Microsoft Teams as a Lean Tool

Most of us have been introduced to Microsoft Teams as a meetings platform in the corporate world, but how else can we use it to improve our work life. This article explores the various ways in which you can use MS Tools in improving Productivity at the workplace.

Supported by the other complimentary tools in the MS Office package, MS Teams offers you unlimited access to Document Management where you can have your project team members working on or with approved Policies, Procedures and Forms in live mode; thereby eliminating possibility of use of obsolete or incorrect information. As work is executed, targets are set, objectives are set, tasks are allocated, resources are distributed, timelines are set and this gives you a platform to track your team performance in real time (Kanban dashboard), empowering you to quickly identify your Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT); because however beautiful the strategy is, you should occasionally look at the results. What you choose to do with these results you get, defines your path to success. 

By having cross-functional project teams that cut across the business ecosystem, you have the capacity to set Approved Vendor Lists for procurement, your suppliers can update Available Product and Price Lists to avoid logistical delays. You can even set a period’s training calendar coherent with every team player's schedule and avoid last minute disappointments. A quick reality check (System Review) enables you to trace when the wheels went off the cart thereby establishing the 5WH (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How); which empowers leadership to effectively address the problem. Eventually besides Error-Proofing, the whole Customer Order Cycle is improved by working with Shorter Cycle Times thereby improving Productivity. 

MS Teams allows you to conduct Structured Polls which can be applied in establishing Customer Satisfaction, Complaints Handling, Product Reviews and Feedbacks directly from your Stakeholders, when you add them as team members, with minimal data contamination. Management Reviews can be effectively conducted without having to wait for a specific date on the calendar, but as the work is being conducted hence speeding up Decision-Making. With a proper interaction with MS Access, you can run manufacturing warehouses, customer or supplier databases with ease.

MS Teams Promotes teamwork by virtue of all staff viewing the progressing of work in real time, celebrating our wins and collectively addressing our losses. With workplaces getting smarter, Teams is slowly being adopted as an entire ERP. So step up your game in the office, introduce new ways of making work better with MS Teams. "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got" (Henry Ford). 

Article by:

Terrence Masenda (B.Eng Production Engineering; M.Eng Manufacturing Systems and Operations Management)