"Gamification” is the art of adding game-like elements to experiences, but not involve any games.
Gamification is a very familiar term in today’s business world and used across organizations, though many of them are not clear about the term. It is used during business meetings/events etc.; without being aware of what Gamification is and what it is going to bring to the organization. Gamification is a proven method to enhance business effectiveness in an organization.
“Gamification” is the art of adding game-like elements to experiences which traditionally do not involve fun or games. Gamification focuses more on bringing gaming elements in the existing system. Gamification is the process by which elements of games are added to activities that aren’t usually associated with games. It is a data-driven motivational and fun strategy to make the users complete their activities in a more interactive and amusing way. This will lead in enhancing the user’s knowledge; earn appreciation, incentives, loyalty points etc. This can essentially unlock your companies’ potential across employees, departments, products, sectors etc. If it is used wisely, Gamification can be a powerful tool, which can make your business do great.
Employees are contented to complete their work at their workplace, but when there is a demand to do something that is not part of the core job, but part of the business performance/enhancing needs like managing internal tools, business process documents, they show very little or rather no interest. For example; time-sheets which is to be filled by an employee for each of their activities performed in a day. It is considered to be an unexciting task and often ignored by many of the employees. In most of the cases, it will be postponed for the next day or week. Bringing a bit of gamification here will actually make them do the activity in an enjoyable manner. This will keep the workplace and organizational engagement robust.
Gamification touches human intrinsic motivations. If we demand an employee to perform a simple activity for his/her own sake, because it will satisfy some of his/her needs, he/she will definitely enjoy doing it. It will make them contented through incentives and the organization’s goal will be met.
Companies should invest in gamification, as in this technological era there are countless stuff around us to engage and distract our employees. Considering all these factors, getting the best out of an employee is a big challenge. So bringing something that can directly connect with human emotions and making them perform the activity will be the next thing. A job can’t be an action that a human is forced to do. Changing this attitude towards a job is what gamification is all about.
According to Gamification by Design co-author Gabe Zichermann, “gamification is 75 percent psychology and 25 percent technology.”
According to Professor B.J. Fogg, an experimental psychologist at Stanford University, three elements must converge in order for a change in behaviour to occur: motivation, ability, and trigger. What’s most important is that all three things have to happen at the same time.
Successful gamification tools work because:
It gives users the motivation to do something (the chance to win, receive rewards or gain recognition)
It gives users the ability to carry out a task by facilitating it or breaking each task into bite-size chunks, increasing the perceived capability for the user
It gives the user a trigger or cue to complete the action.
If all these conditions are met, gamification can change behaviour, create motivation and keep employees engaged.
Now think about how we can make the human brain perform the activities by using design and technology to enhance and impact business in a much positive manner.
An UX organization’s role in this juncture is important. Studying an organization and its culture through UX; understanding the employee’s behaviours, personal & work life, internal culture, their surroundings, education etc. matters a lot (a psychological approach is desirable). In-depth research can bring the answer for all these and can bring a thoughtful solution that is suitable for the respective organization and its employees. So bringing empathy to the table and crafting smart solutions using design and technology is what an organisation required.
Any organization should understand their employees through their own eyes. It can drive the company’s business success. If you want your gamification project to work, it has to be fun for the employees. To understand the fun in a games context, where better to look than actual games? After all, we play games for fun, and it’s where our inspiration for gamification is based. Gamification increases employee engagement and it can be used in all sectors of business and even in our daily life.
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