By Alessandro Giannone
Organisations nowadays always experience one particular challenge: effectively engaging learners and employees. A report by Research and Markets shows engagement in training programs continues to be the biggest challenge for them today. Because of this, many have relied on the potential of gamification to solve their learning and development (L&D) problems. This strategic approach can change how learners and employees approach L&D when implemented correctly.
Gamification is the strategic application of game-like elements and principles into non-game contexts like learning. It involves elements like rewards, competition, and interactive experiences to make training fun and more engaging. Ultimately, it functions by using human’s natural inclination to games and rewards systems to improve functions like learning and development.
Gamification is commonly applied in marketing. However, its influence can be seen in various aspects of business operations, such as employee training and organisational productivity.
How Does Gamification Work?
The idea behind utilising gamification is to make traditional tasks like training programs engaging and more enjoyable. The elements below can significantly transform mundane jobs into exciting challenges:
By doing so, learning and task completion becomes more appealing. There are numerous ways to implement gamification into an organisation. But regardless of the method, this implementation, if done correctly, can leverage users' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Learners will begin by pursuing external rewards like extra time off or virtual currencies. Since gamification makes processes inherently "fun", they will find their activities enjoyable, thus promoting continued engagement.
Why Does Gamification Work?
Gamification works because it taps into the human’s fundamental behaviours and desires. It gives learners a more conducive learning environment where they can learn and train not just for the sake of it, but because it’s genuinely fun.
Key Psychological Elements that Make Gamification Work
Gamification leverages the psychological aspects below to create a rewarding and practical learning experience:
Gamification has made significant strides across various industries. It has revolutionised how learning, engagement, and motivation are approached nowadays.
Duolingo
Duolingo is a popular language learning app that effectively uses elements like streaks and leaderboards to make education more interesting.In fact, a study by Pilar Munday shows that 80% of Duolingo’s users have reported that they’ve enjoyed using the app because of its gamification.
Archy Learning
Archy Learning is a software that transforms teaching using engaging and easy-to-create modules featuring quizzes, videos, and gamified elements. These elements are integrated into the software's course quizzes, educational video games, media-rich exams, and fun completion certificates.
With Archy Learning, students can track their progress and increase their learning momentum. As for teachers, they can oversee their student’s learning and quickly make new modules to augment classroom sessions.
Zillow Academy
Zillow Academy is an educational platform designed to help real estate agents further their careers.
It contains resources that can fill their knowledge gaps and keep them updated on the evolving real estate market trends.
To make things more interesting for users, Zillow Academy leverages elements like leaderboards so everyone can track the top performers.
Deloitte Leadership Academy (DLA)
DLA is a digital executive training program Deloitte uses to train both their employees and their client’s.
This online platform incorporates elements like missions, badges, and leaderboards, complemented by video presentations, comprehensive lessons, and various assessments.
DLA aims to enhance critical leadership skills among Deloitte's future leaders through an engaging and interactive learning environment.
Here’s an interesting statistic from Zippia: “80% of U.S. workers find gamified learning to be more engaging than traditional methods”
This goes to show that when implemented correctly, gamification can revolutionise the way your organisation do L&D. Below are some proven-and-tested strategies that will help you integrate gamification in your organisation.
#1. Set Your Objectives
Start by understanding your people’s needs and align those goals to your gamification strategy. Do you want to improve your staff’s learning process? Or perhaps you want your employees to have a fun and engaging training experience?
#2. Understand Your Audience
Know your audience's needs, preferences, and motivations. This ensures the gamification strategy is engaging and relevant to the right user base.
#3. Choose the Right Gamification Elements
Use elements like challenges, progress tracking, and leaderboards to motivate users. Your rewards must be meaningful to encourage them to continue engagement with their learning materials.
#4. Keep Things Simple
Gamification is intended to make training and learning fun. But if your system is too complicated, it can be counterproductive and may even cause confusion. Keep gamification simple and intuitive to foster participation and integration into daily tasks.
#5. Personalise Rewards
The more relevant the rewards are to your people, the better. Be sure to offer personalised experiences such as custom avatars, tailored learning paths, or recognition.
#6. Choose the Right Gamification Software or Platform
Finally, select a software or platform with the best capabilities and features. Pick one to help your employees, students, and learners feel motivated and immersed in their learning process.
Integrating any new strategic approach into your organisation's L&D can bring unique challenges and considerations. The same can be said for gamification.
If you want to ensure proper implementation of gamification, you must be aware of the following challenges and considerations:
#1. Balancing Fun and Purpose
Gamification is meant to make training and learning fun and engaging. Rather than just serving as entertainment, you must ensure your implementation aligns with your learning objectives or business goals.
#2. Avoiding Overcomplication
Keep gamification simple, accessible, and engaging for everyone involved. You can do this by considering the different learning styles of each user and avoiding any possible technological barriers.
#3. Ethical Consideration
Be mindful of the balance between competitive and collaborative elements. To prevent burnout, do your best to avoid creating a stressful or divisive environment. Additionally, consider the impact on the participant's work-life balance.
Gamification continues to transform L&D by making the process more engaging and motivating. This approach turns everyday tasks into exciting challenges by leveraging the natural human desires for achievements and recognition. Effective application of gamification taps into both the joy of learning and the rewards of progress. Because of this, the whole educational experience becomes dynamic and rewarding for any learner.