Using Gamification in the workplace

Oct. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Last month, my sales team achieved their best top-line performance in thirty-four attempts. There are many variables that assisted with the deliverance of this result, and I'd like to think that the introduction of gamification into the sales process was a significant factor.

This is what we did:

"THE KING OF THE JUNGLE"

The objective:

To increase engagement, loyalty and revenue by introducing gamification into the sales process.

How we did it:

To increase engagement we created a progressive levelling game, which was made harder to progress from each stage (eg. Level 1 progession to Level 2 = 4 sales, Level 2 progression to Level 3 = 9 sales, Level 3 progression to Level 4 = 15 sales, and so on). The levelling stopped at 10, which also provided each player an end-goal.

We provided additional incentives for achievement of each level, where the sales person was offered a more attractive reward for each progression. The winner of the overall game ("The King of the Jungle") was rewarded with a main (non-monetary) prize.

To enhance team-play, we introduced a number of randomly selected 'special days', where team-members could:

1. Pass some (or all) of their collective points to their colleagues (called "theBigGive"). This attracted those who are motivated by helping others.
2. Challenge team-members to a one-day battle to take all points collected from both upon 'winning' (called "Head2Head"). This attracted those who are motivated by intense competition (PvP).
3. Achieve double points for each sale made ("DoubleTrouble"). This enhanced performance during close-out.

In-game play:

The preparation was such that I attempted to attract all personalities, and with daily reminders (league tables, rewarding success etc), the engagement in level-progression remained consistent throughout the duration of the game.

Interestingly, 42% of my team gave points away to colleagues during "theBigGive", but 0% went "Head2Head" in PvP combat.

"DoubleTrouble" yielded a 19% increase in daily sales performance (when compared with previous 'non-game' close-outs).

Post-game (anonymous) feedback:

- 25% of players found the game to be 'very motivational', 67% 'motivational', 8% 'no effect'. (0% 'not very motivational' and 'demotivational'.)
- 93% of players 'understood the game fully', with 7% 'generally understood'. (0% 'not fully understood' & 'did not understand'.)
- There was an equal split of 'favourite levelling rewards'. (These included 'no joining fee vouchers', 'no KPI-shifts', 'Personal Training vouchers', 'lunch vouchers' & 'half-day tickets').
- 83% of my sales team said that they 'would like to participate in the challenge again', with the remaining 17% defined as 'maybe'. (0% reported as 'not'.)

CONCLUSION:

I would be really keen to run the game in another culture to compare the usage of "theBigGive" and "Head2Head" with my current team. The lack of 'PvP' interest gave me significant interest, and perhaps a better understanding of my teams' psychology.

Improvements could have been made with how we delivered the results. Real-time performance (think sports vidi-printers) could have made a difference to the end-result as each each team-member strived to reach their next level.

I am also confident that better thought behind the incentives (perhaps an intrinsic choice of two at each level?) would have created further excitement within the team.

Overall, "The King of the Jungle" challenge is deemed to be a success. It achieved most of the objectives it was intended for, and the end-result was not only a motivated sales force, but also a sensational sales result.