Gamification and Employee Development: Bridging the Gap between Learning and Performance

Struggling to keep new hires engaged in the workplace? Looking for an innovative way to help your team learn new skills without making it… Boring? With gamification, you can invite game elements into the workplace and improve the learning elements of your onboarding process. 

This strategy uses the same game design as video games to keep them engaged. When properly implemented, you can also improve your team’s overall performance and motivate them to take on new tasks and projects.

We’re here to walk you through how you can use gamification to improve employee engagement and performance. 

Here’s everything you need to know about gamified learning: 

Does Gamification Actually Work?

Before we dive in, it’s essential to understand the true power of gamification. Gamification is the process of incorporating game elements in a non-game context. This is an innovative way to turn everyday mundane projects and tasks into fun assignments. Game-based learning is commonly used in the education and learning space. Gamification in education helps keep students on task and motivates them toward success. However, it’s slowly become one of the most popular tools for businesses.

A recent study shows that 90% of employees feel gamification makes them more productive. Not only that but companies that implement gamification into the workplace see a 48% increase in engagement. Whether it’s a small quiz, competition, or an incentive – these game elements can be leveraged to increase productivity and efficiency and achieve gamified performance across every team at your company. 

The Power Behind Gamification

There’s a reason why gamification is a popular strategy in learning environments and is slowly becoming the new norm with companies. It’s an invaluable tool that has the power to make the workplace experience fun for your employees and has worthwhile learning benefits for the individual. 

Here are some of the benefits of gamification you can look forward to:

Improved Focus and Mental Clarity 

In today’s digital age, you can’t expect your team to pay attention to hours of PowerPoint presentations, long lectures, or how-to tutorials. There need to be engaging elements included in everything you do to ensure your team is motivated to stay focused and to learn from the experience. 

Retain More Information

Whether it’s a mini-game in the middle of the lecture or a quiz at the end – these game elements will catch your team’s attention and ensure they retain more information. 

A great way to use gamification to ensure your team retains information is to tie a game or competition with an incentive. This motivation booster ensures everyone pays attention throughout the learning experience.   

Morale Boost

Let’s be honest: At the end of the day, games are fun! The right game elements will give your team the endorphin boost they need to stay motivated, engaged, and happy. This will also improve company morale and help you build a culture that thrives on satisfaction. 

How to use Gamification to Improve Learning Experience 

To get the most from gamification, you must use game elements that inspire success and keep your team engaged. These game elements are powerful tools your business can use to motivate your team and improve the workplace experience. 

Here’s how to get started:

Gamify the Onboarding Process For New Hires

The onboarding process is a pivotal moment for your new hires. During the first few weeks, your new employees are bombarded with information. Whether it’s how-tos about their new job duties, learning their new coworkers’ names, or filling out their onboarding paperwork. If you don’t have an engaging process to ensure your team retains the information they are receiving – it could cause problems later.

Instead of showing PowerPoint and giving them paperwork to fill out – consider how this experience can benefit from gamification. For example, you give them a short quiz at the end of every session or use icebreakers to help them get to know their coworkers. You can also use leaderboards to help them visualize where they are in the onboarding journey. 

Create Point Systems to Track Performance 

Whether it’s summer or the end of the year – there are times when it is hard to stay focused on the tasks you have on your plate, let alone learn new skills. With a point system, you can help your new hires and sales team track their performance and stay on top of their goals. 

Point systems are a visualization tool that shows your team how close they are to completing a lesson, project, or everyday tasks. You can also use point systems to help ease your new hires into their new roles or to keep your sales team on task with the mundane workweek tasks.

Use Challenges and Competitions to Improve Information Retention

Who says your company needs to be all work, no play? With gamified challenges and competitions, you can push your team toward success. 

Games, challenges, and competitions are some of the best tools your business can use to keep your team engaged and to make learning experiences more interactive. With games like sales bingo, scavenger hunts, and daily prizes, you can gamify the workplace experience and achieve boosted performance across the board.

Hand Out Badges and Celebrate Achievements

Positive reinforcement is a tool your company can use to make learning a fun experience for your team. If your team feels appreciated for their hard work, they will continue to strive to be the best. A great way to acknowledge your team for their progress and achievements is to hand out badges and recognize your team daily. 

With a sales gamification software like Spinify, you can automate your recognition initiatives and ensure every small accomplishment is appreciated and acknowledged. Every time a team member finishes a few modules in a class, a training video, or aces a quiz tied to an informational session – they’ll be celebrated inside the platform! This will give your team that instant serotonin boost they need to continue to push themselves and do their best.

Use Rewards to Motivate Your Team

Rewards and incentives are tools you can leverage to motivate your team and make sure they’re paying attention. If you’re hosting a PowerPoint presentation or informational session – your team will stop paying attention at some point. 

To ensure your team is paying attention and the information resonates with them, you can host a pop quiz and hand out rewards to anyone who answers the questions right. You can also host a mini-game or competition at the end of the session using the information you taught. Get creative and test a few game elements to see what works best for your team. 

Provide Instant Feedback While Sales Coaching

If you aren’t actively coaching your team through challenges and opportunities – they’ll never learn from the situations they’re put in. With sales coaching, you have a unique opportunity to better understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses. You can use this knowledge to help personalize their approach to the sales process and push them toward their true potential. 

With sales gamification tools like Spinify, you can use your team’s data dashboards to help drive conversations. Where do they need the most help? Where are they excelling? How can you help them improve their sales strategy? With data at your fingertips, you can find a way to personalize every sales coaching session you have with each team member.

Create a Personalized Strategy for Every Team Member

Every member of your team needs a personalized strategy. If you don’t take a personalized approach to the sales process, your team will never learn or grow as a professional. Every member of your team is different. You’ll have new hires, top-performing sales managers, and sales reps that require extra coaching. Which means they learn differently, too. 

For example, some individuals learn better with how-to videos, while others prefer jumping right into a task and learning as they go. Understanding your team’s preferences will ensure every team member retains information and gets the most from each lesson. 

Upgrade Your Workplace Experience With Spinify 

Spinify is the top gamification software on the market, designed with your sales team in mind. With our software, you can improve the workplace experience for your team and keep them engaged with everyday tasks. We use leaderboards, progress bars, badges, and other game elements to motivate your team and keep them on task during the work week. 

Book your free, personalized demo today.