Effective Team Collaboration Skills and Behaviours in Microsoft 365

Course Overview

Effective Team Collaboration in Microsoft 365 helps teams collaborate with more clarity, consistency and confidence using Microsoft 365, with conversations, coordination and decisions visible in the right places.

Digital work needs digital collaboration skills. Without shared practices, teams often experience tool overload, unclear expectations, inconsistent ways of working, poorly run meetings, duplicated work and information that’s hard to find. This program takes a human-centred approach: we start with the team’s real challenges, then build practical habits and agreed norms, supported by the most appropriate Microsoft 365 tools.

Participants leave with a clear set of team practices and a practical action plan that improves collaboration, knowledge sharing and psychological safety, making Microsoft Teams a safe, reliable space for open work.

What will you learn? 

After completing Effective Team Collaboration in Microsoft 365, participants will be able to:

• Explain the team-specific purpose for improving collaboration (clear “what’s in it for me?”)
• Identify the behaviours that make digital collaboration work and apply them day-to-day
• Diagnose common collaboration problems and pinpoint root causes
• Choose the most appropriate Microsoft 365 tool for different communication and coordination needs
• Agree shared norms for channels, chat, meetings, files and information sharing
• Reduce friction, duplication and “version confusion” by improving visibility and findability
• Build a practical team collaboration action plan aligned to team goals
• Strengthen psychological safety and make Microsoft Teams a safer space for open work
• Strengthen psychological safety and make Microsoft Teams a safer space for open work

Who is this course for?

• Teams adopting or “re-setting” how they use Microsoft 365
• Cross-functional teams needing clearer coordination and visibility
• Teams experiencing tool overload, inconsistent practices or low follow-through
• Leaders and team coordinators responsible for improving ways of working
• Change champions, HR/P&C or L&D supporting collaboration and adoption

Topics Covered

• Essential modern collaboration in Microsoft 365
• Team goals and ways of working
• Barriers to success
• Core behaviours of effective digital collaboration
• Diagnosing collaboration problems
• Choosing the right communication method
• Using Microsoft 365 to support better teamwork
• Interactive resource packs
• Team collaboration action plan

Course Outline

Session 1: What great collaboration looks like (and why it matters)

• Collaboration outcomes and “what’s in it for me?”

• Core digital collaboration behaviours

• Case studies and practical examples in Microsoft 365

Session 2: Diagnose what’s not working

• Team goals, values and priorities

• Barriers to adoption (why it hasn’t worked before)

• Root-cause mapping of current collaboration challenges

Session 3: Agree the right practices and tool choices

• Decision guide: channels vs chat vs email vs meetings vs boards/content

• Building shared norms (communication expectations, meeting types, response times, file practices)

• Selecting the practices that best fit the team (interactive resource packs)

Session 4: Make it stick (action plan + commitments)

• Collaboration action plan: habits, responsibilities, rhythms and checkpoints

• Visibility and knowledge sharing improvements (reducing duplication and rework)

• Team commitments and next steps