Gamification: The Way to Achieve Big Goals and Team’s Success

Games at work? Isn’t it a childish approach?

As skeptical as some may think, gamification is a golden ticket to ace teamwork, surpass existing benchmarks, and scale new heights in workplace excellence.

Zippia discovered that 70% of the largest organizations incorporate gamification at work. For an apparent reason. As many as 95% of employees prefer working in gamified environments to traditional ones.

So, yes, gamification is one of the new technologies impacting organizations. And no, gamification at work does not equal gameplay. Let’s dispel this misconception once and for all.

After that, learn how to reach bigger team goals through a gamified experience.

Gamification at work

What is gamification? Gamification implies using game mechanics or elements (scores, badges, leaderboards, prizes, rewards, etc.) in a non-gaming context. We’ll unpack them further soon.

In the meantime, let’s discuss the shapes and modes workplace gamification may take.

It can be:

• A scenario-driven simulation
• A role-playing exercise
• A quiz
• A gamified team-building event
• A mission or quest
• A competition, etc.

For example:

Chromatic Studios gamified the process when introducing the Paymo app to the team. They did it in the form of a contest to define the top user who was tracking most of their budgeted time.

Derek Pankaew, Founder of Listening.com, also notes,

“My favorite part about gamification in the workplace is that it can be carried out in any mode. Physically or remotely, in augmented reality (through AR glasses) or virtual reality (through VR glasses), or the Metaverse, from visual to audio-only gamification—whichever it is, it can propel your team’s goal achievement.”

Indeed, researchers tested audio gamification with Alexa, an intelligent virtual assistant. This validated its effectiveness by improving motivation and nudging the participants to work faster.

Let’s explore the advantages of gamification for reaching higher goals and objectives as a team.

The benefits of gamification in the workplace

1. Gamification motivates employees

First and foremost, gamification is a spark plug for team motivation. It lights up the fire of employees’ enthusiasm.

The same Zippia report also proved that 72% of employees feel more motivated to perform tasks and work harder in gamified systems.

“Gamification ignites employees to think bigger, aim higher, and eventually achieve more. All thanks to certain internal (intrinsic) and external (extrinsic) triggers or motivators inherent to game-like scenarios. Let it be a reached level or a prize for accomplishing a task,” explains Logan Mallory, Vice President of Marketing at Motivosity.

2. Gamification stimulates engagement

Second, gamification creates an engaging, fun, and interactive work environment.

For example, imagine your creative team is at the doorstep of a new design project.

Wouldn’t it be more exciting and encouraging for your team members to earn points for completing tasks, such as brainstorming extraordinary ideas or prototyping? You could also give awards for particular triumphs, like the “Sustainability Guru” award for an outstanding sustainable solution in design.

3. Gamification boosts job satisfaction and productivity

Although workplace happiness and productivity are mentioned third, they are not less significant for employees and employers. It usually goes like this:

the more satisfied → the more productive → the more goal-oriented employee.

Here are the numbers demonstrating how gamified work makes it possible: 88% of employees become happier and 89% more productive when their companies use gamification in the workplace.

Essential Game Elements to Use in Your Work Environment

Let’s review several game mechanics vital for gamifying tasks and projects in the workplace.

Point/Score

Points or scores are numeric representations of completed tasks or goals within a gamified system. They quantify employee performance and are traditionally displayed on the leaderboard.

Leaderboard

Leaderboards are graphic depictions of team members’ successes in a ranked format. When you gamify your workplace with a leaderboard, it showcases rankings from the highest to the lowest points collected by each employee.

Badge

Badges are physical or virtual symbols of individual achievements, skills, or milestones.

Here are several examples of badge names for gamification in the workplace:

• Leadership Legend Badge
• Team Player Badge
• Innovator Badge
• Problem-Solving Maestro Badge
• Customer Champion Badge, etc.

For instance, IBM launched a digital badge program for employees, with 87% reporting higher engagement levels. This implementation also improved sales. Tech sales reps who earned badges hit sales quotas more often than workers who didn’t earn badges.

Progress Bar

As a part of gamification at work, progress bars are visual indicators demonstrating the advancement of the employee or the whole team toward a specific goal.

There’s an interesting psychological phenomenon behind a progress bar. When employees see even minimal initial progress, they persist harder and eventually reap greater results. Besides, looking at their progress, they feel a sense of better control and excel more at strategic decision-making.

Reward/Prize

In workplace gamification, rewards or prizes refer to various employee appreciation ideas and monetary or non-monetary incentives given to workers for their wins when participating in a gamified activity.

Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel, believes rewards should be highly personalized to match employees’ tastes. He mentions,

“You can personalize rewards by asking your employees what bonuses or prizes they want most for accomplished tasks or goals. Prepare a list from which one employee may choose an additional day off, another—a gift card, third—a family movie ticket, etc. Then, there may be other customized gifts like goods with engraved employees’ names.”

5 Gamification tips to achieve team targets

We’ve asked several business leaders and managers to share their best strategies for using gamification in the workplace. Their answers are below.

Bring game elements into corporate training

Google, Cisco, Starbucks, Deloitte, Samsung, and many other companies have already revolutionized their workplace education with gamification. They turned it into a gamified and fun activity to achieve their professional development goals in different teams, whether senior leaders (Deloitte gamified leadership training for senior executives) or frontline workers (Engine Yard sent employees on a mission and improved customer response times by 40%).

What about you?

Isn’t it time to gamify employee training in your team?

Grant Aldrich, Founder of OnlineDegree.com, recommends implementing this approach to corporate training courses and dividing them into small, biteable modules or levels. He adds,

“You may offer interactive digital quizzes or surveys to test employees’ knowledge and rewards for successful course completion.”

For example:

Domino’s Pizza gamified onboarding training with bite-sized challenges at three levels:

• Level 1 (Newbie)
• Level 2 (Make Linebacker)
• Level 3 (Recipe Master)

Afterward, the company added a short quiz with questions like this: Which pizza has been topped correctly?

Create a point system for peer-to-peer recognition

Peer recognition encourages open team communication and feedback among team members and makes it easier to collaborate on projects. It also evokes a stronger feeling of accountability and the desire to gain respect from colleagues for contributing to the project’s success.

If your workers already recognize their peers’ achievements, hats off! But why not gamify this process with points and aim for even greater heights?

Leigh McKenzie, Community Advocate at Traffic Think Tank, explains how to do that.

“When gamifying peer-to-peer recognition with a point (or score) system, you must clearly define the criteria for employees earning each point. Determine how they will dole out points for different actions and behaviors.”

He provides an example:

• Helping with a task: 10 points
• Effectively dealing with an angry customer: 25 points
• Generating an innovative idea: 30 points
• Exceeding daily targets: 50 points

McKenzie adds, “Once employees accumulate their points, they should be able to redeem them.” You can create a rewards catalog to make these points redeemable. It may look like this:

• A $20 gift card = 200 points
• A donation to a charity = 300 points
• An extra vacation day = 500 points

Advocate for a healthier competition

Suppose you organize a contest in your architecture firm with a prize or award for concocting the most innovative architectural solution for the client.

But what if it turns into a very twisted, horrible scenario of the Clash of Clans game, where team members attack each other with verbal or even physical abuse?

Such behavior is a vivid sign of unhealthy competition, contributing to a toxic work environment.

Instead, according to Thomas Medlin, Co-founder at JumpMD, you should strive for a friendly, competitive environment when you use gamification in the workplace. He notes,

“It’s crucial to outline the ground rules or a code of conduct to promote the feeling of sportsmanship rather than rivalry. This presupposes mutual respect, ethical behavior, and fair play in competitive activities. On your behalf as a leader, there must be fairness in point or award allocation. Plus, hold regular check-ins and feedback sessions to watch over the team’s atmosphere.”

While sticking to this tactic, you can add a healthy competition element to literally any team’s activity and unite your workers around a common goal or value.

For example:

Santa Fe Relocation organized a team contest during their annual Dragon Year celebration. They used old Ang Pau envelopes to transform them into unique creations. Such gamification wasn’t just for fun; it was also a small reminder and commitment to a more sustainable future through environmental responsibility and waste reduction.

Always challenge your team

Alan Parkes, owner of Denver Roofing & Colorado Springs Roofing, argues,

“If you don’t challenge yourself and your team, never jumping over your head and going beyond your limits, you remain ‘stagnant.’ Challenges are excellent gamification tricks to reach unprecedented levels your workers have never imagined. You may be surprised to see what your team is actually capable of, trust me.”

He shares several examples of possible challenges for workers:

• Safety Challenge: Implement safer practices on the job site.
• Quality Challenge: Deliver the highest product/service quality.
• Speed Challenge: Complete a task within X hours with the same top-quality standard.
• Innovation Challenge: Tackle problems more creatively and innovatively.
• Customer Satisfaction Challenge: Provide five-star customer service within two months in a row.

Alternatively, look at the gamified challenge example for your team, working in a software engineering firm:

High five every goal win

1. Install an achievement wall

Tim White, Founder at milepro, advises,

“Create an achievement wall (it can be in-office or in the digital space) to pin every employee’s milestone to it and high-five their stellar job. This way, you will see what you have already achieved and where your workers are heading, individually and as a team.”

2. Roll out a celebration

You may also want to engage your team in milestone celebrations. Organize themed corporate events (for example, a tropical luau party) to make your accomplishments more memorable. For remote teams, try virtual team-building activities via the web.

3. Enable social media validation

Finally, here comes the last method for today, often used in work gamification and suggested by Sergey Taver, Marketing Manager at Precision Watches. He says, “Your employees worked hard to reach a goal—let them boast their achievements and rewards across social channels. A shared achievement on social media can greatly raise their spirits and promote a stronger sense of self-worth.”

Bonus: Tools and Software for Masterful Workplace Gamification

Gamification platforms

Use gamification tools with built-in game mechanics, monitor employee participation, and provide analytics and reports.

These are:

• Gametize
• Funifier
• Mambo.io
• LevelEleven
• Pointagram

Project management solutions

Additionally, you need tools to monitor task completion and overall project progress. The following PM software can help you out:

• Paymo
• Trello
• Asana
• Hive
• Teamwork

For example:

Paymo lets you set project milestones like this.

Also, monitor your team’s performance, track hours, and get real-time updates on who finished what displayed on a team view (Meta Kanban):

Learning management systems (LMS)

If you gamify employee training, an LMS can track course completion rates, help you generate quizzes, and calculate quiz scores. The topmost LMS platforms with gamification elements are:

• AbsorbLMS
• iSpring Learn
• TalentLMS
• Code of Talent
• Litmos

Ready to Start Gamifying Your Workplace?

Your team will definitely exceed any organizational benchmarks with the above tips saved for your gamification arsenal.

While with Paymo, you can indulge in exciting, stress-free project management and track your team’s progress without hustle.

Give it a shot here, and remember: a project will be even more fun once you gamify it.