You can argue that a modern business has a far more diverse range of problems than a company that existed fifty years ago. These days, employees have so many distractions, not just in a digital sense, but in a professional, and even personal way. As such, we have to figure out how to increase productivity, but also, encourage our employees to focus. After all, we live in the age of distraction. So what are the ways that we can help our employees to focus better, and therefore improve productivity, as well as benefit the bottom line?
Focus On One Thing At A Time
As far as focus is concerned this works across the board. Usually, we can tend to focus on too many different things at the same time, which naturally impacts our productivity. When it comes to something like a meeting, while there are many top tips to make your meeting great, if you call so many pointless meetings, you have to structure them accordingly. A great meeting is all about focusing on one thing at a time. We need to get to the end of a meeting, by focusing on one aspect at a time. This is a transferable skill that can help your employees in other aspects of their work.
Encourage “No Interruption Time”
This could seem somewhat forceful. But if you want your employees to get something done, providing them with that opportunity to focus on that task alone is Sanskrit. If employees need to sit around and talk, but one person needs to complete something right away, providing a quiet space will work wonders. After all we can’t tell people not to talk. But we can encourage a time of no interruption for a couple of hours, allowing people to complete their work without distractions.
Structuring The Day
Many employees struggle to focus because they don’t have a structure in place. Everybody works in a certain way. Some people work best in the morning, and have more focus at this time, as such those people would benefit from the more complex tasks at this time of day. Giving more autonomy to your employees, and allowing them the luxury of structuring their day will enable them to work to their strengths. As tempting as it can be to dictate a certain structure, we have to be malleable in the modern-day. Encouraging employees to focus isn’t just about giving them tasks and putting a deadline in place, but it’s about letting them work to their strengths.
A Reward System
It is one of the simplest ways to encourage focus. Giving them awards for productivity means that they will at least attempt to knuckle down. But you have to provide them with a decent reward. Something like an extended lunch or even half a day off could help. The big thing with rewards is that they have to mean something. A little gift certificate is pointless!
In the modern workplace, we have got to find the right ways to help our employees focus. It’s all about trial-and-error.