Leadership in a Zoom Economy with Microsoft Teams : Applying Leadership to a Remote Workforce

Manage and lead a team remotely by intertwining leadership principles with the many robust tools of Microsoft Teams. This book shows you how to utilize Microsoft Teams in an effective way to achieve your global team goals. Leading a team is a challenge, but leading a team in the zoom economy can make you stressed out and overworked. Peter Ward gives the reader a communication and organization centered approach for the dynamic, hardworking, successful employee who wants to step into a leadership role and vastly improve their organization with the aid of Microsoft Teams. Ward shares his own "rules" for successful leadership of teams and small companies, to scale at a steady pace, creating a culture of accountability and responsibility, with a remote workforce, not using venture capital, and applying minimal bureaucracy. Ward says teamwork, right hires, diversity, and work balance are equally important as profitability. Leadership in a Zoom Economy with Microsoft Teams is a portrait of a productive, sane, balanced life that is organized and filled with rich results. After reading this book, you will be able to extend your Microsoft Team capabilities to day-to-day leadership principles. What Will You Learn Use MS Teams to build trust in your remote or virtual workplace with teams Work with Planner, Outlook, and Tasks within MS Teams Coach, mentor, and develop your team when you are not in the exact location Lead a remote workforce effectively Apply an entrepreneur mentality to remote teams Create a culture that is innovative and creative when you are a dispersed organization Who This Book Is For Managers who want to step into leadership, and leaders who want to raise their leadership game using Microsoft Teams as a technical tool. Table of Contents 5 About the Author 12 About the Technical Reviewer 13 Introduction 14 Foreword by Matt Wade 22 Chapter 1: Personal Governance: The Art of Tidying Up 24 Why Do We Need To Focus? 25 Tidying Up Principles 26 Where To Start: Dispose 27 Deciding What To Dispose Of 28 Recategorization 29 Chapter Workbook 30 Disposing 30 Teams 30 Bookmarks 31 Desktop Files 31 OneDrive 31 Application Icons on Start Menu and Taskbar 32 Email: Inbox and Folders 32 OneNote Pages 33 Recategorization 33 Recategorize Folders 33 Create a Quick Step in Outlook 33 Move 35 Mute 35 Pitfalls of This Art 36 References 38 Chapter 2: Creating a Growth Culture with a Truly Remote Team 39 The Only Way Is Up, Ideally 39 SoHo’s Growth Mantras 40 Chapter and Book Disclaimer 40 How Does SoHo Dragon Go Remote? 42 The SoHo Dragon Story 42 SoHo Dragon’s Non-Microsoft Tools 45 The Expansion 49 Unorthodox Advice for a Culture of Growth 50 Create a Culture of Shipping 50 Create a Culture of Accountability 51 Automate Anything That Can Be Automated 51 Do Not Do Tasks Below Your Pay Grade 51 Turn Emails into Tasks 52 Stay Out of Meetings 52 Delay Your Responses. Be Patient (Yeah, Right). 53 How MS Teams Meetings Should Be Run 54 Measure What Needs To Be Measured 55 Build to Spec 55 Chapter Workbook 56 Shipping 56 Accountability 57 On the Go 57 Automate 57 Delegate 58 Meetings 58 Measure 59 Overruns 59 Chapter Summary 59 References 60 Chapter 3: Using M365 To Be an Effective Executive with Remote Workers 61 Responsibility and Accountability 62 Understanding Results and How To Get Them 64 Tiny Improvements Add Up To Massive Differences 64 Good Decision Making 65 The Three Elements of Decision Making 66 Underperformance 67 Time Killers 68 Hiring Talent 69 Delegate 72 How To Delegate More Effectively 72 Chapter Workbook 73 Accountabilities 73 Hires 73 KPIs 73 Time Killers 74 Delegate 74 Chapter Summary 74 Reference 75 Chapter 4: Entrepreneurship 76 What Is EOS? 78 Using MS Teams To Implement the EOS Methodology 79 Vision 79 People 82 Accountability Chart 82 People Analyzer 83 Data 84 Issues 85 Process 85 Traction 86 The Weekly Level 10 Meeting 86 Chapter Workbook 86 Roles 86 Your Time 87 Free Time 87 What Gets Seen Will Get Measured 87 Chapter Summary 87 References 88 Chapter 5: Being Productive with Your Productivity 89 What You Will Learn 89 Eisenhower Matrix: Where To Start 90 Start with a Good Plan 91 Pareto Principle 93 Establish Priorities and Focus on Them 94 The Path to Progress Is All About Self-Exploration 95 Sleep Hygiene 96 Time Management 97 Final Point 97 Chapter Workbook 98 Create an AM and PM Task List in One 98 Prioritize These Tasks with Letters 98 At the End of the Day, How Did It Go? 98 How Many Emails During the Day Did You Resist Responding to Immediately? 99 After One Week, Did You Notice Any Improvements? 99 Chapter Summary 99 References 100 Chapter 6: Decisive Communication Over MS Teams 101 What You Will Learn 102 Figure Out Who You Are and How You Must Speak and Lead 102 For Projects To Thrive, the Doers Must Also Be Deciders 105 Numbers Give Me Good Comfort 105 Be Vulnerable 105 Identify the Muscling 106 The Type of Project 106 A Meeting Is an Alternative to Work 107 Chapter Workbook 107 List the Projects/Initiatives That Report to You 108 With the List Above, Ask Yourself Which Level You Operate From 108 With the List, What Actions Do You Need To Implement To Operate at the Define Level? 108 With Each Status Team Meeting, Reflectively Look at Your Communication Style and List How Many Binary Questions You Ask 108 After One Month, Are You Operating at the Define Level? 109 Chapter Summary 109 References 110 Chapter 7: Selling Over MS Teams 111 What You Will Learn 112 Become Fast Friends 112 Project Technical Requirement Questions Template 113 What 113 Who 114 When 114 Digging Deeper 114 The Sales Pitch/Demo 115 Focus on the Why 115 Respect People and Their Time 116 Be the Greeter 116 Give Them a Takeaway 117 Record the Presentation 117 Use Digital Ink 118 Do the Same Demo Over and Over Again 119 Don’t Worry About Small Mistakes 119 Give Them Insight into Scenarios 120 Insights Show the Client What They Don’t Yet See 120 Don’t Flood, but Drip Information 122 The Six Steps to Creating a Good Insight 122 Watch Your Language 123 Chapter Workbook 124 Add the Questions to Your Pre-Demo Questionnaire 124 Record a Sales Demo and Ask Yourself the Following Questions 124 Are You Noticing a Pattern with the Pain Points of Customers? 125 Has the Win Rate with Demos Increased? 125 Chapter Summary 125 References 126 Chapter 8: Get Organized with Your Organization 127 What You Will Learn 128 SoHo’s Org Chart 128 Why So Late for Me To Be in the Know? 130 Creating a Good Org Chart 131 Org Chart Rules 133 Understanding an Org Chart 134 Coder and Tech Lead Are Very Different Roles 135 Managing People Is Hard 135 The Discovery of Empty Suits 137 SoHo Had Several Fragilistas 138 Job Descriptions 138 The Result 139 SoHo’s Job Descriptions 139 The Butterfly Effect of the Org Chart 141 What the Butterfly Effect Is Not 141 Chapter Workbook 142 When Was the Last Time You or Anyone Looked At or Studied Your Company Org Chart? 142 List All Departments in Your Company 142 Add Your Current Employees to the Org Chart in the Roles They Perform 142 Is Anyone in More Positions Than They Should Be? 143 Are People in the Wrong Positions? 143 For Each Role, Define the Position Agreement 143 Chapter Summary 144 References 144 Chapter 9: The Wrap-Up Chapter 145 How to Start the Actual Implementation 145 What Will Move the Needle? 146 Gridlock 146 Make a List of Gridlocks 147 Create Your Next Day 147 Chapter Summaries 147 Introduction 147 Chapter 1 148 Chapter 2 148 Chapter 3 148 Chapter 4 149 Chapter 5 149 Chapter 6 149 Chapter 7 150 Chapter 8 150 Final Words 150 Index 152