Using Gamification to Approach and Elevate Underperforming Teams

Let’s talk about underperformance. 

When you hire a new employee to take on a sales role, it’s their responsibility to learn the role, take on tasks, introduce themselves to your current clients, and be productive during the workweek. The longer they’re with your company, the more efficient and confident they should become with everyday tasks.

Of course, it doesn’t always work that way. There are many reasons why your team may be underperforming. Whether it’s a lack of motivation, high turnover, or lack of accountability. If your team consistently falls short of achieving its goals, it’s time for leadership to step in and make meaningful changes to the workplace dynamic. 

We’re here to walk you through how to use gamification to keep underperforming teams engaged, productive, and efficient during the workweek. 

Here’s how to approach underperformance with gamification:

What is Gamification?

Gamification is the process of incorporating gamified elements in a non-game context. Gamification strategies use the same game mechanics commonly used in video games to motivate your team and keep them on task during the workweek. With the right tactics, you can help underperforming teams flourish and find newfound confidence in everything they do. 

Gamification works well for various reasons. These reasons include:

Taps Into Your Team’s Intrinsic Motivation

There are studies that suggest gamification can ignite your team’s Intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within. It’s when your team feels motivated after pursuing a goal or completing a task that provides a feel-good feeling. Every goal, task, or project connects with intrinsic motivation and will give personal satisfaction. This personal satisfaction is the ultimate motivation boost, especially for underperforming individuals. 

Increase Engagement and Keeps Your Team Entertained

One reason your team may not be performing to your needs is that they mmay not engage with the workweek tasks on their plate. They don’t feel satisfied when they complete a task and are always looking forward to clocking out for the day. With gamification, you can give your team a sense of purpose. The game elements help them adjust their approach to workweek tasks and add entertaining elements to everything they do. 

Provides a Creativity Boost

Is your team in a creative rut? Are they struggling to stay on task because they aren’t inspired? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. With games, competitions, and other game elements, you can help your team get their creative juices flowing and also help them improve their problem-solving skills in the workplace.

Reduce Turnover 

While underperformance can affect the workplace dynamic, you never want it to impact your turnover rates. With gamification, you can improve the workplace experience for everyone on your team, not just the underperformers. This will help you retain top talent and reduce turnover over time. 

Promote Positive Behavior Change

There are studies that suggest gamification can have a positive effect on behavior. Which is important because if underperformers exhibit negative attitudes or poor behavior, it can impact everyone’s experience. Gamification is about more than rewards, incentives, and games. It’s also about improving time management, collaborating with coworkers, and developing healthier workplace habits. When you take the time to improve the company culture, it will show in their progress.

How to Use Gamification to Inspire Your Team 

If you’re struggling with underperformance in the workplace, you’ll want to first get to the root of the problem. What is impacting your team’s behavior? What is standing in the way of their true potential? Do they have access to feedback and resources? Once you better understand your team’s needs, you can decide which game elements would be most beneficial.

Here’s how:

Progress Tracking 

Progress bars and leaderboards hold your team accountable. They serve as a reminder of how much they’ve accomplished and how close they are to reaching their goals. These game elements are the perfect subtle reminder for your team.

Always start with a small goal or project and work your way up. Whether it’s phone calls, emails, or booked demos. Once your underperforming team completes tasks regularly without cause for concern, you can bump them to the next level. Slowly, the progress bar can also help with other tasks and projects. 

Personalized Goals and Feedback 

Many individuals feel discouraged in the workplace when they don’t reach their goals. With personalized goals, you can help regrow their confidence and change their perspective on workweek tasks. To set your team up for success, you’ll want to use personalized data dashboards and have weekly 1:1s with them. During these 1:1s, you can coach your team through challenges and help them navigate the challenges they are dealing with weekly. These moments are vital to your team’s progress and will help them make meaningful adjustments to their approach to the sales process. 

Encourage Continuous Improvement 

The goal of using gamification to engage with your underperforming teams is to help them continuously improve. Whether they struggle to complete prospecting tasks, book demos, or book renewals. With sales coaching, you can identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses. This insight will help you improve their approach to sales coach and give them the confidence they need to grow as professionals. 

Keep Them Engaged With Different Mini Games and Competitions

Games and competitions inspire friendly competition and motivate your team to complete mundane tasks. It’s a great way to increase productivity and help your team stay engaged with tasks.

We recommend switching up the competitions regularly to keep your team engaged and entertained. This is a simple way to ensure everyone has a chance to win. Some popular contest ideas include:

• Who can reach 500 phone calls in a week
• Most Emails sent for the month
• Renewals for the week
• Most demos booked for the week

You can also set up mini-games and contests just for an individual. This is a great way to help your team members form better workplace habits and keep them on track to reach their goals. Your leadership can use the game and competitions to track progress and see if the gamification strategy you implemented delivers results. At Spinify, we have a variety of games and competitions you can use to fuel your team’s motivation. Whether it’s a podium-style leaderboard or a game based on your team’s metrics, we have you covered.

Reward Positive Changes

Every small milestone or accomplishment deserves a celebration. When you take the time to recognize your team’s progress, you can help your team grow professionally and give them the motivational boost they need to continue down the path toward success. 

Spinify is a sales gamification tool that can help you automate your recognition initiatives. With our gamification platform, you can recognize your team in real-time. This is a great way to keep them inspired during 9-5. We have various game elements you can use to complement your recognition initiatives. These include:

• Prize Wheels 
• Badges 
• Celebration Songs 
• Ring the Gong 
• Personalized Memes

A SaaS company that uses our recognition tools to engage with their teal saw a 133% increase in monthly celebrations per rep with the help of Spinify. These celebratings are fuel for underperformers and can completely change the workplace dynamic; for the better.

Elevate Underperforming Teams With Spinify

Dealing with underperformance isn’t easy. Especially if your leadership team doesn’t have a way to address the issues in the workplace. Spinify is a sales gamification software that you can use to integrate gamification into your workweek. Our platform pulls data from your own data sources, ensuring you can provide your team with a next-level personalized experience. Once you’ve introduced your underperforming team to the power of gamification, you’ll notice an improvement in mood, motivation, and productivity. 
Ready to experience gamified performance? Book a free demo today to learn more.