Congratulations on getting you and your employees through 2020!

2020 was a challenging year, but hey - you made it here.

Thank you a little for your effort to do things differently this year - here's 100 points for you to start your read. Gather all the points throughout this article content, and receive a reward at the end of your read.

Image Credit: Citrusbits

We know that you're a busy person, so here's what you can expect from this complete guide:

1. Typical Gamification and some examples of useful strategies that companies are using today.
2. A Gamification Implementation Tutorial that guides you on how to strategize, execute, test, and measure your gamification results.
3. A Gamification Checklist to make implementation easier for you.
4. Important things to consider when starting Gamification in your training.
5. Top recommended tools that utilize Gamification in the workplace.

This guide also covers some of the top common gamification questions like:

1. How do you implement Gamification in training?
2. What is an example of Gamification?
3. What are the gamification solutions or strategies?
4. How do you develop Gamification?

Ready? Let's jump in!

What is Gamification Training?

Gamification is the science of injecting elements of play into tedious, challenging work to boost your workforce's learning, productivity, and effectiveness.

Success Case 1: Microsoft successfully used a simple game and leaderboard to keep the language in their programs error-free. How?

Microsoft launched the Gamification through Silverlight. Image credits: Microsoft

This is a game where staff had to check the accuracy of language within their programs, including inaccurate translations to keep things interesting, also known as the Language Quality Game. They held a leaderboard for their employees to see, and the results were stunning.

500,000 pages of incorrect translations were corrected by 4,500 people who didn't ask for a raise or promotion - spending $0 on incentives.

This training is a process of teaching your workforce to see difficult work as a fun challenge to earn rewards and recognition.

We're not talking about free holidays or a new Tesla.

Image credits: Traitquest

We're talking about the non-gaming elements of play like points gathering, virtual badges, leaderboards, and the sweet, sweet recognition of letting everyone know what you've accomplished.

Why this Training?

You made it this far - here's another 100 points, so you now have 200 points!

Let's continue

There's a good reason people are addicted to games - and it's not because "games are fun."

Have you ever done a tough assignment given to you by your boss? You were not the best-qualified person for the job, and it was one hell of a learning curve - but you got it done?

Remember that feeling of accomplishment?

That's also known as the "Mario Effect," which you can binge-watch here.

Image credits: GamesArtistic

Gamification conditions your workforce to look past the hard work and instead focus on the feeling of achievement on a job well done.

But it's essential to have their achievements recognized somehow, which is where badges and leaderboards position comes in handy. 

The typical awards ceremonies and public announcements don't work and Gamification because it doesn't last, and not everyone can see it.

Image credits: Traitquest

With a leaderboard and badges on a single board that they log into every day?

BIG difference.

If you think that can't work - watch that "Mario Effect" talk.

Here's an example of a company that's implemented this guide well.

Real-Life Corporate Training Examples

Grab is one of the biggest ride-sharing and food delivery companies in southeast Asia. They use gamification elements on their app to improve the rate of drivers' willingness to take passengers.

In Southeast Asia, it's common for taxi drivers and ride-sharing drivers to refuse jobs that were inconvenient or out of the way.

Within three weeks, the Grab team developed a Spin-to-Win game that offered monetary rewards and merchandise rewards to drivers who completed a certain number of rides per day, regardless of fare value.

Image credits: Grab

The results?

Within just two weeks, they saw a 12% increase in driver willingness to take passengers.

• Grab earns more from the volume of sales.
• Drivers earn rewards and earn more from fares.
• Users find it easier to find rides.

Win-win-win *mic drop*.

Gamification Implementation Tutorial:

The Best Way to Use Gamification...

...is by understanding the behavior you want to drive first.

Set a SMART goal - let's say "to increase the sales team's revenue generated a month by 35%, year on year".

Keep that goal in mind for every step of your Gamification.

Like nudging them in the right direction, one step at a time. 

Productivity is not a human behavior - it's the result of multiple human actions, so is engagement.

Here's a foolproof guide to getting you started on Gamification; follow these steps:

Image credits: Designing Digitally Inc

Step 1: Identify

To solve a problem or improve a process, you need first to identify the behaviors you are trying to drive in your training.

In case you missed it - productivity is NOT a human behavior, instead of a result of a few right actions.

These are the behaviors you need to promote.

Image credits: Seachange

An excellent way to start thinking about this is to sit down and analyze the various activities and tasks your company/department does daily.

Example 1: If you're managing the sales team, it could be the number of sales calls per day, leads generated per month, and so on. Think about the actionable tasks they do - then incentivize it.

It's a good idea to start by noting down where you are currently with engagement rates and current performance before running an initiative.

By the way, here are another 100 points for reading this far. You now have 300 points! :)

Image credits: MTI Events

Step 2: Incentivise

Now that you've identified the tedious work no one does enough of that's important for you - give them a reason to like it.

Traditional companies use additional benefits and bonuses, which is too long for your team to bother. Who wants to wait till year-end to earn their reward?

People want things fast.

Again, it does not have to be about money.

What does your team respond well to? Work from home privileges (well...not anymore), recognition on leaderboards, badges for a specific task they championed, or even points that they can accumulate to redeem perks or prizes.

Continuing Example 1, your goal was to achieve a 35% increase in your sales team's revenue generated.

You could place a leaderboard in the office where every team can see and make them compete for the highest $$ value by the end of the quarter. Set up side quests like "most numbers of calls" or "most meetings attended" and award those quests some bonus points to drive the call and meetings KPI up, which would naturally lead to more sales as volume goes up.

Make sure the goal is a 35% increase and keep everyone on it.

What's important is that they earn the incentive - when the task is complete.

That's a pro-tip for you to test out.

Image credits: Wrike

Step 3: Gamification in Corporate Training Test!

Gamification is a science, which means you have to keep testing to see what works.

You have to come prepared with a few strategies to test before you dive in, so you would want to think of a pilot test to ensure there is some evidence that this initiative is worth investing your time in.

Be specific, be clear about each exercise's goal and the exact numbers you are trying to improve.

You need to know:

1. Who to involve
2. The KPI(s) to drive
3. The desired number for the result

Image credits: Igloo Customer Care

Coming back to Example 1, the goal is to increase your sales team's revenue by 35%.

I've already mentioned KPIs as sales calls and meetings attended, but every company is different depending on your industry, training, competition, and products. Think of the activities your sales teams do that get you the sales.

Record the current number, gather the department/team managers into brainstorm the meeting, tell them the KPI to drive and run it.

After a month, gather the numbers to see if the existing training and course is working.

What's working and what can be improved on the training?

Refine and keep testing until you finalize a gamification strategy that is optimized for your team culture.

Step 4: Feedback

There's nothing more powerful than getting constructive feedback from the people you are trying to impact and motivate.

Besides numbers going up, you need to know how your workforce feels about the initiatives.

There is a big difference between feeling more pressure to push the numbers up, so they work harder - versus feeling better about their work and, therefore, voluntarily more productive.

Both can get you better productivity numbers, but only the latter is the sustainable solution.

Image credits: Lucidchart

Come up with a simple survey or feedback form to check in with your workforce about how they feel about your initiatives and what they think you can do better.

Coming back to Example 1, ask your sales team if they enjoyed the exercise. What did they learn? Was it helping them do their job better? How can the next game or learning path be improved for them?

Get them involved because at the end of the day - you're doing this for them.

Final Thoughts Before The Checklist

By the way, you get 200 points for reading to this point, and with 500 points - you can redeem a FREE demo for Traitquest. Just click here to save it :)

Remember that Gamification is about making work fun and interesting for employees and the team.

Some common mistakes to avoid include:

• Gamify behaviors that don't provide value to your workforce.
• Fix a broken product/service with Gamification.
• Build a game on top of existing processes.

Keep in mind that Gamification is a process and takes time to build. Be patient; the results will come. Make this your challenge!

Your Gamification Checklist

Now that you've successfully made it all the way here (if you skipped the read, go back - you didn't earn this yet) - here's your checklist!

• Identified specific KPIs to drive
• Identified the people you are trying to motivate
• Specified gamification criteria to test (badges, leaderboards, rewards)
• Placed the time frame for testing and review of each strategy
• Created a feedback form for participants to fill at the end of each initiative
• List of tools to try for Gamification (software, props, concepts)
• Identified challenges in your employee's learning path

Top 3 Existing Gamification in Corporate Training Tool

You thought we'd leave you hanging?

Here are a few options we think you should kickstart your useful gamification quest:

Traitquest

Traitquest is a simple gamification software that drives employee engagement, motivation, and performance. A small company, but they have worked with big brands like Starbucks to increase their employee engagement by 79.2% during the Covid-19 pandemic - which is impressive given the software's simplicity.

They have a free demo that you can book here.

Mindspace

Mindspace focuses on creating innovative learning solutions for the modern learner using Gamification on their learning management system (LMS) called Fathom.

Their main target is "innovative organizations" that want to create engaging learning strategies for their teams and customers. Some of the brands they have worked with are Google, Expedia, and FedEx.

You can check out Fathom here.

If you're not based in the USA, then consider this SoutEast Asian company.

Think Codex

Think Codex is a corporate training company that uses Gamification to drive behavioral change in business transformation, employee & customer engagement, talent management, and training & development.

You can check them out here.

If you don't want to engage a training company and instead start with a comprehensive tool + consultation that's affordable, check out our final recommendation.