The
world of work has changed dramatically in the past few years, especially due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more people are working remotely or in hybrid
settings, where they have to balance their work and personal lives, collaborate
with colleagues across different locations and time zones, and cope with the
challenges and opportunities of digital transformation.
While
these changes have brought many benefits, such as increased flexibility,
productivity, and innovation, they have also created some risks, such as
burnout, isolation, and disengagement. How can we ensure that we and our teams
are not only surviving, but thriving in this new reality?
This
is where Microsoft VIVA Insights comes in. Microsoft VIVA Insights is part of
Microsoft VIVA, which is an employee experience platform built on Microsoft 365
that helps people and teams be their best from wherever they work. Microsoft
VIVA Insights provides data-driven visibility into how work patterns affect
wellbeing, productivity, and business performance. It offers personalized
insights for building better work habits by summarizing your Microsoft 365 data
about emails, meetings, calls, and chats. It also gives you useful
recommendations, such as protecting time in the day for regular breaks, focused
work, and learning that help improve wellbeing and boost productivity.
But
Microsoft VIVA Insights is not just for individuals. It also helps managers and
leaders understand how their teams and organizations are working, and what they
can do to support them better. For example, managers can see how their team
members are collaborating, communicating, and balancing their workloads.
Leaders can see how work happens across the organization, and identify trends
and opportunities for improvement. All these insights are privacy-protected and
aggregated to respect individual privacy and support compliance with local
regulations.
To
illustrate how Microsoft VIVA Insights can help you and your team thrive in the
hybrid workplace, let's look at some use cases for different roles and
scenarios.
## Use case 1: A software engineer who wants to optimize her focus time
Madhuri
is a software engineer who works remotely from her home office. She loves her
job, but she often feels overwhelmed by the amount of emails, messages, and
meetings she has to deal with every day. She finds it hard to concentrate on
her coding tasks, and sometimes she works late into the night to catch up.
Madhuri
decides to try Microsoft VIVA Insights to see if it can help her optimize her
focus time. She installs the VIVA Insights app in Microsoft Teams and on the web,
and starts to explore her personal insights. She sees a summary of how she
spends her time at work, including how much time she spends on focused work,
collaboration, learning, and wellbeing activities. She also sees how her work
patterns compare to those of her peers.
She
notices that she spends less time on focused work than her peers, and that she
often has meetings during her peak productivity hours. She also sees that she
rarely takes breaks during the day, and that she works longer hours than her
peers.
Madhuri
decides to follow some of the recommendations that VIVA Insights gives her to
improve her focus time. She uses the Focus plan feature to book recurring
blocks of time in her calendar for uninterrupted work. She also uses the Shared
focus time feature to coordinate with her teammates when they want to focus
together. She sets up notifications to remind her to take regular breaks
throughout the day. She also uses the Focus mode feature in Teams to minimize
distractions from chats and calls while she is focusing.
Check
the picture below which shows details of
Focus plan:
Check
picture below which shows how Mindfulness can be achieved with guided Meditation :
After
a few weeks of using these features, Madhuri feels more productive and less
stressed. She is able to finish her coding tasks faster and with fewer errors.
She also feels more connected with her teammates, as they respect each other's
focus time and collaborate more effectively.
## Use case 2: A project manager who wants to improve his team's
collaboration
Suresh
is a project manager who leads a team of six developers working on a new
feature for a web application. His team is distributed across different
locations and time zones. He wants to make sure that his team is collaborating
well and delivering high-quality work on time.
Suresh
decides to use Microsoft VIVA Insights to see how his team is working together.
He accesses the Manager insights feature in the VIVA Insights app in Teams,
which gives him a dashboard of key metrics about his team's collaboration
patterns. He sees how much time his team spends on meetings, emails, chats,
calls, documents, code reviews, etc. He also sees how his team members interact
with each other and with other teams.
He
notices that his team has a lot of meetings every week, but not all of them are
effective or necessary. He also sees that some of his team members are more
isolated than others, and that they don't communicate much with other teams. He
also sees that his team has a high workload and a low wellbeing score.
Suresh
decides to follow some of the recommendations that VIVA Insights gives him to
improve his team's collaboration. He uses the Meeting feedback feature to
collect feedback from his team members after each meeting, and to see how they
rate the meeting's effectiveness, relevance, and engagement. He also uses the
Praise sharing and trends feature to recognize his team members for their
achievements, and to see how they appreciate each other's work. He also uses
the No-meeting days feature to reserve one day per week for focused work and
learning.
Teamwork
Communication Habits :
Teamwork
Collaborators :
After
a few weeks of using these features, Suresh sees an improvement in his team's
collaboration and performance. He is able to reduce the number of meetings and
make them more productive and engaging. He also sees that his team members are
more connected and supportive of each other, and that they communicate better
with other teams. He also sees that his team has a lower workload and a higher
wellbeing score.
##
Use case 3: A senior leader who wants to drive organizational change
Satya
is a senior leader who oversees the digital transformation strategy for his
organization. He wants to drive organizational change and innovation by
fostering a culture of learning, agility, and diversity.
Satya
decides to use Microsoft VIVA Insights to see how work happens across the
organization, and what he can do to support it better. He accesses the Leader
insights feature in the VIVA Insights app in Teams, which gives him a
comprehensive view of the organization's work patterns, trends, and
opportunities. He sees how the
organization spends time on different types of work activities, such as focused
work, collaboration, learning, etc. He also sees how the organization collaborates
internally and externally, across teams, functions, geographies, etc.
He
notices that the organization has a low
learning score, which means that employees don't spend enough time on learning
new skills or knowledge. He also sees that the organization has a low diversity
score, which means that employees don't collaborate much with people from
different backgrounds or perspectives. He also sees that the organization has a
high burnout risk, which means that employees work long hours and don't take
enough breaks.
Satya
decides to follow some of the recommendations that VIVA Insights gives him to
drive organizational change. He uses the Prebuilt report library feature to
access ready-made reports on topics such as learning culture, diversity and
inclusion, employee engagement, etc. He also uses the Advanced tools and
prebuilt analysis accelerators feature to create custom reports and visualizations
on specific questions or hypotheses. He also uses the Holistic insight across
sentiment and behavioral data feature (coming soon) to combine data from VIVA
Insights with data from VIVA Glint and VIVA Pulse, which are employee feedback
tools that measure employee sentiment and engagement.
After
a few months of using these features, Sayta sees a positive change in the
organization's culture and performance. He is able to increase the
organization's learning score by promoting a culture of continuous learning and
providing access to relevant learning content through VIVA Learning. He is also
able to increase the organization's diversity score by promoting a culture of
inclusion and belonging and providing opportunities for cross-functional and
cross-cultural collaboration. He is also able to reduce the organization's
burnout risk by promoting a culture of wellbeing and balance and providing
support for employee wellbeing through VIVA Insights.
---
I
hope this blog post helps you understand how Microsoft VIVA Insights can help
you and your team thrive in the hybrid workplace. If you want to learn more
about Microsoft VIVA Insights contact
Us.
with warm regards
Suresh Ramani
www.TechGyan.in
