel for each role or unit, like marketing, finance, and HR. Channels help you sort your chat and file history and make it simpler to locate and reach the information you need.
Planner is an app that you can use in Teams to create and manage tasks for your team or channel. With Planner, you can make boards, buckets, and cards to show your tasks, categories, and details. You can also give tasks to yourself or others, choose due dates and priorities, attach files and comments, and monitor progress and status. Planner helps you see your work, meet your deadlines, and work with your team members.
With the OneNote app, you can make and share notes with your team or channel. OneNote is an app that comes with Teams and allows you to make notebooks, sections, and pages for your thoughts, notes, and information. You can also put images, links, tables, and other things in your notes, and work on them together with your team members at the same time. OneNote helps you record your work, save your knowledge, and communicate your findings.
Keep in contact with your team members and stakeholders by using the Chat and Meetings features. Chat and Meetings are essential features in Teams that allow you to send quick messages, make voice and video calls, and plan and attend online meetings. You can also show your screen, files, and apps when you chat or meet, and record and transcribe your meeting for future use. Chat and Meetings help you communicate, share information, and work together.

Using Teams for your projects and tasks can help you avoid some problems and hazards that might harm your work quality and performance. Some of the potential outcomes are:

You may forget what you need to do, when you need to do it, and how you are doing, and miss out on important news and feedback. This can cause delays, mistakes, and redoing work, and harm your image and reliability.
You may spend time and energy looking for files, documents, and information in different places, devices, and platforms. This can lower your productivity, effectiveness, and creativity, and create frustration and stress.
You may struggle to communicate and work with your team members and stakeholders, and face misunderstandings, conflicts, and gaps. This can impact your teamwork, trust, and morale, and affect your results and outcomes.

Communication is key for successful project and task management in Teams. You need to convey your messages clearly and effectively to the people who are part of your projects, such as your colleagues, supervisors, and sponsors. Here are some suggestions to help you communicate with those people:

Describe the advantages and goals of using Teams for managing projects and tracking tasks. For instance, you can emphasise how Teams can help you work faster, deliver better results, and cooperate more effectively. You can also establish some norms and best practices for using Teams, such as when to use chat, call, or meeting features, and how to label and arrange your files and folders.
Offer guidance and assistance for using Teams to manage projects and track tasks. For example, you can give some lessons, online sessions, or training courses on how to use the various functions and tools in Teams, such as Planner, OneNote, Chat, and Meetings. You can also provide some recommendations, advice, and shortcuts for using Teams well and productively.
Ask for feedback and suggestions on how to use Teams effectively for project management and task tracking. For instance, you can seek feedback and suggestions on how to enhance your use of Teams, such as what is good, what is bad, and what can be improved. You can also give your feedback and suggestions to others, and recognize and thank them for their input and work.

Conclusion

Microsoft Teams is a useful tool that can help you boost your efficiency and results. By applying some tips and best practices for using Teams for various parts of your work, such as project management, task monitoring, communication, and organisation, you can simplify your workflow, increase your quality, and foster your collaboration. As an assistant, using Teams can help you finish your work with fast, professional, and excellent.

Get in touch to book training for your team on getting most out of Microsoft Teams. Drop me an email to training@tomorrowsva.com and I will get right back to you.

Categories: : Microsoft Teams