All those days watching sports and playing video or computer games are finally about to pay off because some of the elements you learned there, is what you’ll find in the concept of ‘gamification’.
Gamification: a definition:
Gamification can be described as the application of typical elements of game playing such as point scoring, competition with others and rules of play to other areas of activity.
For Olympia Engage, gamification covers 4 core elements that you’ll find in sport and gaming and they include leaderboards, points, rewards and teams.
So why would you want to bring gamification into your work environment? Well gamification has been proven to help employees feel more engaged, motivated and more driven to succeed, while staying as productive as possible.
Here are just 10 of the benefits of gamification in the work environment:
1. Improves productivity
2. Enhances employee engagement
3. Boosts motivation
4. Encourages creativity
5. Strengthens communication
6. Enables innovation
7. Improves team dynamics
8. Entrenches corporate identity
9. Increases efficiency
10. Raises morale
Let’s take a look at those 4 core elements of gamification according to Olympia Engage…
Firstly, why are these core elements so important? Simply put, they form the foundation of a successful employee engagement and productivity approach in your company.
You need to be able to feature either employees or teams on a terminal or TV that is visible to everyone in the company. However, unlike in the sport or gaming world, you will require multiple leaderboards to manage your teams efficiently. It is not possible to compare the delivery team with the sales team. Within a team, a leaderboard reveals who is flying ahead in achieving their tasks and goals and this creates healthy competition among team members.
Employees and in turn the teams that they belong to, earn points by achieving a goal that is specific to their department or the company as a whole. For example: show up on time and you earn 5 points, show up on time the whole week and you earn an extra 10 points.
At the end of the day, month or year, you may want to hand out an award at the general meeting. This could be a medal, a name on the honours list, a trophy… and sometimes just being recognised on a daily basis is a great way to spur teams into action. Understanding the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is vital for management as this helps drive how they plan meaningful goals and objectives for both teams and individuals.
When you divide your organisation into clear-cut teams and reward them when they achieve their team goals and objectives, you entrench all the benefits of a fully engaged and productive workforce.
A platform like Olympia Engage is essential for any company wanting to benefit from the rewards that a concept like gamification offers. If done incorrectly, gamifying your workplace can have a negative impact on teams and individuals. When planned well and done right in a structured, measured way, gamification can have an exceptionally positive impact on your ongoing success.
We offer a 14-day trial of Olympia Engage for companies or departments that want to take gamification for a test-drive. Sign up and see how Olympia Engage can help you.
