Inefficiencies are something a lot of businesses suffer with.
Making the most out of your tools to improve communications and productivity leaves you with more time to focus on your business, or on more important things outside of work.
Microsoft365 has a lot of useful tools to help businesses be more productive, that are often included in the bundle, but aren’t always utilised fully.
Sometimes we need to a new perspective on things from a third party consultant to realise how our businesses could be operationally more efficient.
The Right M365 Tools for Productivity and Communications
MSP Community Manager, Stephen McCormick, speaks to the founder of Meetime Services, Gavin Jones.
In this interview they discuss the implications of operational inefficiency on businesses, and mental health.
Plus, they talk about the most underused M365 tools that businesses are often not implementing to their fullest.
An Interview with Gavin Jones
Gavin Jones is a business consultant based in Staffordshire. He has a background in business improvement, previously working for a large multi-national beverage company.
His expertise in implementing software tools that improve efficiencies help business to save their time in operations, which allows them to focus their time on more important things.
He has a YouTube channel where he regularly uploads videos to help people with various Microsoft products.
Video: Using M365 Tools for Better Productivity & Burnout Avoidance
Working for a Large Enterprise You See Change as a Slow Process
In Gavin’s background working for a large brewery company, he observed that any change was difficult to pull off quickly.
“Working for a large enterprise, change is like an oil tanker, it’s very slow moving,” says Gavin. There are always a lot of emails and meetings, and it can waste a lot of time. The friction of decision-making needed better tools in place.
On becoming Transformation Manager, Gavin was able to do something about the inefficiencies by using platforms like Slack as a collaborative space. Reducing the need for many meetings and endless email threads.
How the Pandemic Offered New Tools and Ways of Working
After the Covid lockdowns, a lot of companies adopted new tools like Zoom and Teams.
However, not all of those companies adapted to using them effectively.
Endless meetings became endless video calls, which resulted in what we call ‘Zoom fatigue’. Furthermore, being remote, workers can miss out on the common conversations that occur in the office, necessitating further calls to catch up to what’s going on.
The collaboration aspects of tools like Microsoft Teams offers functionality similar to Slack which cut down on unnecessary video calls.
The Commonly Underused M365 Tools That Businesses Fail to Use Fully
Gavin describes the three essential tools for productivity and time-freeing that Microsoft have to offer are as follows:
- Teams – for chat, video conferencing, but also the collaboration element
- Planner/To Do – a task manager is essential for productivity
- SharePoint – a central platform for shared content and resources
With SharePoint, Gavin says many companies often set one up but don’t keep up with adding new content. While others only give privileges to a select few, thereby only using it as a message board for certain departments (legal, HR, etc.)
How Better Collaboration Can Lead to Better Mental Health
Gavin understands that, as a business owner, you’re responsible for the wellbeing of your employees.
Poor channels of communication and a lack of visible accountability only exacerbate stress on complex projects, which can ultimately lead to burnout.
With an efficient platform in place, the stress on your workers will be much lower. Furthermore, if you do find your business is busy, as the owner, you’ll be less tied up to focus on hiring more talent if you need to.
Often, a business that has grown over time can’t see where to make the changes it needs to in order to streamline and improve conditions for it’s employees.
As a consultant Gavin can come in from the outside, and do an assessment. Then follow it up with recommendations for improvements.
Could You or Your Clients Be Making Better Use of Their M365 Tools?
Could Gavin’s services be of use to your or your client’s businesses? Have you got a SharePoint site you barely use? Or are you paying for more tools that you need?
We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
How to Connect with Gavin Jones
- Visit his website
- Subscribe to his YouTube channel
- Connect with Gavin on LinkedIn
Using M365 Tools for Better Productivity & Burnout Avoidance – The Transcript
Resources Mentioned in This Video
- Tim Ferriss Show Entrepreneurial Podcast
- The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
- The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
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I'm a small business owner, technical writer and blogger, with 15 years experience in corporate IT. I frequently attend MSP peer groups and create content relevant to IT service providers and business owners.
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