September 24, 2018
5 Key Benefits Of Enterprise Gamification
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September 24, 2018
5 Key Benefits Of Enterprise Gamification
I am a Learning Professional with 15+ years of experience in strategizing and providing learning solutions for varied customer requirements. I work with several global customers in understanding their business challenges and proposing optimal learning solutions that are backed by apt learning strategies to enhance their employee performance. I head Tesseract Learning and we have carved a niche for ourselves in the learning space. I have a team of experienced industry experts who provide solutions to meet any customer training needs on Blended Learning, eLearning, Mobile learning, Microlearning, Game based learning, AR/VR, Adaptive Learning, Simulations, high end learning technology integrations, video and animations development. 
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Gamification has several key benefits for organizations looking to enhance their current trainings as well as develop a better application of the Subject Matter. In this article, I will briefly present 5 key benefits of enterprise gamification.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Enterprise Gamification?

In my last articles on gamification and game-based learning, I spoke about the difference between them, and how GBL can be made effective through avatars and immersive stories. In this article, I have dug a little deeper into the benefits of enterprise gamification. World-class gymnast, Dan Milman, wrote in his 1980 book The Peaceful Warrior that “the secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not fighting the old, but on building the new”. You might be thinking, what does this have to do with gamification? Well, until recently, most organizations used gamification as a tool to motivate employees through competition.

Enterprise Gamification

Today’s enterprise gamification takes a broader and more modern view of human motivation. Understanding that goes beyond points, badges, and leaderboards. Gamification isn’t a magic potion that makes work mesmerizing. There’s more to gamification…

Research shows that using game mechanics which carry a meaning and a sense of mastery and autonomy can create super-engagement. For example, today, car insurance companies use enterprise gamification to stop over speeding habits. Big brands offer customer rewards to increase sales. Even health services use enterprise gamification to encourage healthy eating.

Benefits Of Gamification

Let’s have a look at a few key benefits of gamification:

1. Engaging Brain-Chemistry

Enterprise gamification isn’t all fun and entertainment. In fact, there is a sound science behind it. Dozens of neurochemicals are involved when a person plays a game. One of them being Dopamine. Dopamine is a “happy chemical” hormone which is triggered when a person is happy. Dopamine keeps a person motivated. In the world of games, winning a prize, earning points, and climbing levels produce a dopamine hit that creates a good mood vibe. This, in turn, reduces the stress on employees. This nutshell is the first benefit of gamification.

2. Instant Feedback Cycles

The millennial employees do not have the patience to wait for a quarterly feedback. They want feedback now when it’s relevant. Gamification features like unlockable achievements give employees instant feedback whenever they do something positive. Badges can also be assigned to specific pieces of content, like assessments. Instantly receiving a shiny new badge keeps the employee motivated to learn.

Also, integrating gamification into enterprise tracking applications, gamification not only provides immediate performance feedback but also guides them as to what to do next. Thus, this is second benefit of gamification.

3. Tracking Simplified For Managers

If the tracking and reporting are automated and tied to into enterprise applications, periodic performance updates of the employees can be tracked on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The managers can see an individual as well as team-based feedback and aptly judge the performance of the employees. It can act as a single source of truth for employee performance tracking needs. This is the third benefit of gamification.

4. Giving A Sense Of Mastery To The Learner

Enterprise Gamification gives a sense of advancement to the employees. Employees get to learn something new by feeling in-charge of the whole training. This, in turn, results in executing the tasks effortlessly and thereby performing the best at what they know. Doing well and a sense of autonomy are what underlines improved ROI. This is the fourth benefit of gamification.

5. Gamification Is Used To Develop Specific Skills

Thanks to gamification, as companies can now focus on developing specific skills on their team. Gamifying training programs will be useful to make employees improve those essential aspects to progress in several areas: leadership, stress management, communication skills, negotiation skills, etc. This is the fifth benefit of gamification.

Having said this, let’s now have a look at a case study.

A Case Study On Risk Management

he course begins with a situation wherein the company VP is in a pensive as the company faced the risk-related incident. He sees on the news that a new Risk Management Application has been launched and contacts the company which has launched it. The team gets together to resolve the issue.

The enterprise gamification solution has 3 levels or stages. The learner must complete all the 3 levels to complete the course. Each level has reading material and a series of activities for the learner to apply what he/she has learned. Each activity is timed, and the learner will earn points for answering the questions correctly. Once the learner completes the level, they’ll be awarded a badge.

This perfect blend of activities, interactions, and content is what makes the course compelling for the learners.

Here’s a screenshot of the course:

5 Key Benefits Of Enterprise Gamification

Conclusion

Using gamification right makes learning engaging and fun. While your eLearning game is exciting and entertaining, what matters, in the end, is the organization objectives. Everything in your eLearning game should be geared toward achieving the objectives and goals of the organization.

Suggested further reading:

  1. Demystifying Gamification vs Game based eLearning
  2. Game-Based eLearning: Making GBL Effective Through Avatars and Immersive Stories 
1 Comment
2018-09-25 14:00:45
2018-09-25 14:00:45

This is interesting. Do you have a link to the research you mentioned in the article?

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