Combat Working in Silos with Microsoft Teams and Vantage Rewards

In the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic, technology came into play to connect people caught indoors.

The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the way we live, think, and socialize with one another. Classrooms became silent, and offices turned into abandoned workplaces. People began relying on technology for work, education, communication, and sustaining relationships with loved ones.

As meetings, classes, and social interactions have moved online, usage of video conferencing and collaboration applications have skyrocketed. Similar tools are also being used privately by individuals to meet virtually while confined to their houses.

Humans are social beings, a fact that is undeniable. We negotiate through economic alliances and political coalitions. We envisage responsibility and purpose through religious beliefs. We live in families, and our culture is a result of communal living that shapes our norms.

Prevalence of Silo Work Culture

If you are a full-time remote worker who manages a distributed team across different time zones, you may have experienced your share of working in silos. The term "silo" is often used as a metaphor for a group or organization that does not work together but rather functions independently.

If everyone’s focusing only on their specific duties without considering wider business goals and the bigger picture, they’re working in silos. They make you (and your team and pretty much anyone you work with) unproductive, unhappy—and unlikely to play nice with others.

Although it is not exclusive to remote workers, they do tend to affect them more severely. Since you are far from everyone else, it becomes much simpler to remain silent. Your once highly engaged workforce may be working less effectively, which is a certain sign that they are disengaging.

When employees are engaged, they are more likely to invest in their work, leading to higher performance results. Employee engagement improves work culture, reduces turnover, increases productivity, builds better work and customer relationships, and affects the organization’s bottom line.

So how can you get away from this silo culture? How can you empower yourself and your team to communicate better and work together more effectively?

Collaboration in the Workplace

Communication throughout the workflow is critical to stopping a silo work culture from disrupting your team. Instead of working alone, employees are more productive and feel more connected to the organization when they collaborate. Additionally, it becomes simpler to generate solutions for current issues or provide the necessary work on schedule.

Organizations can solve problems more quickly and effectively when employees with diverse ideas, viewpoints, and specialties collaborate to find innovative solutions.

Timely Recognition

Do you find recognition to be more meaningful when it happens at the moment rather than many weeks or months later?

It is no secret that recognition that is received timely is rather impactful. Here are some reasons why–

1) Insinuates a connection between recognition and the activity of being recognized

When we wait to recognize positive behaviors or outstanding performance until a year-end review or quarterly meeting, the employee often forgets the context of the reason they are being rewarded.

2) Encourages the recipients to repeat behaviors

Delaying recognition makes the employee less likely to realize the significance of their work or actions. But employees can easily comprehend expectations and know what you want them to do or repeat if they receive timely recognition.

3) Drives motivation by recognizing progress for meaningful work

We must not delay recognition until the completion of a major project. In some departments or industries, those projects can take years to complete. It’s important to recognize the people involved as they progress along the way, achieve key milestones, or demonstrate desired behaviors in line with core values as they push to reach the end goal.

Rewards and Recognition with Microsoft Teams

During the pandemic, Microsoft Teams users increased dramatically, from 20 million in November 2019 to 44 million in March 2020 and 75 million by April.

We understand the importance of collaboration and recognition. So we have put our efforts into developing a seamless integration of Vantage Rewards with Microsoft Teams. Now it is even more convenient to carry out recognitions within the organization.

If your company uses Microsoft Teams as a collaboration tool, you can add your Vantage Rewards platform to Teams. And use it to recognize, reward, and create a culture of recognition in the same platform your company uses daily for communication.

Benefits of Microsoft Teams-Vantage Rewards integration

• Secure& Within the Organization– Access functionalities of Vantage Rewards without leaving the Teams platform.
• Easy & Convenient Recognition– Appreciate and nominate employees for awards in your respective Teams channel timely and on the go.
• Capture the Moment of Joy– Build a healthy and productive workplace by promoting a culture of recognition and engagement.
• Simple Setup for all employees– Employees can easily add Vantage Rewards on their Teams account on their own.
• Scalable & Cost Efficient– Vantage Rewards can accommodate your employees, however big and scattered your workforce may be.
  

Our Partner Success Story

A leading Indian tech giant was already using Microsoft Teams for their internal communication and collaboration. And was simultaneously using Vantage Rewards web application for employee engagement. With remote work implemented online, hours spent on teams increased. This is where the Vantage Rewards Microsoft Teams app was introduced, and this enabled the users to instantly recognize their coworkers for outstanding efforts using the message extension right in the middle of a chat. Additionally, users had access to the leaderboard, wall of fame, announcements, and the whole social feed. They could even redeem their points for gift cards.

After the client enabled the Vantage Rewards Teams app, the overall recognitions skyrocketed to 147% as compared to the previous period. Similarly, the employees started engaging more on the personal scope of the app; 2.1x times likes and a 13% increase in comments were observed on the platform.

Takeaway

The new-age workplace is confined to a laptop screen. The work culture is more flexible. This promotes the siloed work culture. The silo mentality sabotages a company's cohesive vision and undermines the achievement of long-term objectives.

In order to optimize employee engagement and effectiveness in the modern workplace, organizations should emphasize effective collaborative work within and across virtual teams. Collaboration creates a pool of knowledge and skills by bringing varied talents together. Employees that are engaged have a shared vision with the aims and objectives of the company.

Vantage Circle envisions revolutionizing teamwork through the Microsoft Teams integration. We aspire to drive employee engagement with a highly collaborative workforce in this new world of work.

This article is written by Rithika Sarmah. Besides working as a Product Marketer at Vantage Circle, she is an inquisitive reader who enjoys learning about human anatomy and physiology. In her leisure hours, she hums to the melody of her guitar and captures snapshots of her best moments. To get in touch, contact editor@vantagecircle.com