Attention to detail refers to a person’s behavioural propensity towards thoroughness, accuracy, and consistency when accomplishing tasks. In most cases, employees with exceptional attention to detail are able to notice overlooked mistakes such as spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and internal inconsistencies. This is so critical when it comes to ensuring effectiveness for your job as an employee. Diane Nawatti, head teacher and a counsellor says when this is ensured; such individuals’/employees’ work will be of high standards and always stand out in all circumstances. In addition to this, she says it also helps minimise the amount of supervision from immediate supervisors. Meanwhile, it has been shown that attention to detail is a common core competency, and hiring managers often seek candidates that express excellent attention to detail. In fact, attention to detail will help in saving the company a lot of hassle and possible losses. Alpha Arsene Marara, an ICT specialist at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) is of the view that depending on the work one does, paying attention to details helps also create confidence in your audience or clients. He goes on to add that attention to detail improves accuracy in performing tasks as this can as well be applied in different professional projects. “If it’s a business enterprise, paying attention to details also contributes to overall efficiency and success in business thus contributing to customer satisfaction,” he says. It has also been established that in more senior roles, a lack of attention to detail could result in poorly written contracts, policies, and procedures, which leaves the organisation vulnerable to legal challenges. Ensuring that relevant staff show excellent attention to detail minimises the risk of errors, and reduces the amount of checking, revising, and supervision that staff may require. As a competency skill, attention to detail is a very common performance criterion for highly procession work, or roles with a significant qualitative focus. These include; administration, project management, legal professions, management, marketing, journalism, public relations, human resources, and customer service among others. Nawatti says there are some specific professions that involve the adherence to strict processes or involve a great deal of writing- these most commonly require employees to show excellent attention to detail and if this is not observed, there could be a negative impact on the entire organisation. The importance of details transcends the personal and social scope. Nawatti notes that this skill also helps in improving one’s quality of work, adding that this in the end decreases flaws in one’s work. “Depending on the type of work, paying more attention to every detail can help a company save money, therefore, such individual is worth a lot more for the company,” she says. Moving forward, Marara points out that paying attention to details comes with personal benefits too. He notes that it helps spark one’s curiosity and interest in things they would have missed generally in life. To add on this, he says in order to improve your attention to detail at work, one needs to be organised in everything they do, be it at home or at work. By doing so, they are able to create time for everything, which ensures productivity in all tasks they undertake.
