This last year we witnessed a monumental shift in workplace behaviors. In fact, most employees other than essential workers that could work remotely, did so. This shift caused many ripples in the technology pool to create a huge demand for better ways to stay in touch with team members that were scattered at their own homes. Microsoft Teams is one such tool that helps work teams stay organized, collaborate, and share files.If you have enjoyed using Microsoft Teams as part of your everyday work process, read on to find out a few tips to optimize this tool and make your collaboration easier and more efficient.
What is Microsoft Teams?
If you have yet to experience Microsoft Teams, or your organization uses a different collaboration tool you may be wondering what exactly it is? Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based messaging and collaboration app that helps your team stay organized and have conversations, all in one place. Four of the main features on the dashboard include: Teams; where co-workers can create channels for collaborating on projects and sharing files, Meetings; where you can see all your meetings and appointments in an organized fashion, Calls; where team members can quickly get in touch with others for immediate response, and Activity; where you can catch up on all your correspondence in one location. These features are critical, especially given the number of remote workers in the country today. A Gartner survey of company leaders found that 80% plan to allow employees to work remotely at least part of the time after the pandemic, and 47% will allow employees to work from home full-time. If you have yet to try out some of these Teams collaboration tools, now may be a good time.
Optimization Tips
For those who have already begun to use Teams during this time of mainly remote work, there are some simple tips that can help augment your experience.
Keep the amount of Teams minimal to avoid unnecessary clutter on your Teams interface. Create new Teams slowly as you become accustomed to the app.
Instead of creating an entirely new Team for every project, create ‘Channels’ within existing teams to reduce redundancy and keep everything organized in the right place. Any approved team member can add a Channel to a Team, making it easy for projects to get started.
Want to keep track of important chats? Use the ‘Pin’ function to keep important or frequently revisited conversations at the top of your log for easy access.
Check availability and minimize conflicts easily with the Scheduling Assistant feature.
Sync your Team's Calendar with Outlook.
Customize your notifications so you are not interrupted every time you are mentioned.
Breakdown language barriers by translating a conversation on Teams Translate.
Use Background Blur to blur items behind you during video calls. This makes you the focus of the call rather than your unmade bed!
Take part in private chats while you are in a meeting by clicking on a person’s profile picture. It’s great for quick questions or clarification during a long meeting.
Customize any of your settings in the upper right corner under your profile picture.
Use shortcuts such as: /whatsnew to find out anything trending or new; /goto to find the channel you are searching for; /files to search for the file you need, and /help as a shortcut to the help center. (Source: PCWeekly)
Need help with using your collaboration tools? Spectra Networks can help train your workforce and help you sync with your other appropriate apps to make your workflow efficient and seamless.
