Microsoft Teams - Power Users and Managers

Module 1: Teams

Teams Concepts - When and how to use Microsoft Teams

What are Teams

Membership in Teams

What are Teams

Channels in Teams

Team Apps

Joining and Creating Teams

Managing Team and Channel membership

Adding Channel Tabs

Lab: Creating a Team, adding members, and creating custom channels.

Module 2: Chat

Messaging - Instant and persistent

Formatting Menus

Additional Options

Using Attachments

Lab: Sending messages and documents.

Module 3: Calls

Understanding Contacts in Teams

Speed dial

Placing calls

Voice calls

Video calls

Sharing desktop and/or window

Voicemail for Teams

Call History

Lab: Adding, calling, and sharing with contacts.

Module 4: Activity

Activity Feed overview

Filtering

Lab: Using the Review Feed, My Activity, Filter.

Module 5: Searching

Searching Contacts and People

Searching in Teams

Essential short cut commands

Lab: Searching for People, Teams, Channels. Using the @ function, and / Commands.

Module 6: Calendar

Calendar Views

Joining and Creating Meetings

Attendance and timings in Teams

Scheduling Assistant for Teams

Lab: Changing the calendar view, adding a meeting, inviting contacts. Using Scheduling Assistant and joining the meeting.

Module 7: Files

Accessing files in Teams

Recent files

Local files

Uploading files

Access to OneDrive

Access to SharePoint

Lab: Uploading, accessing, and sharing documents in Teams.

Module 8: Integration

Use of the Teams Stream

Recording meetings and calls

Live events planning

Team Apps

Microsoft PowerPoint

Utilising OneNote

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Using Dynamics 365 with Teams

Module 9: Business Rules

Overview of Business Rules

Business Rules structure and design

Using conditions and actions

Module 1: Overview of course

Objectives of the course

Module 2: Review of the advantages of office based working

Managing time better

Improving behaviour and Interpersonal Skills

Gaining experience

Becoming creative

Interpersonal networking

Speaking to seniors and employees easier

Helping employees gain better understanding of the business

Achieving elevated company culture

Effecting teamwork makes the dream work

Maintaining both your own space and the shared spaces

Obtaining a better Work-Life Balance

Module 3: The challenges of remote working

Managing projects

Remote collaboration

Tracking tasks and productivity

Building/maintaining trust

Maximising productivity

Overcoming distractions

Staying motivated

Problems with technology

Socializing with your peers

Prioritizing work

Interruptions at home

Loneliness and lack of human interaction

Communication Issues and Being Out of the loop

Security risks

Module 4: Microsoft Teams technological developments

Accepting that Microsoft Teams is Work In Progress

Inputs from Microsoft psychologists and human behaviour specialists

Reviewing the latest Teams features for managers and end users and updating your best practices

Reviewing Microsoft Teams approved devices including:
     - Extending screens
     - Additional cameras
     - Additional microphone

Module 5: The psychology of effective remote business interactions

Maintaining strong team relationships

Replacing the ‘hubbub’ of the office

Keep on moving

Focusing on brief and clear communications

Establishing communication norms

Identifying the hidden opportunities in written communications

Creating an intentional space for celebration

Achieving best of both worlds: remote team members making regular visits to office

Module 6: Best practice in coaching employees remotely

Setting clear expectations

Treating remote As local

Regular engagement

Scheduling video-based coaching

Maintaining trust your team

Making your teams feel inclusive

Filtering for mission, values, outcomes and roles

Staying focused on goals, not activity

Valuing the person first

Holding longer one on ones chats via Teams

Remembering career development

Mitigating that location still matters

Getting the right and most reliable equipment

Module 7: Best practice to managing New Starters remotely

Virtual onboarding - Best practices and tips

Establishing a “meet-and-greet” roadmap

Assigning a welcome buddy and also a virtual mentor

Building an engaging virtual culture

Creating a clear onboarding path 

Establishing structured daily check-ins

Providing opportunities for remote social interaction 

Offering encouragement and emotional support 

Where possible, arranging occasional face to face meetings in office

Module 8: Managing remote team meetings effectively

Encouraging transparency

Practicing constant communication

Choosing IM or video chat

Using the right tools to keep teams organised

Encouraging better relationships between employees

Dealing with Issues
     - Aligning Schedules Through Different Time Zones
     - Ensuring Collaboration and Communication
     - Addressing Poor Company Culture

Best Practices for Remote Team Management
     - Setting Boundaries and Expectations
     - Embracing and Encouraging Diversity
     - Working on your own communication skills
     - Remembering out of sight, not out of mind

Module 9: Becoming an expert in Microsoft teams based meetings

Before the meeting:
    -Blurring your background or use background images
    -Scheduling your meetings with Scheduling Assistant
    -Sharing your meeting’s agenda
    -Host your meeting in a channel
    -Deciding if best to record your meetings - Pros and cons
    -Deciding on best camera location
    -Deciding on laptop microphone vs. headset
    -Testing your hardware

During the meeting:
    -Screen-sharing but avoid overshare
    -Taking advantage of live captions
    -Ensuring all meeting participants contribute and are heard
    -Deciding on best ways to interrupt and ask questions
    -Taking meeting notes with the meeting notes feature in Teams

After the meeting:
    -Reviewing and sharing the meeting notes and updated project plans
    -Sharing the recording (if recording made)

Module 10: Managing remote staff - best practice

Dealing with remote employee challenges and performance issues

Remote employee work monitoring - Pros and cons

Dealing with discipline issues

Module 11: Best practice protocols for contacting people via Microsoft Teams

Checking time is convenient

Deciding on how formal or informal

Deciding of best to call or video chat or do IM

Deciding which channel to use

Module 12: Team building in a remote Microsoft Teams environment

Making working from home and team building fun!!!

Consider having a 10 minute daily 'morning meeting greeting' for your remote team(s)

Consider giving out monthly awards for best communication experience via Teams to encourage continuous improvement in best practices

Consider holding weekly Friday run down Teams based meeting with company provided treats such as tea and cakes or pint and crisps

     - Asking team members in turn to 10 minute presentation of topic that interests them personally to improve their communications skills
     - Encouraging short side meetings between staff

Module 13: Course summary and next steps

What you have learnt

Deciding how best to implement best practice in your own organisation

Accepting that Microsoft Teams in work in progress and as such there is a need for regular reviews of best practices as the product evolved.

Further training courses to consider

Module 1: Overview of course

Objectives and approach

Course overview

How Teams is, in effect, the new Microsoft Windows - a platform to empower and transform your organisation.

dvantages of unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files).

Microsoft Teams for application integration and a development platform.

Module 2: Microsoft Teams productivity features

Static tabs and configurable tabs

Tabs to display rich and interactive web content to teams

Activity filtering with @ mentions:

Separate from other less relevant conversations using the activity filter

Personalise your Teams:

Bookmark specific content to spend less time searching for crucial data.

Get work done fast with slash commands

Access a personalised view of apps and contacts

Hide and show Teams to stay organised

Module 3: Microsoft Teams knowledge sharing features

Microsoft Teams connectors:

Keep groups ahead of the curve by delivering updates from the services such as Twitter, Trello, and Wunderlist

Connect streams to channels.

Sync your SharePoint sites:

Add SharePoint pages and lists into Teams channels

Use the SharePoint news connector to stream news directly into channels

Add full SharePoint sites in Teams via the website tab

Include SharePoint document libraries as tabs in Teams

Make content private with information barriers

Sharing the right information with the right people

Create information barrier policies to keep specific information isolated

Module 4: Microsoft Teams collaboration features

Inline message translation

Allow people to chat in their native tongue and translate messages for other users.

Cloud recording with automatic transcript

Make it easier to find specific information with just a keyword or phrase.

Guest access

Connect with individuals outside of their organization.

Proximity sensing

Join a meeting to connect to a nearby meeting room instantly, using proximity-based pairing.

Request for someone new to join your team by making a request on their behalf of say a contractor or freelancer.

Microsoft Teams communications integrations

Connect Teams to communication platforms including Zoom, Cisco Webex, and Slack

Module 5: Microsoft Teams features for the developer

Microsoft App Studio and Bots

Polly: Poll your team members and keep track of employee engagement.

Whobot: Quickly find information about a colleague, or suggestions on who to ask about a certain topic

Grow Bot: Allow team members to exchange kudos

Stats bot: Analytics and scheduled reports via sources like Google Analytics

Adapting Microsoft Teams to suit your industry

Customize Microsoft Teams to suit your industry, with developer templates specifically designed for your vertical organisational requirements.

Module 6: Microsoft Teams features for business leaders

Analytics and BI in Microsoft Teams

Meeting recording for compliance

Managing first-line workers

Utilising Private channels

Module 7: Microsoft Teams Integrations overview and examples

Overview of integrations

Examples of Teams Integrations

Freehand

Ring central

Cacoo

Lucidchart

Mural

Etc