The vital role of team managers in harnessing the power of Microsoft 365

In today's fast-paced digital era, effective collaboration and streamlined workflows are vital to achieving success in any organisation.

As businesses increasingly rely on technology to drive productivity and innovation, team managers play a pivotal role in harnessing the power of software tools to foster a culture of excellence, support their team members, and deliver high-quality work.

Among the myriad productivity suites available, Microsoft 365, the default platform for Office applications for many organisations, is a comprehensive solution that empowers managers to lead their teams to new heights.

It has become even more important for team managers to know how to use the Microsoft 365 software suite well and execute work with the highest quality, with a focus on corporate culture and their team members.

Ensuring Quality Work Delivery

The pursuit of quality work should be a cornerstone of any successful organisation. Microsoft 365 provides an array of tools that can enhance the quality of deliverables. Previously this may have meant of focus on professional documents in Word or PowerPoint. However, today's tools like Power Automate, Flow, and Power BI can help make processes efficient and automated with transparent reporting to both leadership and teams. By mastering these tools, team managers can set high standards, guide their team members in producing polished outputs, and ensure the high quality of work delivered to clients, stakeholders, and colleagues.

Cultivating a Culture of Collaboration

Effective collaboration lies at the heart of a successful team. Microsoft 365 offers tools like Outlook, Teams, OneNote, SharePoint, and Yammer, enabling seamless communication, document sharing, and project management. By becoming proficient in these tools, team managers can create a collaborative culture where information flows freely, ideas are easy to share, and the team harnesses collective intelligence. This approach to collaboration fosters innovation, boosts creativity, and enhances problem-solving capabilities within the team.

Promoting Seamless Communication and Connectivity

Clear and effective communication is vital for a team's success. Microsoft 365 equips team managers with communication tools such as Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint. These tools enable real-time messaging, video conferencing, email integration, and the managed sharing of information, fostering seamless communication among team members, regardless of location. By leveraging these tools proficiently, managers can ensure everyone is on the same page, address concerns promptly, and build strong relationships within the team.

Streamlining Workflows for Efficiency

Delivering work efficiently and on time is a hallmark of successful teams. Microsoft 365 offers many tools that streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance productivity. For instance, traditional tools like Excel help managers analyse data, make informed decisions, and track progress. Other apps like Planner or Project enable efficient project planning and resource allocation. By mastering these tools, team managers can optimise processes, identify bottlenecks, and allocate resources effectively, improving work efficiency and timely deliverables.

Empowering and Supporting Team Members

A team manager's role extends beyond assigning tasks and monitoring progress. Ensuring your team members are trained and confident to use the powerful new parts of Microsoft 365 supports efficiency, process, reporting, and quality gains in day-to-day work. Powerful tools like Power Automate, Flow, Planner, Power BI, and Microsoft Forms can help to remove the drudgery of repeated manual process work. By utilising these tools effectively, managers can work with team members to provide personalised support, mentorship and identify growth opportunities. This approach to empowering and supporting your team members, in turn, enhances employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

Conclusion

As technology evolves, team managers must adapt and embrace the tools to drive collaboration, support their team members, and deliver high-quality work. Microsoft 365 offers an all-encompassing software suite that empowers managers to cultivate a culture of cooperation and partnership, execute work excellently, and respect and support team members.

By becoming proficient in the complete Microsoft 365 suite, team managers can unlock the full potential of their teams, foster innovation, and drive success in today's digital landscape.

Big feelings ... and early signs of burnout

One of the best books I read during the pandemic is No hard feelings about emotions at work and how they help us succeed.

I read this book for perspective and tips to stop getting stuck in unhealthy patterns and build a successful team and culture. I highly recommend reading it to help improve your mindset and how you approach every day for yourself and your team.

A Swiss Army knife illustration showing different emotional tools. By Liz Fosslien.

The two authors, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, have a new book about to be published called Big Feelings: How to be okay when things are not okay.

The early signs of burnout

So what early signs should you look out for? Here are some of the subtle cues that you might need to reassess how much you’re taking on:

• Basic activities like going to the grocery store feel overwhelming

• Getting mildly sick and being forced to shut down for a bit actually sounds kind of nice

• You’re saying “yes” even though you’re already at capacity

• You find everyone and everything irritating

• You’re all too familiar with “revenge bedtime procrastination,” when you stubbornly stay up late because you didn't get any time to yourself during the day

We’re quick to ignore these signs because we can usually muscle through them. But they’re important alarm bells.

These are all issues that I have experienced myself, and seen in members of my team. I have pre-ordered my copy in hardback as I think it's a book I want to be able to share.

An illustration showing everything you can do, and what you can actually do. By Liz Fosslien.

There are also some great resources and helpful and inspiring images at fosslien.com. I think Liz and Molly are creating quality content that is incredibly useful for all of us, even more so for leaders. You can subscribe to Liz and Molly’s newsletter at lizandmollie.com.

Set smarter goals at work to better measure performance

With the end of the year approaching for many of us in jobs, annual review and appraisal season is almost upon us.

While this may be back to front, I want to talk about goals in the workplace in this post. Some refer to them as key performance indicators (KPIs), others as objective and key results (OKRs). Whether you use KPI or OKR, they both measure performance against a documented goal.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

I am certain that you’ve heard of SMART goals. Smart goals refer to goals that are:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Timed

An example SMART goal for a salesperson would look like this:

To achieve a 10% year-on-year increase in sales in 2021 on sales made in 2020 as measured by closed deals as of 31 December 2021. :

Specific: The goal is specific as it states time, performance metric, comparative results.

Measurable: The objective is measurable, as it documents a percentage improvement and specifies closed deals and a date.

Achievable: While each situation varies and there will, of course, be sales situations and markets where a 10% increase in sales is not achievable. The number used in this example may be achievable, particularly if you compared it to a goal to achieve a 300% increase in sales.

Relevant: The goal is relevant to a salesperson who would set and agree to such a goal.

Timed: The goal states both the end date and the comparative period in time.

While SMART goals add the relevant framework to performance management and goal setting, they exclude two crucial elements that make SMART goals smarter. From my experience, you should also ensure that in setting a SMART goal, you are equipped for the task and have the resources to achieve the task.

Equipped: If the salesperson does not have a source of leads, prospects, advertising, product or services to sell, they are not equipped to do the task.

Resourced: In addition, the goal is at risk if they do not have the available time or resources such as hardware, software, sales support, assistants, and whatever key resources are essential to achieving the goal.

Using the leads generated by marketing activity and networking, with sales and administrative support, in 2021, achieve a 10% year-on-year increase on sales made in 2020 as measured by closed deals as of 31 December 2021.

This revised goal is smarter than the original goal. In addition, this change puts some of the onus for achieving the goal on the organisation and the employee.

In 2022, I recommend you consider making SMARTER goals with your teams and for yourself.

Who works for who, and why it matters to you?

Erik Mclean on Unsplash.

In my career so far, I have managed hundreds of people. I've managed small teams and large teams. I've lead teams in multiple countries and industries, in one physical location, and virtual and remote teams across multiple offices and timezones.

The critical question is, who works for who?

Most people believe that the team I have work for me, and any org chart or hierarchy would support that. My employer or customer has hired me to do a job. That's true, just as I've hired my team members and contractors to do a job.

But my job, similar to yours, is to enable my team to do their job. We should resource our teams, equip them with software and hardware, tools and platforms, and training. In addition to this, we must shield them from pointless interruptions within the organisation, the demanding customers, and low-value work. We intercept, deflect, and handle the interruptions that they don't need to avoid slowing them down or distracting them.

By taking this approach, my team can get their job done and deliver on their goals and objectives and the work we have tasked them to do.

I believe that looking at this question in the inverse provides a different perspective. This approach focuses me on enabling my team to do their job. Meaning that team members can do the job I've hired them for, not fighting for scarce resources or drowning in politics, confrontation, and time-wasting.

It also positions each of us as leaders with a function or team performing and delivering a high-quality service. By enabling our teams to do their job correctly, they can also develop their skills, strengths, and careers and grow their sense of job satisfaction.

The combined effect of this also stacks the odds in our favour and enables us to work in roles that we enjoy — a win-win for everyone.