Are you looking for ways to reduce the number of errors your staff makes on a day-to-day basis? Do you want to increase your productivity by eliminating costly mistakes that you usually make? If so, then you need to learn all about how to prevent mistakes at work.
Believe it or not, there is a science on how to do so. By focusing on prioritizing constructive habits and a little bit of self-observing, you can reduce the number of costly errors in business.
See below for an in-depth guide on how to reduce the risk of making mistakes at work and create more momentum for you and your staff.
1. Build Stronger Work Habits
Have you noticed that you’ve been making the same mistake over and over? Did you recently realize that there is one crucial mistake that you’re, for whatever reason, prone to make with your job? If so, then it’s time to assess your daily work habits.
Whether you realize it or not, you activate hundreds of habits each day. Everything from brushing your teeth in the morning to the way you go about your day at work involves a habit that you’ve developed in your brain.
By learning more about the way habits are made, you can learn how to turn any habit in your favor. Every habit goes through what is called a “habit loop” a term that Charles Duhigg points out in his book The Power of Habit. Every habit look contains the same cadence: a cue, routine, and reward. Always in that exact order.
For example, let’s say you have a habit of logging a sales call a particular way. The cue might be the sound of you hanging up your work phone. The routine is the information you type into the sales call on your software. The reward is the feeling that you’ve logged another call, thus done your job correctly.
Take some time to assess what habit loops need correcting in your everyday job. How can you help your staff members correct theirs as well?
2. Establish Small Goals for Your Big Goals
Oftentimes, workers find themselves making crucial mistakes when they set their sights too far ahead. In other words: they’re so focused on accomplishing the big goal they have for the day, that they forget to focus on the small tasks they need to achieve to get there.
For example, let’s say one of your sales representatives is hoping to make 5 sales by the end of the day. On their way to achieving that, they misquote a client for way lower than they should’ve, thus resulting in a financial mistake at work.
Luckily, there’s a way to prevent that from ever happening: fix the way you establish daily goals. Every morning, take some time to establish one big goal for the day. Then, once that goal is made, write out the answer to these questions:
- What will you do to achieve this goal?
- What distractions might you face as you try to accomplish this goal?
- What possible mistakes could you make along the way?
- How can you avoid those mistakes?
- How will you know when you’ve achieved the big goal?
3. Cut Off Your Distractions
People are more distracted than ever before. In fact, studies have shown that the average person’s attention span only lasts 12 seconds.
Why is that? The main reason is that we have more distractions than we ever have. The main one being our smartphones, which are constantly tugging at us like a 3-year-old asking for a snack. Needless to say that these distractions lead to costly mistakes down the line.
The fewer distractions you have, the more focused you will be on the task at hand. The more focused you are on a task, the less likely it is that you’ll make a mistake.
Before you ever take an action towards that task, cut off the potential for distractions. Turn your smartphone on vibrate and set it in a desk drawer. Don’t check social media. Hold off on conversations with your coworkers for an allotted amount of time (30 minutes to an hour).
4. Review Your Work Flow
If you’re looking to maximize the production of your staff and reduce costly mistakes, then you’ll have to use insight and data to point you in the right direction. This can help you understand where the mistakes are being made, then take action to help correct them.
Be sure to invest in software that can help you as you shift your focus to analytics. Start by visiting https://www.tekmetric.com/features/overview to see how it can help you streamline your staff’s workflow.
Tekmetric can help your company minimize errors and enhance your analytics reporting. After all, data alone won’t help unless you apply the information that you have in your hand.
5. Let Failure Guide You
We’re all human. People make mistakes. What’s important is that you take your failures and learn from them. Ask yourself a few questions anytime you make a costly error.
What factors contributed to the mistake(s) you made? How can that mistake be avoided in the future? What will you do to ensure that it never happens again?
Managers don’t judge people based on the mistakes they make. They judge them on the mistakes that they repeatedly make.
Prevent Mistakes at Work With These Helpful Tips
Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on how to prevent and minimize costly mistakes at work, be sure to use this information wisely.
Take the time to browse our website for more articles on preventing financial mistakes at work, as well as many other topics that you will enjoy.
