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October 19, 2018

How to Prevent Cyber and Tech Distractions within the IT Department



Keep Your IT Department on Task By Avoiding Common Distractions

When you work in an industry where technology is ubiquitous, it’s difficult to escape the distractions that so often besiege your attention. But if you want your team to be successful, you must find a way to overcome.

The Problem of Distractions in IT

The human brain is severely limited in its ability to focus on a single task for an extended period of time. The average attention span is just seconds long and the presence of external stimuli makes it difficult to zero in on a particular responsibility – even when your job depends on it.



In certain industries and niches, it’s easier to block out distractions. For example, an assembly line worker in an auto manufacturing plant doesn’t have much space for losing focus. If he looks away for even a few seconds, he could cause an immediate malfunction or delay in the larger system.

In other industries, such as IT, the feedback isn’t quite so costly or immediate. This makes it easier to get distracted and stay distracted without feeling the ramifications for many days, weeks, or months.

Having one distracted IT worker will cause a minor annoyance. Having an entire team or department of distracted employees quickly becomes costly. And if you don’t deal with it immediately, the ramifications could be serious and long-term.

5 Ways to Overcome Resource-Draining Distractions

The IT field is ripe for distractions. Employees are constantly surrounded by technology, notifications, and communication devices – regularly feeling the need to multi-task in order to get by. If you want your team to avoid unnecessary distractions and maximize productivity, the following tips and techniques may prove useful.

1. Set Goals

Distractions are given room to flourish when there are no defined productivity or output objectives. In other words, if people don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, they can’t be expected to do it with any consistency.

The first step in the pursuit of limiting distractions and maximizing productivity is to set some objectives and benchmarks. Every employee should know what’s expected of them on a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis. To really provide some perspective, you may even stretch this out over the course of a year.

2. Use Productivity Apps

In many professions, the best way to eliminate online distractions is by disconnecting. In an IT department, you can’t just do away with a particular device or avoid the internet. Instead, your best bet is to use productivity apps that help you gain some control over how you spend your time. Here are three good options:

  • Focus. Does your team frequently become distracted by certain websites? Focus lets each individual user create lists of sites or apps that they want to avoid and then restricts them from using it during certain blocks of time.
  • HazeOver. This is the perfect app for helping you block out distractions without ruining a computer or device’s functionality. It simply dims all background apps and windows so that you can fully focus on the one in the foreground.
  • Be Focused. This productivity timer works across all Apple (News - Alert) devices – including Mac, iPad, and iPhone. You can use it for a single task, or to help you handle long-term goals over the period of a day, week, month, or quarter.

If you use a Setapp subscription, you can gain access to all of these apps and dozens more for one low monthly price. This allows you to create a concentrated working environment where every minute of the workday is accounted for and used to its full potential.

3. Develop a “Status” System

Distractions don’t always come in the form of websites, apps, and other online forces. Sometimes it’s coworkers who distract one another. From dropping into someone’s cubicle unannounced to asking for “five minutes” of someone’s time, little interruptions can become a major problem.

The best way to limit these distractions is to develop a physical status system that allows your team to clearly see who is and isn’t available at any given point in time. This might look like using an open/closed door system, having signs on individual cubicles, or using away messages on apps like Slack.

4. Hire the Right People

We’re all humans – which means we each can become distracted – but some people possess more self-discipline than others. As you hire people to join your team, look for individuals who possess high levels of focus and determination.

Self-disciplined people revel in routine and understand the importance of eliminating unnecessary distractions in pursuit of the larger goal. They also avoid letting moods and emotions dictate their decision making – instead, relying on facts to reach conclusions. They also live and die by goals and deadlines, which keeps them focused throughout the day.

5. Hold Your Team Accountable

Recent research has shown that the average employee in a professional services firm wastes 40-minutes per day due to ineffective communication alone. In the average company with an average payroll this equates to approximately $5,220 per employee per year in lost productivity,” explains Skip Weisman of AEC Business Solutions.

If you want to eliminate this wasted money and keep your business on track, you must hold your team accountable for their actions. This means reprimanding those who unnecessarily waste time, while also rewarding and encouraging those who make smart choices.

It’s also ideal if you can train your team to hold each other accountable. There’s something even more powerful about having your peers keep you in line.

Keep Your IT Department in Line

Distractions are a normal part of life and work. No matter how hard you may try, you can’t make them disappear. You can, however, set your team up for success by establishing a plan for maximizing productivity.

The tips and techniques highlighted in this article have been shown to help many professionals stay on track. However, you’ll need to spend time studying your team and accounting for their strengths, weaknesses, and personalities so that you can tailor a unique strategy to their specific needs.



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