How corporate gamification can help internal communication

Have you ever stopped to think about the number of obsolete, boring or even meaningless processes that exist in certain companies?

Perhaps there are many of them, and frequently, they don’t help in your team’s motivation. But the good news is that they can be transformed with corporate gamification.

If you’re still unfamiliar with the term, gamification derives from the word game. It concerns the incorporation of playful elements, or games, in order to make tasks more interesting, fun and challenging.

In the following topics, we will clarify the definition of corporate gamification, how to use it in practice and its benefits to your business’ internal communication.

What is corporate gamification?

As mentioned above, gamification has its origin in games and represents the use of gaming techniques (even the most traditional ones) in daily processes, in order to make the activities more interesting. It’s thinking outside the box.

Gamification is the method that consists of integrating elements that challenge and entertain, in addition to the insertion of rewards relevant to the processes to create motivation and activate the audience of interest.

It was initially created to provide end-customer service.

Such in the case of point accumulation campaigns that can be redeemed for rewards, which is what Starbucks does with its prepaid card.

It was later adapted for the company’s internal public, especially employees. From then on, in training and integration and sales programs, just to mention a few examples, became gamified.

But let’s make something clear: the method doesn’t consist in integrating games with work. It’s something deeper and well developed.

Actually, it has much more to do with making routine activities more attractive and challenging by using playful elements to do so.

How does corporate gamification work?

How the method works within companies is a little harder to explain.

Generally speaking, it’s like offering a reward to employees — and exclusive benefit, for example —, for them to perform certain activities.

One example comes from Ford. Aiming to improve its employees’ learning, the manufacturer introduced gamification in its Corporate University (CU) to train its talents on the new car models, as well as technologies and financial systems. As a result, the company had a 417% increase in the use of the CU, in addition to increased sales.

Another option is to associate gamification and sales.

Few people compete harder than salespeople do. Therefore, you can include elements to make the competition more fun and attractive.

Below, you will find three crucial elements of corporate gamification!

1. Playful elements

They encompass items that resemble games and therefore, challenge those involved.

The playful elements create more pleasure for people and also make professional activities more creative and stimulating.

An interesting possibility is to rank the professionals, as if they were playing a videogame. This way, they can evaluate their results and try to improve.

There are several other playful elements. For example, medals, trophies, and stars for the talents with the best performance or start a points system.

In short, you need to let creativity speak louder.

2. Exclusive advantages or benefits

As in every game, in the end, there’s a stimulating reward that justifies all the work.

When relying on the corporate gamification technique, it’s important to establish attractive rewards for employees.

There are many types of rewards. Some are financial, such as bonuses or profit sharing; others aren’t, such as an exclusive parking space or a day off.

In order to select the ideal gamification reward, keep three aspects in mind:

1. The team’s profile
2. The available budget
3. The size of the proposed challenge

Thus, you can obtain quite significant results, in addition to greater adherence to the proposed activities.

3. Well-defined rules

As said above, gamification isn’t simply a game, but a managerial method dedicated to improving the performance of professionals. For this reason, it’s necessary to have well-established limits and rules.

Throughout the game, what can the professionals do or not do? What resources will be available? What will be analyzed in order to update the ranking? Who will be the winner in the end?

Everything must be well explained from the beginning so that no one feels they’re being treated unfairly during the application of the method and even after the final results come out.

What are the main results of gamification in internal communication?

Now that you understand gamification and the main elements for its application, it’s also interesting to learn about its benefits for internal communication.

Believe me, the use of internal games can help a lot when it comes to maintaining a more united and aligned team.

It makes team spirit “soar”

Sometimes there’s a lack of teamwork spirit at the workplace.

This occurs when professionals don’t recognize themselves as part of the same family and therefore, side conversations and conflicts take place, which are damaging factors to relationships and communication.

Corporate gamification, on the other hand, brings the professionals closer together and makes everyone move in the same direction.

Rules avoid conflicts and ensure healthy competition. In the end, all talents will be more cohesive and united. In addition to realizing the value of others (especially when they see each person’s efforts).

It allows internal communication to flow

Communication always exists within a company.

When two coworkers meet and chat during their coffee break, there’s communication.

The problem is that it doesn’t always flow as it should.

Gamification helps in adding levity to daily processes. It’s a way of making dialog more fluid and successful.

With this openness for conversation, leaders and coworkers can communicate with quality.

It develops new skills

Communication depends, for the most part, on the behavioral skills of teams and leaders.

If the professionals aren’t willing to dialog, no matter how good the channels are, there won’t be any communication.

In this sense, corporate gamification helps develop the right skills in a more satisfactory manner.

The gain in terms of team spirit, passion for one’s work and enthusiasm are good examples of this.

It improves performance indicators

There are many performance indicators that reflect the quality of the communication. The number of mistakes, conflicts, and days off are a few. The better the indicators, the better the communication.

Fortunately, gamification has a direct impact on the most important indicators for dialog.

For example, it helps increase team participation and reduce mistakes during the workday; after all, it creates morale.

It increases internal satisfaction

Unhappy employees aren’t willing to dialog. They want to start and finish their activities, do the basic work with the minimum number of mistakes, and then go home and wait for the next workday.

By using games, in addition to making work more interesting, managers also demonstrate that they value and are concerned about their employees.

This has a direct and immediate effect on the level of satisfaction of those who work with you, which will probably be greater.

What should you do with this information?

Now that you’re familiar with the subject, it’s time to “roll up your sleeves”.

How about including playful elements in your people management, sales processes and the development of talent?

You’ll find that, in addition to putting your creativity to work, this can also be a great way to get closer to those who work with you and show that they are also an important part of your business.

Corporate gamification is only one of the ways to help those who work with you professionally.

Would you like to learn about other ways to improve your coworkers’ development?

Check out our post with 5 tips to help with your employees’ professional development.