ACCELERATE, Malaysia: Director of Gamification in Cognizant Digital Works Says the Real Goal of a Gamification Initiative Should be to Change People’s Behavior
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“Gamification is the evolution of good design. The more we understand about human motivation, the more we can refine the approaches we take to engage with people,” says Andy Fanning. “Gamification is not just about simple game elements such as Badges, Points and Leaderboards. It is a process that quickly delivers feedback to reinforce or correct behaviors by engaging the factors that motivate the specific users such as personal progress, competition and social responsibility.” Excerpts:
“Gamification is one of the mechanisms that have been proven to improve engagement among employees. If done correctly, the pay-off is high with long lasting benefits. Millennials might be a driving force behind some companies turning to gamification. However, if you look at the demographics of who is playing games today, you will learn that games appeal to all age groups. Nearly 25% of the gamers today are older than 50, and the average age of a gamer is 31.
We believe that gamification is best if implemented inside the “source systems”, that is, where people are already doing their work. If work is happening on a mobile device, then that is a great place to provide clear goals and direct feedback. In a lot of companies, they still have large legacy work systems—these are great places to put some elements of gamification to change behavior as well.
The real goal of any gamification initiative should be to change people’s behavior. To do this, we need to help them create new habits. Gamification is a great way to provide people with the stimulus to do a desired action and the feedback on how they performed that action.
The flexibility of gamification allows the process to be implemented in different parts of the business where specific intended behaviors or outcomes are desired. It can be used in HR, operations, marketing and other parts of the organization so long as there are clear goals that can be measured.
The key prerequisite [to bring gamification into the enterprise effectively] is a willingness to experiment and learn. Gamification is a constant study in experimentation. Figuring out what works and sustaining that engagement takes time and effort. It is a continuous process to fine-tune the right motivation factors and reward mechanisms.”
Click below to read the full interview that appeared in the November 2015 issue of ACCELERATE magazine.
