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7 Handy Tips for Increasing Microsoft Teams Adoption

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Even though Microsoft Teams has exploded in popularity since its launch a few years ago, it can still be a bit of a challenge onboarding new users. With this in mind, we polled some of the most respected voices in the Microsoft 365 community to see what advice they had for organizations implementing Teams for the first time. Let’s see what they had to say!

Craft a Microsoft Teams Playbook 

Craft a playbook and get executives behind it along with a champions network. Define common practices, tools, what is changing, and ways you work together. Work together to define how do you want Microsoft Teams to be in the company. Where are the files? Should you create a meeting, a new channel, or a new Team? How do people know what is expected? Champions are a big part of this since they help people get started and provide assistance to new users. (Vesa Nopanen)

Add Your Intranet as an App

It’s hard to choose a #1 tip because the culture, size, and industry of an organization can change how exactly Microsoft Teams fits into an individual’s daily work life. However, to truly make it the “hub of collaboration,” my suggestion is to provide access to your intranet (or SharePoint) as an app into Teams.

This does not mean solely to put the homepage of your intranet in Teams, but to create an alternative and/or use tabs within the app to provide the essential information people are looking for. As a result, this creates even stronger stickiness for working every day, and almost every minute, in Microsoft Teams. (Adam Levithan)

microsoft teams

Thorough Training and Demos

I am a firm believer in training the organization on how to use the tool and allowing them to provide feedback on how Teams will be utilized. Not all departments work the same and to have organizational feedback is key to success. The more they feel involved and the more you show them how to make things easier they will be more receptive.

Also, when starting with Teams I like to do varying demos with setups that relate to the individuals or departments like Project Management, Sales, etc. It gives them ideas and is more realistic to them if you are using examples of their own content. (Stacy Deere-Strole)

Leverage Power Users and the News Tab

Knowledge is power! Always at least give a demo of basic functionality. Identify a few Power Users who are willing to dive deeper and give them education on the functionality. Then, allow them to evangelize the technology and show off their skills. Create a News tab and teach the power users how to publish news on the tab from SharePoint. And for heaven’s sake, teach them to give each Team a picture. Just makes it more eye-catching. (Kathy Harper)
microsoft teams

Learning Resources Are Your Friend

I agree with Adam. Adding your Intranet as an app (or better said, making it part of your Teams journey) will increase Microsoft Teams adoption. New projects such as Project Oakdale, Syntex, Lists, and all of those experiences directly linked to your data+knowledge will boost adoption. Many teams also need learning resources (training, videos, FAQ, sessions, and community discussions to learn, expand, and share. (Gokan Ozcifci)

Create a “Fenced-in Backyard” 

The best thing you can do for Teams adoption is to create what we call a “fenced-in backyard.” You want to give your users space to create and collaborate effectively while deploying policies to make it easy to follow best practices and keep their content secured. (Stephanie Donahue)

Get Management on Board

I would go with the management buy-in. I think it is crucial to get the management on board with the project and make them feel comfortable talking about Teams’ future use and the organization’s vision of collaboration! Motivated champions and project teams cannot fight uninspired management not willing to change anything in their behavior. And by onboarding, I don’t only mean to send them an e-mail or two but to integrate them and implement 1-1 coaching if needed. (Sven Seidenberg)

Be sure to subscribe to our blog for more on Microsoft Teams adoption.

Brent Middleton
Brent Middleton
As the former Content Marketing Specialist for AvePoint, Brent led the strategy and direction of all AvePoint's blog properties.

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