As a human we love to play games, why? It simply brings out the child in us, it’ s fun and makes us more creative and imaging. It might not be the first thing that pops up on your mind but games can be a very effective communication tool. We see a movement here; the gamification of communication. So if gaming is a good thing, why don’t you let your employees play games?
What does gamification mean?
“Gamification is the process of engaging people and changing behaviour with game design, loyalty and behavioural economics. It’s taking what’s fun about games and applying it to situations that maybe aren’t so fun. It’s about applying that feeling of flow to everything from employee motivation to research studies to marketing campaigns”. – Gabe Zichermann
Just to make clear; gamification has nothing to do with actual games. It’s the fun factor of gaming used in communication.
What you want to know about gamification
– A large percentage of your employees are living online so they are very comfortable with using the latest technology, digital games and social media
– Employees expect the digital experiences in their personal lives to be replicated in the workplace
– Employees prefer to learn through digital engagement
– Recognition motivates employees more then incentive
Increase employee engagement with gamification
As said, recognition motivates employees. It’s important employees feel they have influence on improving their own performance and are part of the bigger picture. Motivated employees will be more engaged and in the end they will become brand ambassadors. You can use gamification for instance to increase sales performance, accelerate employee development or to boost employee collaboration.
An example of gamification to motivate sales teams is Monsters Inc’s leaderboard where Sullivan and Randall had a competitive rivalry to be on the top. It also shows how real-time feedback affected the monsters’ behaviour in dedication and focus on their tasks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZKZxpwBPG0
