A sweeping trend is taking over Corporate America. No, I’m not talking about lunch-time yoga classes, I’m referring to gamification. The term, coined in 2002 by British programmer Nick Pelling, refers to the use of game-thinking in non-game contexts to engage users. Countless corporate bigwigs (CocaCola, Nissan, Nike, etc.) have been maximizing on the benefits of this concept.
The idea is simple, people are spending hours at a time participating in Facebook and twitter contests, playing online competitive scrabble, checking in to their favorite foursquare locations and for what? With little or no monetary reward for their efforts, why invest so much time in these seemingly pointless games? Because people want to win! Throw all common sense and logic out the window on this one. Bragging rights are everything. This enthusiasm is the holy grail for corporate training programs, but how do you tap into it?
Business owners and HR departments spend countless time in board rooms and on conference calls debating how to reward employees for safety and wellness programs. How much money is enough to convince someone to take this weekly training course? Their intentions are great, but the issue lies with their motivation. Nothing is more insulting to an employee than to have a dollar sign placed over their head as some designation of worth. So break out of the cash mindset and start thinking outside the box!
The key is to create a game-like atmosphere to jump start involvement in your program. Getting a program going is the easy part, creating a constant buzz about the program is what provides longevity and success. How do you get started?
Start small. Change in the workplace is not always welcomed with open arms. Be sure that program goals and admins are very clear. The worst thing that could happen would be to roll out a program with bells and whistles, only for it to quickly dissipate when no one wants to maintain it or the budget falls through. Create a leaderboard and put it in a high traffic area. This will quickly set the bar for success and people are sure to jump in on the competition.
Give rewards. This doesn’t mean an all-expense paid trip to Aruba. Parking spots, flex time, free lunches, and even a visual trophy on a desk will work wonders for enthusiasm. Make it vocal. Winners should be announced and praised.
So you want to take it to the next level? I thought you would never ask!
Here at Awards Network, we specialize in gamification. Our incredibly creative clients have helped us build a truly massive toolbox of features to fit almost any type of program. We can incorporate your leaderboard into an interactive training portal with user profiles and personal photos. Training videos/literature as well as quizzes will be at your employees finger tips. No more visiting multiple sites or keeping up with email newsletters, this is one stop shopping for employee training. The best part is the rewards are built in. We can award points for completing training quizzes that will populate on the user’s profile. They can then go shopping with those points within the same site. Reports can be run on all quiz activity so you can see the success of the program in black and white. Peer nominations and ecards are also a very popular feature. Give employees on-the-spot points for exemplifying safe behaviors.
The moral of the story is to get your employees excited! Training has such a negative connotation in the work place but you can break that stigma. Let people compete against each other, hand out bragging rights and advertise success when it happens. If this has peaked YOUR enthusiasm, give us a call, we have some great tips on how to make gamification work for your company.