Gamification... a Must Have Tool in Your Learning and Development Toolbox

The experts agree that opportunities in L&D to apply gamification are only growing, and more opportunities translate into higher pay. Trends project a continued employee engagement crisis, the arrival of Generation Z, the swell of Millennials, the departure of Boomers, and a greater emphasis placed on data and analytics.

Simply defined, gamification uses game mechanics and rewards for non-game applications in order to increase engagement and loyalty, solve problems, change behaviors, and achieve business objectives. Gamification is an important and powerful strategy for influencing and motivating people.

The exciting news is although Gamification is a NEW addition to an instructional designer’s toolkit, it won’t be a steep learning curve for most learning and development professionals, because you have been using many of the techniques for years.

We asked CEOs, L&D, and HR Directors, “Should I get a gamification certificate?”

 

Why earn a Gamification Certificate?
Is there value in earning a Gamification Certificate? Is it worth the effort? We’ve asked some CEOs, L&D, and HR professionals to share their impressions of the value of a gamification certificate. Maybe what they had to say will give you the answers you need.

A 5-Prong Approach to Gamification

Fundamentally, gamification is a technique to influence motivation and engage people to solve problems, perform certain actions, and have fun while building positive energy in the workplace.

1. Gamification Education and Certifications - We are the ONLY organization to offer three levels of Gamification Certification for Human Resource and Talent Development professionals that is recognized and approved by HRCI, SHRM, and ATD for recertification credits.

Sententia a global consortium of Gamification Professionals offers a 5- prong approach to meet the business and performance objectives of our clients.

Beware of Self-Hugging

By Jonathan Peters, PhD and Monica Cornetti
May 28, 2015

What causes some employees or customers to engage in a gamified process, while others disengage in frustration? Why is it that some gamification mechanics appeal to some people, but have no effect on others?

People have tried to simplify the human tendency to play, but our willingness to invest time and energy into a process or experience ultimately comes from our core motivators.

Using a rigid scientific protocol, and leveraging statistical and computational methodologies, Stephen Reiss, PhD has identified 16 basic needs that impact our personalities and the choices we make, as well as why we would engage in one activity but not another. His findings have been supported with an expanding dataset of over 80,000 people across cultures on four continents.
           
Most psychological categorization efforts have attempted to push people into groups, usually the four archetypes from ancient Greek mythology. The Reiss Motivation Profile goes the opposite direction; it demonstrates how, exactly, we are unique from each other, even those within our archetypical subgroups.

The Gamification Starter Kit

 

The gamification of learning is more than just building games into learning. It is a systematic process of using strategies that are based on the principles of good game design. The Game the System™ Model in this Starter Kit guides you through the process of gamified learning design.

Whether you are a new or seasoned learning professional, instructional designer, corporate trainer or adult educator, The Gamification Starter Kit will help you to quickly and easily learn how to adapt a gamification strategy for your programs.

By following the 5-step plan, you are essentially assured a successful outcome.

Before Jumping Into Gamification... Consider This

Games are without a doubt an addictive fascination, and their use in the workplace is ever growing. The result is a new trend in the marketplace to engage employees and clients called gamification, and research indicates that the gamification market will exceed $5 billion in the next few years.

Using game mechanics and rewards for non-game applications, gamification strategies can play an important role to drive brand allegiance, customer loyalty, employee productivity, and even organizational alignment.

Already, organizations of all sizes have used gamification in areas such as customer engagement, loyalty programs, sales training, learning and development, and employee onboarding. The driving philosophy behind gamification can be summarized – to engage consumers or employees through motivators they find most exciting such as: competitive challenges, collaborative teams, instant rewards, status, and occasionally winning some stuff.

Get Loud, Get Messy, Get Fun... Get Results!

Lecture will never lead to real learning. Real learning requires your audience to use their own thinking process to evaluate what is being presented.
 
How can you can put tools in their hands to help them see and feel as well as hear what you are saying? Can a simple card game supply that type of creative visual so they can better grasp the information you need them to learn?

Try this easy card pass relay race. Divide your audience into groups of no less than 5 and no more than 8 members per team. If you have people “left over” after dividing up the teams, ask them to help you as referees or timers. Count out 26 cards for each team. Give each team one stack of cards. Tell them this is a timed card passing competition.