How to Keep IT Team Boredom From Killing Productivity
A bored IT team is also an unproductive IT team. Here's how to keep your staff motivated and energetic.
Boredom is easy to detect, yet difficult to define and even tougher to address. Boredom indicates that a current activity or situation isn't providing sufficient engagement or meaning. An IT leader's goal should be to help bored individuals — even entire teams — shift their attention to tasks and activities that are fulfilling and enriching.
IT team boredom often stems from mind-numbing repetitive tasks that drain creativity and engagement, observes Carl Herberger, CEO of Corero Network Security, a threat intelligence insights and analysis firm. "The irony is that the very efficiency IT seeks to create can trap teams in a cycle of monotony," he says in an email interview.
It all comes down to engagement, says Orla Daly, CIO with workforce development firm Skillsoft. "IT teams may lack engagement because the work isn't considered sufficiently challenging or feels repetitive," she explains in an online interview. Many tech professionals want the opportunity to become familiar with new technologies and to keep their skills up to date. "When organizations fail to provide a good balance of opportunities, team members can become disengaged," Daly notes.
Yet engagement isn't just about gaining access to new technologies. If team members attempt to try a new task without enough skills and support resources to be successful, they may become disengaged, Daly cautions. "It's important to couple access with the right support frameworks."
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