Technology has boosted the productivity and growth of businesses to a great extent. Sadly, these technological advancements simultaneously cause workplace distractions that pose a threat to productivity. Recent research reveals that employees are distracted once every 3 minutes. The most common workplace distractions are emails, social media, phone calls, and other forms of noise.

This article discusses the steps you can take to lessen workplace distractions and improve the productivity of your workforce.

Ways to Minimize Workplace Distractions

Managers can provide a healthy workplace with minimum distractions by knowing their crowd. Bring into play some of these strategies for more efficiency.

1. Batch Check Your Gadgets

You switch zones when you check your smartphone or emails. It can take 23 minutes to get back to your zone after a task switch. Instead of checking email and instant messages all day, allow the employees to batch-check them at predetermined times. Using tools like the Inbox Pause plugin to stop receiving emails once checked will help. This can avoid distractions.

2.  Get Rid of Micro Management

Being a helicopter boss can be a bit of a distraction for some people, but for others, it can be very stressful. Instead of encouraging ownership, let your team do what they were hired to do. Getting too strict with your team can be detrimental to their productivity. Too much control can get your employees distracted and lose focus.

3. Minimize Multitasking

It’s common to get bogged down by too many tasks at once. Your people tend to focus on more than one thing at a time but doing so doesn't make them more productive. Multitasking can slow us down. Also, it can reduce the creativity of your employees. Arrange tasks that can boost performance. Ample distribution of tasks should be followed.

4. Clear the Clutter

Having a disorganized workplace can also distract your employees. When you have piled up a to-do list, confusion and disorder lurk around the in-completed tasks. It can make an employee feel stuck between the clutter. Getting organized with the workspace will help them get organized again. Cleaning the workspace will maintain the soundness of the workspace and allow your employees to focus on more important tasks. Even if it’s is not done daily, try arranging cleaning at least once a week.

5. Take control of the Interruptions

Interruptions at the workplace are unavoidable. But planning will get things under control. Working in an open office, or if you regularly get interrupted, try implementing a signaling mechanism that lets your team know that you are in the zone and that they should not disturb you unless it’s urgent. To avoid being interrupted, keep the office door closed when not in use. Also, if someone comes into the office with a question, politely ask them if it is urgent and proceed with what to do. Implement a similar strategy for your stakeholders and allow such control for your employees when they need it.

6. Arrange Precise Meetings

Meetings are infamous for being time-killing. Employees attend meetings even if they have nothing to contribute. It consumes their productivity. If a meeting is required, think long and hard before arranging it. It can be skipped or used as another method to communicate with your team. Only invite critical stakeholders and create an agenda as short as possible. Doing this lets your people work on their most important projects without having to interrupt their schedule.

7. Foster a Productive Environment

If the world outside your office is noisy and makes it difficult for your employees to concentrate, try arranging things for them. Shut the door, advise the employees to use noise-canceling headphones, and set aside time to answer calls for them. Hang curtains, organize your meetings, and schedule office hours to give your employees an appropriate environment to work. Always provide productive people as a team for your company, who focus on work more often.

8. Promote Healthy Eating

Hunger can impact productivity levels and make people ‘hangry’. It can be hard for your employees to resist the temptation to eat fast food or drink from a vending machine once in a while. Healthy options will help keep your teams stay focused and motivated. With a healthy group of people, there is always a steady outcome. There are plenty of healthy and affordable options out there. Provide the best for your people.

9. Reduce Self-Distractions

Sometimes, employees feel disappointed while working on a project or task. They become so focused on one task that they forget to look at the other projects around them. Allow breaks in between hectic tasks for your folks. Arrange a space with motivation and positive affirmations for them to read and hear. By doing so, your employees get back to focusing on their work. Give necessary help like training to help your team gain self-control and provide sessions that help them curb self-distractions to get back on track.

10. Encourage Constructive Communications

A productive and friendly work environment can be made possible by refraining from gossiping and reducing the distractions it causes. As a leader, you must prevent gossip from happening in the workplace. Discussing any instances at the workplace involving an employee should be strictly avoided. As managers, you can set a model by not involving in such activities and set an example for your team with productive discussions.

Final Thoughts

In a world full of instant channels of communications and push notifications, employees get distracted around 50 to 60 times a day. We hope this article has helped you map an effective distraction management approach for your company. Try your best to foster a distraction-free workplace.

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