Pait Group Blog

Embracing the Beauty of Being Disconnected: Contemplations in a Parking Lot

“No internet connection.” 

Cue the eyeroll, audible groan, and heavy sigh as perhaps the three most feared words of our modern culture appeared on my phone’s screen.

I was sitting in my car in a parking lot of a nondescript office park, waiting for my wife and daughter to finish an appointment in one of the businesses. As they walked inside, I (almost instinctively) pulled my phone out of my pocket and logged in, as most people tend to do these days when faced with the threat of Having To Wait With Nothing To Do.

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Top 6 Microsoft Teams Lifecycle Management Best Practices

Workplaces have modernized worldwide because of Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams makes communication and collaboration more efficient and seamless for organizations. However, if not deployed with forethought Microsoft Teams can deliver its own set of problems. To ensure productivity and optimum utilization of the tool, lifecycle management best practices must be established and executed.

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SharePoint Best Practices, Migration, and Collaboration

PAIT Group’s newest MVP, Joy Apple, was recently a guest on the Cloud Conversations with Ru and Pete podcast.  In this episode, Joy shared SharePoint best practices and expert tips on migration and collaboration in Microsoft 365. The unique way Joy communicates the importance of these topics is on display.  I have summed up a few highlights from the episode, but I highly recommend pressing play below.

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The Power of Praise: Recognizing Colleague Success

The definition of praise is to express warm approval or admiration.  The person on the receiving end of this kind act is often appreciative and happy.  For years Human Resource Professionals have been analyzing the impact praise has in the workplace.  For examples, check out the Training Journal's article on "The Power of Praise and Recognition" and Gallop's Workplace article, "In Praise of Praising Your Employees".  The conclusion seems to be unanimous. Employees who receive praise on an ongoing basis have increased engagement and productivity.

To help get you started spreading this positive feeling around your workplace, PAIT Group's Modern Workplace Consultant, Kat Weixel has recorded an easy to follow tips & tricks video that demonstrates just how easy it is to communicate praise in Yammer and/or Microsoft Teams.  

For those of you who appreciate a written how-to that can be used to follow along with the video, I have organized that below.  

As in Kat's video, we will start with Yammer.

UPDATE:  Praise can also be shared from Microsoft Viva Insights.

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Why Is Anyone Talking About Yammer When We Have (and Love!) Teams?

Editor's Note: "Yammer" is now known as "Viva Engage"

Microsoft acquired Yammer in 2012 and made it available for their Office 365 customers the following year. Early in 2016, Microsoft rolled out Yammer to their Office 365 commercial customers as “on” by default.  

At the time, I was an intranet manager at an association and decided to go along with Microsoft’s “on by default” rollout of Yammer. Why stop it? I started with a pilot for a few weeks to test it out, and then I opened things up to all staff. I got lots of folks interested in using it, but many wanted “private” groups for their teams to collaborate and communicate. They also heavily used the “private messaging” option in Yammer. They contributed to the public groups for sure, and enjoyed engaging across the org, but they really were craving some “private” options. 

Imagine the confusion, then, when this “Teams” thing was suddenly all the buzz coming from Microsoft just a year later. Group spaces for people to communicate and post files? Check! “Chat” that seemed a lot like “private messaging”? Check! Option to subscribe and get email notifications for missed activity? Check! Plus, the interface was just so appealing, the chat was a much better experience than the “private messaging” in Yammer, and there were so many additional features in Teams.

Why the heck would we still use Yammer now that we have this new shiny Teams toy? 

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Calling in Teams: Collaboration Made Simple

I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a wild ride when it comes to communicating with our coworkers. Instead of face to face meetings or cubicle chats, we’ve been in virtual meetings. Personally, I haven’t noticed an increase in the amount of instant messaging, but I have noticed that a lot of my messages end in a call, like this: 

Hey, I was just on a call with client ABC and we were talking about DEF. Do you have a minute to hop on a call and debrief with me? 

I’ve also been pulled into active calls as my expertise comes into scope. I’ll get a chat “hey we’re on the phone with this team and there’s a compliance question, can we loop you in?” I can join the active call immediately without having a meeting invite or starting a new call. What a world!

However, I’ve started to wonder if I am using the call features in Microsoft Teams as well as I could be? Are there features I’m not aware of yet? With so many people rapidly adopting Microsoft Teams, I can’t be the only one wondering this, so let's take a look at some of the features Microsoft Teams has when it comes to calling, including the new Collaborative Calling

Fellow PAIT Group colleagues, Joy Apple (aka JoyofSharePoint) and Richard Calderon, recently hosted a webinar focused on the basics of Teams Calling features. If you were not able to make the live webinar we have recorded the session.  When you have a moment in your day, please watch. It's worth it.

 

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