Corporate Success Driven by Game-Based Learning

Effective and efficient implementation of game-based training can have an important impact on your organisation, resulting in higher motivation amongst the employees, happiness at work, a great work environment, and a low turn-over rate. All these benefits lead to a healthier work environment, more engagement, and a feeling of belonging, all together providing greater business results, according to a Study about Gamification at Work.

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How can games positively impact your employees’ motivation?

Most people are seduced by games and that is one of the reasons why game mechanics are applied to so many fields that are not necessarily related to entertainment. We find game mechanics and gamification elements, such as scores or rewards in almost everything we do nowadays: from supermarkets, online stores, and airline companies, to learning platforms, all aiming to encourage customer loyalty and self-improvement in a particular area.

One of the reasons why games have also been introduced in many companies as unplugging and stress relief methods, such as ping-pong tables, video game rooms or even integrated into the training methodologies, is because people feel much more motivated at work when they can play. It turns out that playing increases creativity and enhances the happiness hormones in our brains: serotonin and dopamine, just as sports do, triggering a better connectivity in the different subregions of the brain, according to a scientific report published in 2015.

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The ultimate objective of games applied to work or training is to activate behaviour change leading to an improved working environment and habits, to professional and personal growth, together with happier employees. Through gamification, the employees feel more engaged with the task and strive to improve themselves using exceeding a previously set goal.

When applied correctly and made relevant to the employees’ qualifications and expertise, gamification brings the levels of motivation up and provides a sense of belonging at the workplace, helping colleagues feel more connected socially, according to a study from 2019. The same study also shows how game elements in e-learning positively affect the employees’ psychology and are associated with feelings of happiness among the users. This also promotes a longer time within the app or software, therefore indirectly more repetition and consolidation of the new concepts.

The same happens with children, the ones who play video games tend to have better intellectual and social skills, according to The Independent.

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Karl Kapp, Professor at Bloomsburg University, also studied how the motivation of the employees can increase up to 51,6 % when gamification is involved.

Why does this happen?

When taking the serious bit out of the task, people decompress and relax, can be more creative, and perform better. Besides this, games at work enhance hand-eye coordination, stimulate problem-solving skills and boost our motivation to learn, as reported by this study led by the American Psychological Association. Adding fun and entertaining ingredients to learning, even to company procedures or to any other business task, makes the chore more engagin, relaxing, and ultimately easier to carry out.

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What are the 3 essential elements the organisation needs to consider when opting for game-based training? 

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To ensure that game-based training becomes successful within the organisation, 3 aspects must be considered: 

1.     Setting a clear goal that should be reached through gamification

Starting with the end in mind can be the key to success. Therefore, the first step would be to establish a clear goal, such as completing training with the best results, achieving low rates of accidents in terms of Health Safety and Environment (HSE), or an increase in sales.

For the organisation, setting the goal creates structure and helps have a clear objective, while for the employees, this can become the beginning of their daily tasks made fun and quicker to complete. When communicated well to the employees, the company objectives can become the employees’ objectives as well, so the entire organisation would go towards a common goal. Therefore, they should know:

• The goal of the game
• The rules of the game and the rewards
• The benefits unleashed by the game for the entire organisation 

2.     Creating adapted training for the employees 

It is of high importance that the training you pick for your employees is adapted to their qualifications, and abilities and is relevant to their role, instead of being generic. Therefore, the organisation might want to make sure this is thought out before setting the goal for each of the employees and providing surveys they should answer in advance. Without considering this, the gamified experience might turn into frustration, and it might be worth considering that one of the aims is to make the employees aware of the fact that they are listened to and are important assets to the organisation. With this in mind, they will be more interested in exploring a platform that was specially designed for them, and the engagement rate will be even higher.

3.     Selecting a game-based platform able to provide an easy-to-deploy and a highly accessible solution for the employees

Many solutions in the market provide a gamified experience when it comes to training, but only a few of them are straightforward to use. This represents a critical step that can lead to a successful training experience, beneficial for both the employee and the organisation, leading to less turnover and more motivated personnel.

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Having an easy-to-access solution for training provides the employees with high flexibility, which helps them best adapt the training to their personal life and working schedule.

If you want to benefit from successful training in your organisation by implementing highly accessible and easy-to-use game-based learning, do not hesitate to get in touch. Motivation and high engagement are guaranteed!