Moving the Middle

Management Question

Moving the Middle – Gamification is quite the buzzword these days. Everyone wants to do it. Some think it is hard to implement and sustain for their company. Over the years a whole industry of platforms have sprung-up offering leader board competitions. They offer Points, Badges and Levels as well. While these platforms have seen huge adoption rates, they are really missing the point: they motivate the top performers. Managers want to uplift the middle in order to really shift the bar on team performance. The question managers are asking is “how do we motivate the middle?”.

What’s the Answer

Nobody wants to compete against the same top performers who win every contest that’s disheartening and demotivating. Motivation is not a one size fits all thing – it is creating the environment where many people feel the thrill of winning, collect the accolades for being top of the group and grow in confidence that empowers their endeavors for the next target they have to reach.

Employee Engagement

When it comes to engagement, the whole point is to keep things fast, fun and fresh. Provide different games,  matched to different competency levels so that every player, every team member feels that they are competing on a level playing field and have a real opportunity to win. That’s when they will pull out all stops to do more of the activities you want them to focus on. More importunately make it a real game that they play to win.

Personal Experience

I learnt over many years and managing many teams that even a small lift moving in productivity and performance in that core group or the middle of team members delivers the best outcome for the company.

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