The corporate ecosystem is evolving by the day with newer goals and newer challenges. Employees, teams and leaders therefore, need to adapt to the new emerging realities with a strictly restructured approach that can help them achieve specific tasks and targets faster, better and with 100% interest and motivation.
Hence…Gamification!
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An Introduction to Gamification in Corporate Training in a Nutshell
Gamification, in very simple words, is a welcome turn-around from rigid conventional means of achieving targets in a workplace. As the name suggest, it is about presenting a certain task at hand in the format of a ‘game’ where employees participate, compete with fellow players, cross levels, win badges / points / credits and more followed by gaining tangible benefits on completion of the gamified task.
Did you know… Market size of corporate Gamification is expected to reach $30.7 billion by 2025!
The purpose of corporate gamification is not just to beat the everyday drudgery at work, but, to…
- Increase employee engagement at workplace
- Enhance professional / soft skills
- Increase product knowledge
- Help employees retain information in corporate learning easily
- Motivate out-of-the-box problem solving abilities
- Generate a sense of accomplishment in all team members
- Encourage employees to take on bigger challenges
- Encourage dynamic changes in professional personality and
- Instill a sense of healthy competition among coworkers
All of this put together creates a flexible, amicable and growth-based work environment that makes the process of handling workplace tasks and corporate learning more interesting, engaging and rewarding for the firm as well as the employees.
Why Corporate Training Thrives with Gamification?
Introduction to gamification in corporate training remains incomplete if its advantages are not highlighted.
Let’s admit it… the level of ingenuity in introducing games in an otherwise non-gaming environment is unparallelly outstanding.
Did you know, as per statistics, 97% employees in operations, aged 45+ have agreed that gamification would contribute towards improving their work with certainty.
88% have also expressed that gamification makes them happier in their work environment.
Response to gamification in corporate training, ever since it was introduced, has thus, always been thrilling. But, the advantages of Gamification are far more extensive than what’s perceived at surface level.
Here’s a compact list of other celebrated benefits that will help you understand why Gamified approach to corporate training is here to stay…
Easy Induction and Assimilation of New Employees
Inducting new employees into the team can often be a tiringly lengthy procedure where everything from product information and introduction to ongoing projects, to understanding and vibing with the workplace ambience needs to be imparted on person-to-person basis.
When gamified, new members can walk themselves through these essentials enthusiastically, which goes a long way in better learning, saving time and getting started more easily.
Time Optimization with Reduction in Group Huddles
Meetings are important… but so is ‘Time’. As per statistics, a senior executive spends up to two business days (on an average) in team meetings, mostly those involving introduction to products, sharing ideas, setting goals, performance updates etc.
When gamified, these essentials get automatically imparted to the team on a game format which saves hours every week that can be further utilized in productive goal-oriented purposes.
Goals, Achievements and Performance Improvements can be Quantifiably Tracked
Conventional qualitative performance assessment is losing the race to Quantifiable performance tracking. And, it has all been made possible by gamification.
When employees engage in gamified tasks, their inputs, progress, engagement level, target achievement, resource utilization, problem solving ability, professional personality and team spirit can be tracked, recorded, compared and assessed based on factual data.
Gamification leaves no room for personal biases, which is a welcome relief for everyone in the workplace.
Encourages Multi-Tasking among Employees
Employees are often required to handle multiple tasks at the same time. This often becomes burdensome for the former leading to unnecessary errors, delays and mismanagements.
When gamified, employees can effectively structure their tasks, find the right pathway to achieve given targets, keep a record of their progress, set reminders and be rewarded on completion.
Knowledge Sharing Becomes Infinitely Easy
Industry updates, new certification courses, product information or anything else for that matter… sharing new information and knowledge with employees / team becomes infinitely easy with gamification.
With a gamified approach, employees are always enthusiastic about learning at their own pace while enjoying bite sized rewards that come with every level accomplished.
Did you know… when oral or text presentations are accompanied with infographics, games, quizzes, challenges etc. knowledge retention increases 30%.
Improves Social Connection Among Team Members
Fast paced corporate environment does not usually leave much room or time for socialization. Gamified approach to training however, allows team members to interact while building trust and engaging in healthy competition with each other.
Performance Feedbacks are Instant
There was a time when employees faced enormous stress while waiting for performance assessments and understand where they stand in comparison with their co-workers.
Given that gamification in corporate training can quantify performance on a real time basis, employees can always stay updated with automatic feedbacks which again, leaves no room for anxiety or stress.
Genuine Enthusiasm in Learning
Intelligent gamification can help the slowest of learners catch up and retain essential information and achieve targets in time. With frequent pats on the back for bite sized achievements, employees never lack enthusiasm to pull up and stay in tune with evolving workplace requirements.
In all, it can be said that gamification in corporate training is the catalyst that creates a win-win situation for both employers and employees.
Final Thoughts
Non-seriously serious… gamification is a welcome tool for knowledge enhancement and performance improvement at workplace. It is a unique, creative, unbiased and interactive solution that is not just a passing trend but here to stay and evolve.
However, it is necessary to know that weaving gamification into the tapestry of corporate training requires prior home work and calls for implementation of best practices. It is very necessary to select the right tools / software with apt features from the right vendors to gain the best experience.
