Microsoft Teams Chats, Calls and Meetings come to SWOOP
As more and more people are working from home, we know calls, chats and meetings are the most commonly used functions within Microsoft Teams.
That's why we've added data from Microsoft Teams calls, chats and meetings to the SWOOP for Teams dashboard.
To achieve high productivity and transparent collaboration we know it’s best to work within Microsoft Teams channels so everyone can see the work happening, but let's get real, with so many of us working from home, we’re commonly using calls, chats and meetings.
For some time now we have waited for the Microsoft Graph APIs to enable us to employ our relationship analytics to the Teams chats, calls and meetings modes of interactions. They are still not there, but as part of the evolution we are able to access the aggregated data that is available to Teams administrators. This data is usually made available only to a handful of staff. We felt it important enough to provide this data through SWOOP’s open access, yet privacy protected dashboards. The Personal Tab on the SWOOP dashboard will provide privacy protected access to your personal chat, calls and meetings data.
The enterprise chats, calls and meeting data provided to administrators is now provided by SWOOP, together with data disaggregated to the Business Segment level e.g. line of business, location etc.. The Business Segment and Enterprise data is available to all SWOOP end users. The SWOOP reports provide more specific trending reports for each level of reporting. Note, it is not possible to report on Chats, Calls and Meetings at the Team level, as the data is largely not formally aligned to any particular Team.
How can you as an individual contributor best use this data?
SWOOP’s ‘democratisation of data’ philosophy means we lead with Personal data. Our dashboard loads with this view as the default view. We believe that change happens at the individual level, and therefore this is where we should start. When you first access the Chats, Calls, Meetings dashboard you will land on your Personal tab:
Within the Teams platform, Chat, Calls and Meetings are three alternative collaboration options that complement your Teams channels interactions. Charts are available for each of these options. The charts are a reflection of your preferred collaboration behaviour. But what is good or bad chat, calls and meetings behaviour? Well, that is still an open question, but here are some useful hints:
How does your behaviour compare with others in your organisation?
We all are sensitive to being an outlier. For some of us this could be a positive, but for many it prompts the question “why am I different?” While ‘average’ performance should not be interpreted as ‘best practice’, a large divergence should suggest a potential behavioural correction opportunity.
What is your “Same Time” (Synchronous) to “Different Time” (Asynchronous) ratio?
“Different Time” communication (chat and channels) is convenient. It doesn’t demand our immediate attention. “Same Time” communication (calls, meetings) demands dedicated time and attention. But unlike “Different Time” communication, more complex issues can be addressed expeditiously. Do you have to work with people in different time zones, where synchronous communications can be impractical? Too much asynchronous to synchronous could result in delays and constant “wheel spinning”. Too much synchronous to asynchronous can not only be exhausting, but also not the best use of your time. Is the balance about right for your role?
One-on-one versus multi-member
Our analysis shows that for other than very small organisations, over 90% of calls and chats are private, despite the facility to have multi-member calls and chats being freely available. One-on-one is easy and convenient. Multi-member is harder to organise, but more effective when collective action is desired e.g. how many one-on-one calls are required to achieve the same result as one multi-member meeting? While we are not suggesting the need for more meetings, we are pointing out that sometimes the convenience of one-on-one can be a false economy. When in a one-on-one call or private chat, ask yourself: “who else should be in on this?”
Channels versus Chat
Our analyses shows private chat is by far the most utilised communication option. Many organisations have reported to us that Chat is rapidly replacing internal e-mail. This is no surprise. As we move towards a mobile-centric workforce, texting is second nature. What’s more, the response rate is substantially higher than email. By contrast, channel messages can be orders of magnitude less in number, but not necessarily less important. Channels are transparent to the whole team. It is where team level explicit knowledge is recorded and searchable. Chat is more often private and peripheral, and also not identifiable with particular teams. When in a private chat, think about your teams. Which teams would benefit from this conversation? Should we be moving the chat to a channel?
Bigger Picture Insights
As well as looking at your personal collaboration behaviours, SWOOP also allows you to view the relative performances of the business segments you are member of. Are your segment’s behavioural patterns substantially different to other segments? Should you be concerned? Differences between a segment’s use of channels, chat, calls and meetings might become a limitation when segments look to work together.
Enterprise level Chat, Calls and Meetings data can tell us something about the organisation’s collaboration preferences. In our 2020 Microsoft Teams benchmarking studies, we saw large variations in the relative use of Chat and Channels. A preference for Channels flags a commitment to digital teaming, centring communications around the teaming structure. A preference for Chat and the other functions transitioned from Skype for Business, preferences the use of Teams as a communications platform. For many organisations rapidly moving to Working From Home, this was the early preference for Teams usage.
Food for Thought
Looking forward beyond aggregated Chat, Calls and Meetings activity data to relationship analytics, we suggest looking at your Teams’ history for how large or small your chat, calls and meeting networks are. Do you chat, call or meet with relatively few people, or is your network much broader, even beyond your formal team colleagues.
We believe activity levels are only useful when built on top of strong reciprocated relationships. Larger networks are harder work, but ultimately the effort is worthwhile.
For those bike riders out there, think of your network size like the gear cogs on your rear wheel. The larger the cog, the harder it is to pedal; but the further you go. Setting your gears to the smallest cog is like ‘living in chat’; you can pedal fast but you don’t get very far! We know that champion cyclists stay longer on the larger cogs; perhaps the same goes for workplace leaders.
While this example is a little simplistic, we know from our research and that of many others, the highest performing staff are those that have strong and diverse networks. We can see it in Teams channels now, and we hope to also see it in chat, calls and meeting networks in the not too distant future.
Those with SWOOP for Teams have immediate access to Teams call, chat and meeting data. However, if you installed SWOOP for Teams prior to August 14, 2020, just follow these steps for access.