Concentration at work is related to the collaborator’s ability to keep their mind focused on a task or objective, which is key to obtaining high levels of productivity and an optimized use of time.
When the work environment affects our concentration, anything can drain our energy and make work irritating to the point that just getting up to go to work is already a struggle.
If the place where you work is noisy, with bad weather and unhappy employees, we have news for you: it will be practically impossible to maintain high levels of productivity in the team.
But calm down, because the problem has a solution.
In this article we are going to learn how the work environment can improve or worsen your concentration and also some things that companies can do to create a productive and happy space for their collaborators.
What is a bad work environment?
Before presenting solutions to improve the environment, it is important to understand what is precisely defined as a bad environment, although, of course, there are also several situations that, for example, will annoy one person more than another.
As in any other place, there are many people in the work environment with different characteristics, opinions and experiences. But in a bad environment this can end up in a difficult coexistence, with a tense climate and without people being able to focus on their work.
often their own of the company does not contribute positively to achieving a productive and pleasant environment.
To help you better identify a bad work environment, pay attention to the following points:
- Excess noise: It is practically impossible to concentrate in a noisy environment. Side conversations, loud music, external noises, etc., are examples of situations that steal the concentration of employees.
- Unhealthy competition: Employees are part of teams that must have a common goal: to make the company prosper. But the excess of competition between them creates very unpleasant situations, also affecting concentration and productivity.
- Gossip: Another type of situation that affects employees is gossip, which undoubtedly does not offer anything positive to the work environment.
- Lack of organization: Concentrating in a chaotic environment is a difficult task. If there are boxes scattered everywhere in the company, things piled up and stored in any way, etc., of course the collaborators will feel it negatively.
- Team without priorities: Everyone needs priorities to know where and how to focus their efforts.
- Other types of distractions: We are in an increasingly connected world, which makes it even more difficult for us to stay focused. That little look at the cell phone and the 5-minute walk through social networks are also ways to end the .
How to improve your concentration in the work environment?
What would companies be without the people who give them life? Few businesses survive without worrying about their employees, and ignoring them is the perfect recipe for failure.
A large part of the companies, mainly the most innovative, have been realizing how much the work environment influences the concentration and performance of collaborators.
After all, we spend most of the day at work, and if we don’t feel comfortable and happy, it’s hard for us to have a satisfactory performance, don’t you think?
The employee is expected to maintain harmony in the workplace and to deliver the best possible result, but the responsibility of offering a work environment that guarantees the concentration and satisfaction of the collaborator lies with the company.
In addition to helping concentration, working in a pleasant place stimulates productivity and reduces employee turnover.
So, find out below what can be done to improve team focus and productivity!
1. First: communication
Good communication is essential to achieving productive working relationships.
When employees know where and when to communicate with each other and with their managers and coordinators, it becomes much easier to focus on what really matters.
The key to good communication at work is to be clear and direct. If problems arise, don’t avoid them or pretend they don’t exist: employees feel when something is wrong.
2. Set clear goals
It may seem obvious, but goalless people focus their attention on several things at the same time and fail to stay focused.
All collaborators must have defined goals, with delivery dates and times (that are not unreasonable), respecting the time that the person needs to make quality deliveries.
If the company is in a hurry, the best option will be to distribute the goals among the team, so the workload is divided equally allowing everyone to focus on their goal with mindfulness.
3. Practice feedback
To complement the previous point, what will also be very beneficial for your company is to create a culture of feedback.
For example, if the person in charge of an area perceives that the collaborators are not concentrating on work, it will be very valid to talk as a group and then with each member of the same, to see how the situation can be improved.
In addition, the whole team must consider this practice as something natural. Immediate feedback is essential to improve productivity and focus, whether it’s or positive.
4. Consistency is key
There are several new company cultural trends that can be applied: flexible hours, open work spaces, home office, bringing pets to work, etc. The list is endless and each of them can help improve the environment.
But this should not be considered as something mandatory. Above all, the work environment must be consistent to help employees focus.
Who knows what consistency is is the team itself, because although changes can generally be considered healthy, interruptions and modifications can also often be harmful and affect the balance of the company.
5. Stimulates the confidence of collaborators
A distrustful and anxious mind cannot concentrate on anything. Confidence at work is well stimulated by offering the collaborator the greatest possible autonomy to decide how to carry out a certain activity.
Excessive demands and interruptions will only add to the pressure rather than help.
Can you imagine a co-worker who constantly sends you emails asking you for all the details of a project and its development? You will have the feeling of being watched and that your colleagues do not trust you.
6. Create a rest space
It is important to think of environments with a more relaxed climate to break tense atmospheres, thus giving employees space to rest in moments of greatest stress.
This space can be a more playful environment, such as a room with sofas, beanbags, games and activities, or even a meditation room, for those who want to get out of the work environment and rest to recover energy. ¡An exclusive space for it!
7. Do not let the workplace accumulate dirt
There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at the workplace and seeing that everything is disorganized, that there are dirty dishes in the sink, papers strewn everywhere and the floor is messy.
Keeping the work environment organized is also essential so that people can focus on tasks and not on the mess.
Bonus: tools to keep the team focused on work
As we have already seen, there are various tips that can be put into practice to improve the work environment and ensure that we focus on what really matters.
Without a calm environment and where what is really important is not prioritized, it will be difficult to achieve everyone’s concentration. And what will be the result? A team that is not focused on work and desperate to deliver results at any cost.
In addition to the tips above, we have separated some tools that can also be used by everyone to stay focused.
Write them down and present them to your collaborators.
1.
Trello is one of the most used applications for project management. On a single screen the team knows which tasks need to be executed.
The tool presents a series of boxes (boards) that contain cards inside (cards), and each of them receives an activity.
The card allows you to record the delivery time, the equipment involved, create labels (to indicate urgency, for example), allows you to check list and attach documents. It is also possible to write comments and descriptions about the tasks to be carried out.
This avoids cluttering team members’ inboxes with emails about tasks and milestones.
two.
One of the biggest stealers of concentration is social media. AThat 1-minute look on the net is already enough to break the work dynamic.
RescueTime is a tool that helps monitor the time we spend with distractions on the computer and provides reports with data on the minutes spent visiting each site.
And collaborators can use it autonomously, so that they themselves understand what can impair their concentration and learn to minimize distractions.
3. Pomodoro Technique
The It is used to work on individual productivity and concentration, but it is also something super valid to show it to your collaborators.
¡It may be just the tool that was missing!
It works as follows: the person first writes down all the tasks to be carried out during their day and then divides the workload into periods of 20 or 30 minutes (pomodori), pausing 5 minutes between each one of them. Every 4 pomodoris there is a longer break of 15 minutes.
Thus, the person is totally focused on the task and in turn rests. It might seem like something that actually hurts concentration, but the method increases productivity in a fully proven way.
In this article we have presented tips and tools that any company can implement to ensure that their collaborators have a work environment that promotes concentration.
However, let us remember that cultivating concentration at work is not only the responsibility of the company, it must also be something that each person does for himself.
Since we know that this is not the easiest task in the world, how about investigating these other ?
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