13 Powerful Tips That Will Help You Increase Microsoft Teams Adoption in Your Organization
Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool that can help increase productivity in the workplace. However, it can be difficult to get users to adopt the platform. In this post, we will outline key tips and strategies to encourage the adoption of Microsoft Teams. By following these tips, you can ensure that your team will be able to take advantage of all that Microsoft Teams has to offer!
Having a Microsoft Teams Adoption Strategy in Place - First things first. Regardless of what strategies you choose to use to encourage the adoption of Teams, remember that adoption is not a once-off activity. Driving adoption of any collaboration platform requires ongoing deliberate effort. So, before you do anything else, make sure that you have a plan in place for how you will continue to encourage adoption as users get up to speed.
Call out wins and success. One of the best ways to encourage adoption is to call out successes. When users see that the rest of the team is using Teams and that it’s making them more productive, they are likely to want to try it out themselves. A great way to do this is by sharing stories or screenshots of how you are using Teams effectively in your work.
Empower your champions. Champions are essential to adoption. They can help promote Teams within their team, provide feedback and answer any questions users may have about how to use it. Make sure you empower them with the tools they need to be successful, such as training and support materials.
Consider making it mandatory (but not annoying). I don't mean shove it down their throats and tell them they are fired if they don't use it. I mean make it unavoidable or essential even! Rather than respond to emails, move the conversation to Microsoft Teams where everyone can see it when appropriate. Have the conversation in a team channel rather than an email thread. This will help to encourage people to use the tool and move the conversation out of your inbox into Teams.
Extend Microsoft Teams to add capabilities like personal and team task management using Huddo Boards. Ok, so we are obviously biased here ;) The reality is though it really does help drive adoption. Boards can be used to track and manage tasks, projects, and goals. This can help your users to become more productive and focused and enables teams to collaborate on their projects together in real-time. This will give users another reason to adopt Microsoft Teams.
Provide training and support. It’s important to provide adequate training and support for users when adopting a new tool. Make sure you have resources available for people who need help using Microsoft Teams. Maybe create a Board to showcase tips and tricks for the users to get the basics quickly and easily.
@mentions are such a simple but powerful way to drag users into Teams. When you @mention someone by name they will be notified and pulled into the conversation.
Leverage early adopters and innovators. These are the people who will be more likely to try new things and adopt Microsoft Teams. Use them as advocates and influencers to help encourage other users to adopt the tool.
Once your early adopters are on board the real challenge is the early majority. This is the group of users who are hesitant to try new things and will need more convincing before they adopt Microsoft Teams. You’ll need to provide clear value propositions and use case examples to help them see how Microsoft Teams can benefit their work.
The late majority and laggards are the last groups you’ll need to convince to join the team! For these users, it’s important to show how Microsoft Teams can be integrated into their workflows and make their lives easier. Sometimes they can get dragged into the tool simply by the fact that you already have the early majority onboard.
Show real-world use cases. Show team members and owners how to upload and organize files in Teams. Demonstrate how to use chats, teams, and channels. And finally, show how to integrate Teams with other Microsoft 365 tools they are using like Outlook and OneDrive.
Once people start using the tool, it’s important to keep adoption going by providing regular training and support. As your team grows, new members will need to be onboarded.
Use Microsoft Teams for important conversations and meetings. When people see that the tool is being used for important conversations and meetings, they are more likely to want to use it.
DON'T just dump Microsoft Teams on your users and expect immediate success and adoption. Change management and deliberate adoption activities are key to a successful rollout. We love to talk about the adoption of collaboration software so don't hesitate to get in touch.