5 ways to actually get gamification to work effectively

When a new product is over-hyped, the likelihood of a backlash is high. So it goes with Gamification, a strategy used to accelerate business and employee performance. 

Gamification programs combine game mechanics, intrinsic rewards and social technologies in a business context to influence employee or consumer behavior. Some recent studies, however, have called into question the effectiveness of using games to drive business results in every application. The key lesson from the research is not that Gamification is ineffective, but rather that managers need to focus on designing good games and ensuring employee buy-in up front.

A hiccup?

In 2011, research firm Gartner described Gamification as a “highly significant trend” in the business world. It predicted that by 2014, more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations would have at least one “gamified” application. Yet, a year later, the same firm decried that Gamification was being driven by “novelty and hype,” and predicted that by 2014, 80% of deployed gamified applications would fail to meet business objectives due to poor game design. Gartner’s scepticism was shared by other web experts [sic]. A 2012 Pew Research Center/Elon University survey of more than 1,000 Internet pundits and users showed a split jury on Gamification’s future: 53% of respondents believed it would take off (with some limits), while 42% said it would not evolve into a larger trend except in specific situations.

Other studies have explored why Gamification may not be as effective as first imagined. A Wharton School of Business review looked at Gamification’s impact on employee attitudes and job performance at a technology startup. The authors, Nancy Rothbard and Ethan Mollick, found that people who consented to or embraced the game had good feelings about their job. Importantly, many studies link high work satisfaction with improved productivity, creativity and loyalty. However, those employees who did not consent to participating in the game ended up having negative feelings about their job. They objected to their employers imposing “mandatory fun.” With regards to job performance, consenting gamers did not improve their performance. And, among non-consenters, job performance actually declined slightly. How a game was designed and implemented — in this case, securing the employee’s consent — had a major role in determining whether a program worked.

Still,  an aspersion of Gamification should be taken within certain context. Clearly,  benefits and adoption rates were over-hyped a few years ago, even though more than 350 companies across multiple sectors have implemented these programs. Yes, there have been failures like at Google Reader and online retailer, Zappos. However, the criticism must be balanced against the many examples — Nike, SAP, Omnicare, Autodesk, Target, Pearson, Microsoft etc — where these strategies are significantly driving customer behavior, operational productivity and employee engagement. Many experienced practitioners (including your author) see these missteps as part of a natural evolution towards a maturation of tools, best practices and techniques.

Gamification 2.0

As with other business strategies, firms will maximize returns with better program design and implementation. To do this, we recommend managers follow a “measure twice, cut once approach” based on these five principles:

1.  Choose your application wisely

Just because Gamification has many potential applications, it does not means that it should be deployed everywhere. Not every activity can or should be gamified. Good applications are found in controlled environments with well-defined workflows, are measurable and are willingly embraced by all employees.

2.  Be careful with game design

Good game design, mechanics and rules are essential to drive quick employee acceptance, rules compliance and ongoing participation. Designing games that are too easy will quickly bore the player or incite them to cheat. Deploying overly difficult games can lead to poor worker adoption and rapid attrition.

3.  Intrinsic not extrinsic rewards

The power of Gamification is its ability to leverage strong intrinsic motivators like competition, mastery and recognition. However, many companies mistakenly apply extrinsic rewards like cash bonuses. Like a caffeine hit, these rewards lead to short term activity but longer term burn out. Also, some players may learn how to manipulate the game potentially driving up costs.

4.  Adopt a ‘learning by doing’ approach

Given the complexity of some organizations and tasks, the sensible and low risk approach is to begin with a pilot project. Managers can then glean important lessons around game design, incentives, feedback loops and technology before rolling out across the enterprise.

5.  Technology has its place

The choice of technology platform is important. However, it’s value will be highly dependent on the game that is running on it. Managers should first prioritize getting the game fundamentals right before choosing which technology to use. One of the most successful games we ever designed did not run on any Gamification platform at all.