Employee training is essential to getting the most from your staff. Yet traditional training methods are not always the most effective. One of the issues that trainers face is that trainees have differing training delivery preferences. Traditional “sit and get” training programs are limited in the variety of learning methods they can deliver.
If employees aren’t connecting with the training material, they aren’t engaged. If they aren’t engaged, they’re less likely to retain the information.
One proven way to make training more engaging, personalized and effective is through gamification.
What is Gamification?
Gamification involves integrating game mechanics into tasks such as employee training or work processes. Game mechanics include rewards, puzzles, quizzes and interactivity. A great example of gamified content is Duolingo.
Gamification can also give training a competitive edge with elements such as a scoring system, leaderboards, team challenges or collaborative activities.
8 Ways Gamification Can Improve Engagement
The main advantage of gamification is its increased engagement — the interactive elements mean the learner has to interact with the content, rather than passively listening to speakers or skimming written materials.
1. Active Participation
Interactive training via gamification requires active and alert participation, holding learners’ attention, which can improve recall post-training.
2. Personalization
Gamified systems create tailored learning journeys that adapt to individual learning preferences, ability levels and processing speeds, allowing learners to more effectively and meaningfully engage with the content.
3. Variety
Gamified training can also enhance engagement by presenting information in different formats, including visual, audio and kinesthetic elements as well as written content, keeping things interesting for the learner.
4. Social Elements
Including game mechanics such as rewards and leaderboards encourages social interaction through friendly competition. This can enhance the learning experience and provide support for learners who benefit from group dynamics.
5. Real-World Applications
Virtual reality (VR)-based games can even simulate real-world scenarios and practical training applications. This approach can be particularly beneficial for learners who thrive on hands-on experiences and a connection between theoretical concepts and real-world contexts.
6. Prompt Feedback
Games also provide trainees immediate feedback on their performance. In-game feedback can help learners identify areas of improvement and reinforce learning by immediately correcting a mistake.
7. Convenience
For many, taking time out of a workday to go to a long session of training can be impractical and disruptive to the business. Gamified training can be accessed wherever and whenever works best for them.
8. Consistency
Virtual training such as this also ensures the information can be standardized and monitored closely to ensure that every employee gets the information they need.
Using Gamification Effectively
Gamification can be used across numerous industries for multiple purposes. This novel way of delivering content is not limited to training employees in their job roles.
For example, you can incorporate an employee recognition system in which employees earn points or badges for achievements, meeting goals or demonstrating exceptional performance.
Managers can even take this one step further and apply gamification in their sales process by introducing competitions, leaderboards, and rewards for sales and marketing teams. Encourage healthy competition among sales representatives, setting up challenges with prizes for achieving specific targets.
Gamification is great for improving internal communication and collaboration. For example, required but repetitive training can be far more interesting when gamified.
Why not make a good first impression and gamify the onboarding process for new employees? Create interactive onboarding quests, challenges, or treasure hunts to help new hires familiarize themselves with company policies, procedures and culture in a fun and engaging way.
However you choose to integrate gamification, ensure the focus is always on both the subject of the training and on delivering an engaging learner experience.
