Set it up as a normal working space. Designate a location separate from your living space, include your “commute” to work, have a location where you are going to do your work, set ground rules to make sure to keep your focus.
to mimic your office set up, so for example if you work with music on, make sure to have music playing and configure your set up to be a “new” normal. Check your network connections to make sure they are secure, set up a VPN with your network provider and limit non-work internet use. Continue your normal work routine, get ready, maintain regular working hours, dress as if you are working in the office and remember to still take breaks when working.
send a ‘good morning’ chat to colleagues, catch up over virtual coffee, have a hallway conversation over teams and add memes and giphys to keep the communication fun and engaging. At the end of the day have the stand down, it is the reverse of the morning chat. Create a ‘watercooler’ channel in your team, establish a yammer group or public team to share insights on remote working, be the champion from your workgroup. Discuss the wins of the day to the team and ‘catch up’ with one another.
Set up a team/Channels for your team, make 1:1 a priority especially when working remotely so you can stay on the same page with the staff, establish weekly team meetings to stay connected with one another and continue working effectively.
minimize the distractions with a formal agenda, have the meeting planned out. Encourage others to speak up and engage in the meeting with you, if you are in a longer meeting or planning session, schedule in breaks.
means setting expectations for response times, allowing everyone to respond, using the general channel for team announcements. Make sure to be transparent to your team how you will post announcements and make sure to flow with the culture of your team, try not to leave anyone behind and make the chat inclusive and important to each team member.
you can edit PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote Word, Etc.. Directly in teams. If you sent a colleague a file in teams you can access the file through the files tab without having to scroll to find the document on your own. While editing those documents in teams it will update as you edit so there is no need to save and close. If you add an activity to your teams calendar it will automatically sync with your outlook calendar flawlessly without having to edit it on your own. You may also schedule meetings within teams on the calendar setting by scheduling >New meeting> changing the title of the meeting>adding required attendees or optional ones and adding the date and time below that.