How to Improve Attention to Details at Work

Increasing your brain power can improve your attention to detail.

Improving your attention detail can enhance your job performance and increase your chances for career opportunities, challenging assignments and promotions as you become an expert in your field. Attention to detail isn't a trait that just comes naturally to some workers -- it's a skill you can build doing exercises to increase your brain power, memory and proficiency. Employees who build their skills and job performance use a number of techniques to improve their attention to detail.

Instructions

1. Assess your skills and qualifications and compare them to your job duties. Determine your strengths and weaknesses. Identify areas of your job that require attention to detail, memory and concentration. Match your appropriate skills to these job duties. Volunteer for assignments that give you a chance to practice skills that require focus.

2. Schedule the time and place for work that requires concentration. Avoid trying to multitask when you're performing work that requires your full attention. Some workers have difficulty working with numbers or mathematical equations unless they can devote their time and sole attention to that one task. Determine where your strengths and weaknesses are concerning specific tasks. Explore resources that explain the brain power necessary for various types of work.

3. Manage your time and prioritize your job duties. List your job responsibilities from the most important or critical functions to responsibilities that are less important. Allocate sufficient time to each of your responsibilities and, if possible, find duties appropriate for multitasking to conserve and make the best use of your work time. For example, if you are a receptionist with additional responsibility for clipping news articles about your company, answering phone calls and scanning the newspaper are two duties you can probably manage at the same time.

4. Use technology to improve your proficiency, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet formulas for numerous or complex equations and Microsoft Word for grammar and spell check. Review the corrections necessary to make your work product perfect. Note areas where you need practice to improve your ability to produce accurate work.

References

• University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Human Resource Services: Attention to Detail
• International Association for Computer Information Systems; Attention to Detail: A Neglected IT Skill?; James J. Cappel, et al.; 2002

Resources

• Skills Converged: Attention to Detail Exercise: What Was In the Box?
• Lumosity: Improve Your Brain
• "Herald Sun": Right Brain v. Left Brain; October 2007
• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Society for Human Resource Management