74% of executives and 80% of people managers believe that lack of attention to detail is costing their organization money. How much more productive would your organization be if everyone made just 3 or 4 fewer errors every day and improved the quality and accuracy of the work they deliver to customers, management, and coworkers? How much would that save your company in hours and direct costs associated with re-do’s, re-works, “do it again’s”, and general management time? Detail-oriented salespeople find more margin and upsell opportunities. Detail-oriented logistics staff get more deliveries to the right place on time. Detail-oriented employees “get it right” and, thus, are more productive and need less management.
Attention to detail (or lack of it, rather) is a regular frustration for anyone who manages people — and even for co-workers of people with low attention to detail. And, what do we all say to that person who keeps making mistakes? We all say the same things: “Pay attention to detail.” Or, “Be more detail-oriented.” And it never works. Ever. Of course, it doesn’t work. It’s too nebulous. In fact, no one ever even defined it before but we throw it around constantly. Seriously, look it up in any dictionary — attention to detail. It’s not there. You can see the definition I developed here.
The Framework for Improving Attention to Detail
People start understanding attention to detail when they have the framework to do so. That is the goal of my training and workshops — to develop the understanding of the framework and help employees create lasting improvements to productivity and quality. They understand it quickly, in fact — because it’s simple. First, there are three types of attention to detail:
- Contrastive
- Analytical
- Additive
Contrastive attention to detail is about identifying or comparing known or present elements. The key is that it is objective. It’s either red or black, one or two, yes or no. It’s either there or it’s not. There is only one solution. Few people operate solely within a contrastive attention to detail task set but, if they did, it would be possible to reduce errors to relative zero (some anomaly is always possible). Analytical attention to detail is about finding a solution, problem, or cause. This is where most knowledge workers operate. The “right” solution may be subjective and there may be multiple solutions. Unlike with contrastive challenges or tasks, knowledge is typically required to develop the right solution. Additive attention to detail is about improvement and/or innovation. There are possibly endless solutions to a challenge requiring additive attention to detail. By default, it is hard to systematize because it is always about developing something new but processes to ensure you are maximizing the application of available resources and information can be developed.
The second, and deeper, part of the framework is that there are five fundamental elements for developing well-rounded attention to detail: Focus, Interest, Knowledge, Systems, and Attitude (more specifically, what I call the “Right or Wrong” Attitude). Each of those is comprised of multiple components and there are specific methods, practices, and/or exercises to improve each. However, once people understand these elements and their relationships to the three types of attention to detail, they can more clearly identify and label the nature of their work, mistakes, and/or challenges and adjust accordingly. They have a system for improving attention to detail. Armed with that knowledge — that system — they make great strides forward in improving the accuracy and the quality of their work and increasing overall productivity.
Why People Want to Improve Attention to Detail
People tend to seek attention to detail training for one of three reasons:
- A company director or manager wants team training to reduce errors, costs, or risk or to improve quality and productivity (or some mix of those).
- A manager wants training for a few employees who are technically strong but lack the attention to detail required to really “get it right”.
- An employee wants online training either for self-improvement or because he’s been warned that he needs to improve.
Unfortunately, you can’t make someone magically and amazingly detail-oriented in a two- or three- hour training session, but most people report immediate results by implementing one or more of the ideas or systems they get from the training. Then, the real work begins. If you want to be a truly improve attention to detail in yourself or yourself, you have to do the work, even if it’s in baby steps, but anyone can learn to become an overall detail-oriented person. Additionally, managers can learn the framework for helping employees improve their attention to detail.
Creating a Detail-Oriented Organization
Like with any cultural improvement, developing a detail-oriented organization takes time and consistent support by management. Once the framework for becoming detail-oriented is instilled at the individual employee level, management and leadership can support its integration into the organization by making it a common value through conversations, visual cues, and encouragement. The notion of being detail-oriented, of actively trying to reduce errors and increase quality should be respected and appreciated. Efforts should be made to ensure everyone understands their roles within the organization and to their immediate coworkers and customers (internal and external). Creating a detail-oriented organization must also be supported by clear organizational messaging regarding metrics, expectations, and goals – information your organization is hopefully already communicating effectively.
If you’re interested in learning more about helping your employees improve attention to detail, here is where you can learn about attention to detail training and workshops.
Originally published on my blog February 12, 2018.
