2. Know how to ‘get it together’
Just as in life, there are always times when it’s necessary to ‘get it together’ and assimilation of information is no different. There are plenty of tools out there that can help you stay on top of information and keep your work organized. Whether you are using SharePoint folders for a team or doing this in your personal OneDrive, keeping information organized and sorted can help you save time. If your work circumstances mean that you are dealing with similar types of queries, knowing where to access the information you need quickly can make all the difference. And technology has made this even simpler. Some of us are inherently disorganized at being organized, and there are tools to help us with that too. In Microsoft Teams, when you create a team, a SharePoint site is created for that team and each channel (conversations grouped by subject matter) have their folders and files organized for me. Technology is helping me keep important information organized, streamlined and accessible.
3. Work smart not hard
Data analytics tools can give you great tips and insights into whether you are working effectively or not. I love looking at the MyAnalytics reports from Office 365. I find that this is a really insightful way of keeping myself honest on the level of my productivity. Outlook also now has AI capabilities that offer me a focused inbox where it filters by the information I am likely to want to respond to based on data patterns. A common myth is that people are productive when they multi-task. Many academic studies have debunked this myth as the most ineffective way to be productive. I see this as time I am not being productive at all and spreading myself too thin. Instead I like to focus my time going deep on 20% of the information that is going to deliver 80% of business impact. Instead of spending 2 hours doing 10 things, I set aside large chunks of time to work on my top 5 priorities. Technology is now helping me be smarter about how I am processing information and where I am spending my time.
4. Choose the tools according to your needs
When sharing information across your organization, team or colleagues, choose the communication mechanism that is best suited to give you the best outcome. One of my pet peeves is an endless thread of emails around a topic that could be easily addressed in a ping or even a conversation. Having your inbox cluttered is never fun. The reason I like to use Microsoft Teams is because it is one tool that I can ping someone for a quick response, organize a meeting that is the equivalent of a digital huddle, have a ‘face-to-face’ video meeting in high definition or simply just deal with the information in a chat. And chats have their own psychology, I can “like” a chat to acknowledge I have read it without having to send that needless email. My chosen communication medium is the one that allows me to service all my collaboration and communication needs in one place.
5. Information will fill the space you allow it
In today’s time, if you chose to consume information 24/7/365 you could. And many times the information does not come to us, but we actively seek it. I don’t watch the news any more, the news comes to me on my mobile device. I don’t wait for project updates anymore, I follow channels in Teams or have connectors sending me information that’s important to me. This has helped me grow my knowledge and be more productive, but it’s also critical to know when enough is enough. Whether you believe in technology free zones in your home or taking time to change your status to “do not disturb” it is super critical to give your brain periods of incubation to make sense of all the information that it is processing. So sometimes I like to give myself the freedom and the space to space be sane and disconnect from it all.
In times where the velocity of information is not likely to reduce, we need the right mechanism and tools to make sure that we stay productive. These are my top 5 hacks. I would love to learn more about yours.
If you are interested in learning more about how Microsoft Teams can help you manage your information, you can visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
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