5 Ways to Encourage Attention to Detail Video

Are there people on your team who consistently make small, but significant mistakes that compromise the quality of their work?

Well, no one's perfect. But even small mistakes can be costly and time-consuming to fix, and they may damage your company's reputation.

The good news is that with a little effort and planning, many mistakes are easy to avoid.

In this video, we'll look at five strategies for encouraging everyone on your team to pay close attention to detail.

In organizations where mistakes can have detrimental consequences, such as hospitals, airlines, and other big companies, staff follow detailed procedures to ensure quality is maintained.

Checklists guide people's attention to every detail, in a methodical sequence. You can do the same. Develop written procedures for your team's most important tasks. Set up checklists and diagrams that guide people through tasks from start to finish. Don't forget to update these documents if a procedure changes!

When your people are working on tasks that need close attention to detail, give them the time and space they need to focus. Ask them to turn off their phones and log out of email and social media, to minimize distractions   . If your office is noisy, encourage people to use a meeting room, or allow them to work from home during these times.

Most people don't get everything right first time. Checking and re-checking work will help to prevent mistakes. Try splitting the checking process into separate stages. In an editing process, for example, the first stage could focus on factual accuracy, the second stage could look at style, and the final one could check spelling and grammar.

It's notoriously difficult to recognize our own mistakes. To combat this, introduce a peer-review or buddy system, so that everyone's work is checked by at least one other person before it reaches you.

Set aside a dedicated time for your team to review and check its work. This is particularly important when you introduce a new system or procedure, as it will likely take time for your team to get used to more rigorous ways of working.

For more strategies to encourage your team to pay attention to detail, read the article   that accompanies this video.