How To Get Out Of Overwhelm And Manage Projects Brilliantly (While Saving Money On IT)
It’s a special kind of relentless attack faced by Boards and ED’s; the persistent, crazy, chaotic assault on your time and attention. No one is immune, and every organization deals with it.
Some leaders handle the constant pressure on their attention brilliantly, keeping the team organized and highly productive. But most people struggle with this and feel crushed and overwhelmed by all the things they have to keep track of and do. This goes double if your group is in growth mode and not “standing still” or casually strolling through its existence.
Add to this a remote workforce, and it can be intensely difficult to wrap your head around all the projects, to-dos, deadlines and funder-related deliverables you and your leadership team must manage.
While we as an IT company cannot tell you what projects are most important, we can absolutely help you and your team stay far more organized and give you tools to keep the people on your team properly aligned, prioritizing the right work and focused on the things you want them to focus on. We can also help you organize communication to lessen the chances of a dropped ball or a communication failure, which is by far the #1 reason why problems happen in business and charities alike.
One of the tools we recommend to clients wanting to get more operational control and clearer communication is Microsoft Teams. There are a lot of reasons why this is a “super tool” for productivity and organizational alignment, but as a bonus, it typically ends up saving our clients quite a bit of money on technology, because it replaces other applications, like Slack, Zoom and dozens of popular project management software, putting all of it into one lower-cost, more secure and more tightly integrated system.
Let me share just a few of the cool features you’ll love in Teams. Keep in mind that this list is far from complete. Microsoft Teams has over 1,900 applications you can pick from to integrate into a Teams Channel to organize information, workflow, tasks, deadlines and documents.
Canadian Data Residency for Office 365
Canadian Residency: As part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, charities located in Canada can request that their data also be stored in Canada. This allows you to stay compliant with any requirements from funding agency or governmental contracts.
Posts: The “post” feature works a lot like Slack in that it will allow you to post questions, reminders and status updates to everyone on that Team regarding that project. This not only keeps ALL communication for a project in one place, but it creates a history and alerts everyone on the team to what’s going on. This feature can save a lot of money for anyone using a paid tier in Slack since it’s native and included in Microsoft Teams.
Integrating Apps With Teams
Tasks By Planner And To-Do: This section of Teams is one of our favorites because it allows you to create “complex” to-do lists where you can assign each item to one or more people; have a progress status, priority and due date; add documents and files; and create a checklist of all the things that need to be done. Better yet, team members who are responsible for the project can provide status updates and check off items that are completed so you know where you are with any particular project.
true remote file sharing and hybrid workspaces
File Sharing: Being able to access everything securely, and easily, has been the dream for years now. Teams has a file management function which can eliminate the need for servers, allowing your team to work remotely while maintaining access to all their files and data. It uses a very familiar interface, has an incredibly shallow learning curve, and is included in Teams.
Video Conferencing: While Teams is not as slick as Zoom, it does have some features that make it better for team collaboration and projects. The biggest advantage over Zoom is that you can hold a video conference, and the recording of the meeting – along with all of the notes, files and links – will remain in that Team for easy reference later on. This can be extremely helpful for people who might not have been able to attend a meeting, making it easy for them to find and watch the recording, and it also retains a record of critical conversations. Plus, it eliminates expensive Zoom licenses for all employees because it’s included in Microsoft 365.
No Cost Software For Charities
Free For Charities: Of course the most compelling argument is that Teams, as part of Microsoft 365, is free for charities. Depending on the size of your group, this can translate to literally thousand of dollars per year.
If you want to see a demo of Teams or do a cost analysis to see how implementing this can save your organization money on Slack, Zoom and other project management software by combining it into one application, click here to schedule a brief call.
