Gamification has gained recognition as a powerful method for improving employee training sessions’ performance. It transforms conventional learning into a stimulating and captivating experience by introducing game elements into educational content, such as point scoring, achievements, and competitive scenarios.
Applying this gamification to employee training plays a significant role in overall development.
‘
Harvard Business School recently studied the effects of gamification in employee training programs with KPMG’s workforce, which encompassed 24 offices over 29 months. It assessed how gamification affected:
- Key KPMG business results associated with training programs.
- Overall training involvement among employees
According to the study, gamified training sessions resulted in:
A 25% rise in fee collection, a 22% increase in new possibilities, and a 16% increase in clients were among the primary KPMG corporate results that improved for offices with higher involvement levels.
What Is Gamification in Employee Training?
Many of you might have observed some new training session styles in your office that include design features—like leaderboards, badges, prizes, and point scoring- and made you wonder what kind of training it is. All these new features/techniques to train the employee are known as gamification in employee training, making the learning process exciting and productive.
Why Gamification Works
If you’re wondering if gamification is just another buzzword in the corporate world, then it’s not. Throughout a period, gamification training has earned incredible results in employee development by generating productive outcomes. Here’s why it works:
- Employee engagement has always been a matter of concern during training sessions. However, the learning process has become enjoyable with the introduction of gamification. Earlier, the traditional training program could have been more exciting, leading to less employee participation.
- Unlike sticking to bookish methods, the quizzes, simulations, and gamified training motivate staff members to apply real-life learning. This helps strengthen their real-life concepts and knowledge, which they have learned so far in the corporate world.
- Another benefit of gamification in employee development is getting a real-time progress report and feedback. The management can easily see whether the employees loved the training session by the participation level. If not, what feedback can make it a better learning experience?
Applications of Gamification in Employee Training
Gamification in employee training can be done at various phases that will nurture the leadership qualities in employees, leading to productive results. Let’s look at areas where it can be applied in the organization:
1. Onboarding:
At the time of onboarding, every employee hesitates about what kind of training they’ll receive. By dividing complicated data into more manageable, interactive parts, gamification makes it easier to understand. This feature helps in making the process both entertaining and educational.
2. Leadership:
Developing leadership qualities in the candidates can be a daunting task for the management. However, with gamification, management finds it easy as there are games/activities which demand leadership.
Unlike professional projects with performance and work pressure, they can enjoy and evaluate their leadership skills here.
3. Compliance Training:
Gamification increases the effectiveness of compliance training, which is frequently perceived as boring. These workshops can be more engaging by incorporating narrative, scenario-based games, or quizzes to ensure employees follow and understand all the rules. Making the training part more fun and engaging.
4. Skill Development and Upskilling:
Over time, every organization upskill its workforce with new skills to survive in this competitive corporate world. Gamification in employee development is essential as it adds enjoyment to skill-building exercises, motivating staff to finish advanced training courses within the time frame.
Anything learned innovatively sticks with our minds longer than what is learned using a bookish or old-school method. The exact process is applied to employees in the corporate world through these gamification techniques and employee engagement software.
Implementing Gamification in Corporate Learning: Best Practices:
Identification of Audience:
Identification of the audience is crucial, and it has to be done precisely so that the gamification tactic can be designed in a manner that is understandable by that particular group of employees.
Evaluating your staff’s preferences, demographics, and skill levels is critical to creating engaging gamified training programs.
Setting Objective:
After identifying the audience, defining the training program’s goal was another thing that needed to be done. Clearly state the objectives of your training course. The gamification components must align with these goals, whether they focus on improving soft skills, guaranteeing compliance, or expanding product awareness.
Choosing Right Tools:
Numerous tools are available, but again, choose a suitable tool that matches your objective and audience. Training and development are essential elements of introducing gamification in corporate learning. With so many options, getting confused is normal, and keeping a few things in your mind, like quizzes, rewards, and leaderboards, is a good idea.
Incorporate Diverse Game Elements:
Although leaderboards and badges are widely used, there are more tools in the gamification kit. To make the experience more exciting and engaging, think of using AR technologies, multiplayer games, or storytelling.
Measure Success:
Setting measurable and realistic KPIs is another thing that must be considered. Track the results, such as participation rates, completion time, and many other factors. However, any organization that sees a positive outcome in improving employee engagement naturally is a win-win position for them.
In Conclusion
Gamification in employee training will always be a great strategic move as it helps improve the organization’s and its employees’ overall performance. However, making a proper plan, from identifying the audience to creating measurable success, is critical. Many custom platforms can be used for employee engagement through gamification, but all you have to do is adopt the most suitable one for the organization.