[ Music ]
>> Good morning, and, thank you for joining the corporate track.
So, before I start, I'd like to have a show of hands:
Who here is brand new to gamification?
Okay, great.
Who here has done maybe a few projects, knows a little bit?
Great. And any fellow experts?
I know at least two.
Yes. Fellow speakers, fellow experts,
so we know we have a lot of ground to cover.
So, my background -- if you hear a multitude
of accents, you're absolutely right.
I'm originally from Belgium, I live partly in Sweden,
partly in the UK, so if you hear a mix, that's
where it comes from. So, that gets people really confused.
So, I'd like to start with a bit of a working definition
for today, based on how I would define gamification,
so that we have some common ground
and some common ways of working.
So, let's test my technical skills.
Yes, it worked.
So, in my book, gamification is the application
of game dynamics, game psychology, and game mechanics
to non-game situations.
Now. I would also say to most
of my clients it's 80 percent psychology
and then the rest are mechanics and dynamics.
And that's important from the corporate perspective,
because a lot of people come shopping for a game, and then
when you sort of don't let them play any games
or touch game mechanics until way later, they get frustrated.
So, it's important to note -- so, what's the difference
between a mechanic and a dynamic?
So, for example a leaderboard is a mechanic; the dynamic
that introduces by default is competition.
A social share button is the mechanic --
what does that ask you to do straight away?
>> Collaborate.
>> Collaborate, exactly So, that's the fine difference
between mechanic and dynamic -- by introducing one, you,
by default, introduce the other.
And I always make sure
that people understand the difference
and that actually some mechanics don't belong
in certain places.
For example, a leaderboard in my book -- I work a lot
with learning-related gamification -- does not belong
in learning.
Personal opinion -- not every gamification platform
under the sun agrees with me.
But actually, I think
from a learning perspective, the only leaderboard you
should have is a content leaderboard, where people
who have taken the content rate your content.
People leaderboards
in learning actually are only motivational for the top two
or three people -- everybody else thinks they're dummies.
As an average learner in school,
in the nerdy kid class, I was bottom of the pile usually,
but in my year, I was in the top 10 percent,
but I always felt like a dummy.
How does that make your people feel,
and that's not what we're trying to do
when we're actually encouraging learning
in the workplace.
So, think about these things, and if you have a platform
that encourages you to use a leaderboard, say well, we want
it on content, thank you very much.
And if they have a problem, tell them to talk to me --
I can help them switch it off.
There is an "off" button, usually.
So, where have you potentially being gamified --
because most people think, oh, I've never played a game,
I'm not into games.
But, you know, actually, who's on LinkedIn?
Yeah, we've got 90 percent take-up on that one.
So, where you've likely being gamified is
with this little progress bar.
The progress bar was introduced
and actually made us all beaver away and fill
out our profiles, because, guess what? LinkedIn is nothing
without complete profiles.
So, they had a very good business reason
to introduce that game mechanic.
Now, that game mechanic works
because we have been conditioned by school
that 0 percent is not so good, 100 percent is really great.
And they showed us really fantastic first
or change management approach,
they also show us, you get plus 5 percent if you fill
in that section, you get plus 20 percent
if you fill in that section.
From a change management perspective, giving people the
first next step is ideal,
so, that's what made people increase their profile
completion by something like 60 percent.
I mean, anyone in HR needs forms filled?
Yeah -- I keep saying that, and
I don't see many progress bars in work offices.
But, you know, it's a simple mechanic.
Now, they have a few other mechanics in the pack.
So, most of us like a bit of peer recognition --
so, how many people viewed my profile.
If you're posting anything, how many people actually liked
your stuff.
It's something we do, it's something all
of the social media channels have down, like, amazingly.
But has your Word or Office or ERP system asked you
that question recently?
I guess not, right?
So, that's a lot of the work that I focus on
with the corporate sector -- is, how can we make our tools much
more engaging, much more user-friendly,
but also fit for purpose.
So, what LinkedIn needed was complete profiles
or they have nothing to sell --
so, that's their business reason
for introducing gamification.
What's your business reason for introducing gamification?
That would be my first question to you.
Now, what can you do?
So, giving some statistics, because I know some
of you might need to build a business case for it.
Gamification and employee engagement, according
to the Aberdeen Group -- they said, actually,
if we employ gamification, the employee turnover comes down --
so, that is people leaving the job -- comes
down by a significant 36 percent.
If you measure engagement --
now, engagement is a big measurement, so it's measured
on their employee engagement surveys.
They said if you introduce gamification, you have the
potential for engagement to go up 48 percent.
Anecdotally, from my own clients, I can tell you
that if the starting point is zero, 50 percent increase
in engagement is possible.
So, you're starting with a blank sheet,
not-so-great situation, maybe nothing
in place, 50 percent's achievable.
If, for example, you already have a very good employee
engagement strategy in place, then nudging it
over towards 20 percent increase is realistic.
So, I'm not talking massive numbers, I'm talking small
numbers -- but if you think about it, McDonald's,
for example, introduced a till game
to get their actual people working
on the tills quicker, faster.
That made a 1 percent decrease in the lines on the till.
On their bottom line,
that actually means many more people can buy burgers
and chips.
So, for their business it was a good decision, right?
So, even small percentages can make a big impact,
so, don't get hung up on the numbers, but do measure them,
because I do prefer data-driven design than, I,
like, finger in the air, yeah, we think it's working, okay.
So, but these are some of the things.
So, this was Aberdeen Group on a sample
of mainly Western companies.
So, both UK, US, Western-related companies.
Now, Dale Carnegie focused mainly on American,
North American companies,
and they said, actually, employee engagement --
if you have an engaged workforce, we outperform the
companies that don't have an engaged workforce by 202 percent.
Now, that's impressive. Now, I like big numbers,
but employee engagement is not an easy one to tackle --
it's a vast minefield.
So, you want to do that bit by bit, and see
where can you actually break it down
and have the biggest impact.
Now, my mission today is to give you something
to walk away from that is actionable straight away
when you go back to work tomorrow.
So, that's my mission.
I also make it my mission to make it interactive,
so, I will require participation.
And you will be the first of all of the groups
to experience the gamification design deck in-person,
so, it should be fun, right?
So, what are the most common reasons to do gamification?
In fact, there's a few wrong ones.
This is Karl Kapp --
who's heard of Karl Kapp?
Yes? He's a professor in the US, talks a lot
about learning-related gamification.
And he made a study
and he said well, actually, there are some wrong reasons --
these are the wrong reasons.
He says if it's cool, it's awesome, people are going
to love it, everybody loves games,
everybody loves gamification and it's easy --
come again, who here loves games?
Good. Who here doesn't really like games?
Yeah, there's always a few, and that's okay.
So, we want to make our games inclusive
without pushing the people who hate games away from us.
I also -- the biggest criticism
in the corporate sector -- "Oooh, are my people going
to be playing all the time?
We're a serious business -- we can't possibly introduce fun."
It's probably the most common objection I face,
and the reality is, yeah, sometimes we have
to turn systems off, but it's rare, it's rare.
It happens once in a blue moon.
What I also hear a lot -- "Oh, we need gamification
for the Millennials and Generation Z."
Who thinks that?
Good. You're quite an educated audience.
So, the Millennials and Generation Z are growing
up with games as a default -- they play games,
they know games, some of them think books should go
like this, okay?
My niece, who's 3, tried to play with the book
and it didn't work like the iPad did,
so -- which was quite funny.
But, you know, they grow up with game mechanics in everything
that they do -- for them, it's business as usual.
It's Generation X and the generations before the baby
boomers who actually are the ones that get hooked
on workplace gamification systems.
In fact, in one client, we've had
to turn off the system during working hours
because Generation X was on it too much -- they're the 30,
40 somethings in the rooms.
So, you know, we all have that inner child at heart.
Now, what are the right reasons to implement gamification?
If you want to create interaction, it's useful.
If you want to create engagement, it's a good reason.
If you're trying to overcome disengagement.
So, the disengaged employee, you can hear at the water cooler
or in the coffee station, so, saying "Yeah,
I hate this company, I don't like it,
I'd like to go for another job."
They're actively doing things to damage your brand
and your organization,
but if you ask them, they won't tell you,
because gosh, they could lose their job, right?
So, they do work, but only as little
as they can get away with.
So, watch out for them -- they're your disengaged guys.
You want to provide opportunities
for deep thought and reflection.
Now, good games make you think, make you take new strategies,
make you try out new things.
Good gamification should do that -- it's the same thing.
Superficial gamification -- yeah, it's nice, it's like icing
on the cake -- but you need a good cake, right?
My theory is always, start with good cake,
and then make it fancy.
So, it should have deep thought, reflection,
it should change behaviour for the better.
So, gamification, in my book, should reinforce the behaviour
you want more of, not what you want less of.
A little bit like cognitive behavioural therapy,
where you reward the good things, and you don't focus
on the negatives, right?
So, that's where your psychology comes in.
And you want authentic practice where I can be me,
my real me, and behave like my real me --- not where I have
to wear some other role mask or face mask that I step
into some other persona to make something work for me.
So, you want it to allow people to be themselves.
Now. where does it apply in the gamification
or in the employee experience?
Pretty much anywhere -- anywhere where you have a process.
So -- I know it's tiny, tiny writing -- so, I have employer branding,
recruitment, assessment, well-being, onboarding,
productivity, job rotation, job enrichment, job mastery,
performance, exit and promotions.
Now, I work a lot in the area of job design, in the area
of learning, onboarding, recruitment -- all of the things
that are processes
in an organization are potentially gamifiable.
If the process is broken, also fix the process before you add
game mechanics, because adding game mechanics
to a broken process multiplies the frustration
by a high number -- you don't want to do that, okay?
So, where is employee engagement at?
Actually, it's quite shocking across the world.
Every country has numbers that are not necessarily so good.
Depending on the source, they'll vary,
but it's not a rosy picture.
Who here is maybe thinking
about employee engagement in gamification?
Yeah, a few of you, yeah? And you're not alone.
It's probably our most common request, in terms of business.
Now, today's employees are very savvy --
they're technologically on, they know what to do,
they grew up with social media, games, sharing, chats --
and they'll expect their work systems to be the same.
But most of our work systems were designed in the 50s
for the manufacturing industry, and they have ugly interfaces.
So, we come from having these wonderful apps on our mobiles
and then we go into work and we get this lovely, boxy,
ugly-looking form thingy.
You know, so there is a disconnect,
so, it doesn't make -- it makes sense.
So, gamification is not just about people, but also
about the softwares we use, so --
and we see a trend that's changing.
So, in the earlier days, we had tools that track and manage
and administer compliance -- so, who's in, the holidays,
the work type of related measures.
Now, we have talent management systems who basically track
where people are going.
What's coming is engagement-type systems
where we're actually looking to implement systems
that actually empower and connect people.
But, the next level up is productivity.
Now, these are findings from Bersin, from Deloitte.
And Josh Bersin this year said in HR, the gamification
of HR is really topical.
So, it's no surprise that I get asked a lot to speak
about gamification to these kinds of audiences.
So, the software that we're using is allowing us
to do more.
Now in the end of the day, gamification is
about the people -- people and the people using it.
So, we want to incorporate health, fitness, well-being,
and sustainable performance over the long track.
That's not easy to achieve.
But, if we look at those Fitbits and all sorts
of trackers that we wear, we have information
and people actively engaging in gamified processes
without us needing to tell them
to do so -- they already do it.
Who here has a Fitbit or a tracker of some --
yeah, some proud wearers showing them off.
You know, so, these things are around.
Now, what does that mean for the workplace?
Well, we could actually end up, in the name
of employee engagement, with a whole bunch of systems, right?
So, you need something that ties them together.
And in my perspective, you need a good strategy,
you need a strategy that makes sense
so that these tools actually make sense to you, but also
to your employees -- otherwise we're wasting our time.
So, let's apply some game design thinking
to employee engagement.
So, I need a first volunteer who has maybe a problem
that we're trying to address.
So, anyone with a problem they're trying
to address in the workplace?
>> We have a program, a training program
for senior executives, and it's a two-day workshop, and we want
to continue the engagement,
build on their takeaways, that kind of thing.
So, seeing gamification as, a --
I guess, we were thinking of a leap forward.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> And I don't think we will now.
>> Okay, that's good, that's a fantastic takeaway --
you've already accomplished my mission, so that's good.
But yes, let's work on that.
So, you have an executive training, and you want it
to be reinforced after they leave the training.
Great. So, would you mind coming up and helping me?
So, in the gamification card deck --
if you tweet a lot, you are potentially able to win.
So, what I want you to do -- perfect.
So, we have different colour cards,
so there's three different colour types
of types of people.
I have learner types, customer types, and employee types.
There is no science attached -- they're just people I've met
in different offices around the world.
So, what I want you to do -- because we're talking
about learning -- have a look through the learning deck
and pick the one profile
that you think your executives are most like.
So, take your time.
So, what I'm doing here is shortcutting what
in, let's say, the corporate world I would do
through surveys, questionnaires, observations.
But because we don't have all
of her people here, we can't do that right now.
So, I'm helping you shortcut by showing you
that actually, this is an important part.
>> That's a required [inaudible].
>> Required -- so they have to do training.
So, these cards are all based
on the motivation behind the training that they need to do, so it's --
we must do this training, it's not up to me.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Awesome. So, that's the first thing we need to know,
because people that have
to train have a different motivation people that choose
to train, so we have to keep that in mind.
If -- and I'm just guessing -- is it also linked
to performance management indicators?
Yeah, I thought it would.
So, required to train, and then required to track,
so that's an interesting combination.
So, that's a great problem, by the way, I like it.
Now, where did I leave the clicker at?
So, when I started designing
for gamification -- so, my background.
I worked in change management, I worked in learning
and development, I was a learning
and development manager inside a corporate sector,
I'm the learning designer.
So, I've sort of covered the spectrum of anything to do
with training, HR, that involved making people move
from where they were to where they needed to be
for a corporate reason.
So, that's pretty much where I come from.
I also wanted to be a game designer when I was seven.
My dad said there was no money in games, so get a real job.
You know, so I did make crosswords for older people,
so puzzles are my thing.
I nearly missed some of my final exams thanks to SimCity
and my city going on fire.
So, you know, there's all sorts
of game stories all the way through my life.
So, it was no surprise that I used games to do what I did
and to achieve results.
Because when I talked to people,
that was the common thing that I always found.
So, I would, you know, in change management projects, go
to the canteen, have chats,
I was like, You know, did you realize it also can do this?"
And then I would watch how long it would take before the
rumour came back to me in its new shape.
It usually took two weeks, on average, in a big organization.
So, when I started in gamification, I basically found
out that certain things worked and certain things didn't,
so I started to build frameworks
to help me do it right.
So, the first thing I always say is, we need
business specifics.
So, if you don't have business specifics, then my question is,
Why? Why are you doing it?"
So, for leadership training to work,
of course, good leaders motivate good people,
so it's a good business reason.
For leaders to have good practices is a good reason.
But sending them to training is not enough,
so, you need proof of their learning in action.
So, that would be what I would measure in the case
of your project -- proof
of actually applying what they've learnt.
And I would even set a quest to sort of spread
out what they would do over a period of time, okay?
So, that would be how I would measure, are we achieving what
we're setting out to do?
The second thing, and it's also a non-negotiable
if you're working with me, is, we need
to understand the player.
So, we need to do some research about what are the personas
like that are taking these courses.
Skip this step at your peril, right?
Because if you don't understand what really
motivates people, and you're applying game mechanics, you're
going to get it wrong 90 percent of the time.
I mean, I recently -- yes?
>> [ Inaudible ] And you may be getting to this -- this is where I always get tripped up,
is applying gamification to qualitative performance
as opposed to -- it seems a lot of it is connected to KPIs
and quantitative measurements.
>> So, some of these measures can be qualitative measures,
you know, and if it is to drive qualitative performance,
absolutely make sure you have qualitative measures in there.
But you should be able to measure it,
because you do want to see improvement.
So, if the quality of, let's say, if we ask the leaders
to do regular meetings, but the meetings are really bad, the
people will tell you.
You know, the rest of the team will say, "Oh gosh, we'll have
another one."
So, you want to then find those softer measures,
so it's not always hard numbers -- it can be a lot
of softer inputs.
So, absolutely, great question.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
So, you do want to know what drives people, and only then,
when we have the first two
down, will I actually go to game design.
So, there's a whole bunch of time
that passes before we get there,
which annoys corporate teams, but we get them there.
Okay, so the other question I get asked a lot --
"Can it be gamified?"
If it's a person -- who thinks a person can be gamified?
Good, thank you.
The only person that can decide to be gamified is
that person themselves.
If you are doing it to them -- don't go there.
It's like manipulation,
it's like you're -- really bad practice.
However, if it's a process -- totally acceptable
to do gamification with, okay.
I've often had people in workshops say, "Oh, I hate my boss --
can we gamify the boss?" And I usually say no.
You can gamify yourself to do better according
to your boss' standards,
but gamifying your boss is not a good idea, you know --
so these things.
So, you also want to make sure that you have control over it
or that, at the minimum, you can influence the process,
because otherwise, you're gamifying something you can't
actually change.
You want to measure how successful it is --
so, what are the objectives,
how are they currently measured, and is
that how they should be measured in future?
Because current state
and future state are often different.
I worked on a large change management project
for a retail company -- they wanted to go
from product focus to customer focus
but they didn't change their reporting initially.
And guess what? People didn't change their behaviour.
Why would you? You're still measured
on old-school measures.
Okay, so, we have to change the reporting
to actually get the effect we wanted.
So, you want to answer those questions.
Now, in the case
of the leadership problem we're working on --
so, they've been to training.
So, what happens after they've been to training?
Sorry, I'm relying on a little bit of extra input --
only share what you're allowed to share.
>> So, there's a follow-up with the senior executives
at 30 days to see how they're doing and that kind of thing.
>> So it's a formal meeting of some kind?
>> Yes.
>> Yup, anything else?
>> There's a whole series of activities that go
on that they have to report back how they're doing.
>> Great. So you don't just leave the training room
and say happy days, job done there is actually a task list
and then some actions that they need to take?
>> That's right and it's that task list that we're trying
to continue, like it's building the buzz
to keep it going, keep it alive.
>> Exactly because they come out buzzed.
>> Pardon me?
>> They come out of the training buzzed.0
>> Yes, it's simulated learning and a host at a table
that encourages them and that kind of thing.
>> Awesome, thank you.
By the way, you're earning yourself a gamification deck
so you'll walk away with some tools.
So yeah, so what we would do is we would map out all
of the specific steps attached to that process.
And then we go looking
where are the meaningful touch points, where are the places
where they could potentially drop off,
where are the points where most people.
So the first day back you probably
if you're a leader have an inbox
of about 5,000 emails waiting for you,
[inaudible] people management
but I can't my inbox is killing me.
Anyone ever been there?
Yeah, so a few of you recognize that
but you know it happens to me when I travel and you're
in the wrong time zone
so you can do nothing about it you know.
The thing is the business doesn't die
if you don't answer today, as long as your answer eventually
but you know this 24/7 mentality means
certain things.
But those are the meaningful touchpoints
where people could potentially drop off the great intention
that they had at the end of a leadership training session.
I used to deliver a lot of leadership training
and we spread out the days and the amount
of times people came back on the second session
and said yeah, I had great intentions
but it didn't happen because you know
that department needed this, we had a rush on that
and such a crisis happened.
It's business as usual right, so we need to set it
so we help them to succeed and we stop them
from falling off the bandwagon.
Now there's a few things that we can do,
Duolingo the language learning app has a winning streak,
so a login streak.
So Duolingo is a free app, who has heard of it?
There's a few nods, so I know a few haven't.
It's free to download, try it.
The login streak, the longest login streak
that they have running is seven years.
>> What?
>> Yeah, that was exactly my response.
Seven years.
Now they have no or they make no qualms about the fact
that to learn a language you need
to practice a little every day.
So that's their objective so that's why
that login streak is important.
To be a good leader should you spend time
with your team every day and maybe that's a measure
that then gives you that login streak or that people streak
or whatever karma that you attach to that right.
So they want to encourage the things you should be doing
more of.
But yes, there are actually people who live
by the login streak.
Now they also have a great messaging system which applies
to me most of the time, I live partly in Sweden,
I speak no word of Swedish,
I have seven other languages just not Swedish.
And you know I'm learning with Duolingo
to speak a bit of Swedish.
But after two or three days it starts saying hey we're
missing you and sends me emails.
After two weeks the messaging tone has changed
to I take it you're no longer interested in learning,
we'll stop bothering you.
You know and that usually,
actually that message usually gets me logging in again,
whereas the missing you is like yeah, I know, I know,
you know, we should really.
You know like my fitness tracker also tells me you told
me three days was a good day to remind you to go
and do some exercise.
And guess what sometimes I do because it reminds me
and sometimes I say yeah, not today because I have no time.
But you know it's those things, those little nudges
to keep doing what you intend
to do is what drives a lot of our behaviour.
It's no surprise that the people behind Nudge Theory
actually have won a Nobel Peace Prize or a Nobel Prize
around behavioural economics.
So nudge people towards what you want them to do.
So obstacles can often give very good storylines,
good scenarios.
So in the case of a leadership game you could have battling
the obstacles of inboxes full, targeting the different parts
of the organization that could potentially hijack
your process.
You could make a whole fantastic story out of that.
Then the tactic one is the tactic we already have,
we know that they are required learners.
I said in reality we do this through observations, surveys,
employee engagement questionnaires,
feedback mechanics, etcetera but also
through workshops and pilot testing.
From my change management consulting days I know
that if I actually get the project teams and groups
of the target audience engaged
in creating the new process the chance
of taking it up is a lot higher.
And the chance of it sticking because they've been part
of making the solution is also a lot higher.
So give yourself a chance to get first-hand input.
So today we took the shortcut with the cards,
now I need someone on this table can you quickly come
and pick one of these because we're running close to time
so this is speed gamification.
So we want a real-time strategy game,
so these are the types of games,
there is 13 different cards around types of games.
So we're going to make a real-time strategy game right.
From that table somebody quickly run to me.
Quickly, quickly, quickly.
All right, pick one.
Awesome, perfect.
The win condition is that there is a winner
and a survival in the game.
So those that don't complete, a little bit
like the adventure race you see
on television some people will complete some people won't.
You survive or you don't survive,
so there is a survival race.
So already an interesting experience.
And then typically I get people to add
in more game mechanics.
Now the game mechanics is what makes the games fun.
I also say every card is worth 10,000 or $10,000,
the more game mechanics the more complex the more
budget right.
So if you have big budget take as many cards as you want.
If we want to keep it real take a few.
And for your first one take a few, start with a pilot,
start small and implement those.
So the lady with the problem you have earned this deck,
so come see me after.
For the rest of us I want to share,
so the second tactic is what will enable them to win,
so we will have win conditions.
We want to give them feedback and we want to decide
where in the process does the feedback show up,
is it a login streak, is it a message, is it a nudge.
Feedback is the key to growth,
you can use several tools and systems.
I'll put the presentation on SlideShare
so you can actually download it from there later,
so I see lots of people frantically taking pictures.
So feedback is key in all of us.
The reason why games are so popular is
because we get instant feedback of rights and wrongs.
In work we usually have
to wait six months before we get the real clanger
of wow your performance is really not so good when really
if we could have it in the moment
when we're doing it we can change it right.
Good games have storylines.
If you want to get better at making games
and gamification play lots of games.
Good tip right, who doesn't want to do that.
And where possible co-create, get your people involved,
get them to work together to design the solution.
You'll be surprised what comes out of your teams.
Every time I do it with organizations people say
to me wow I didn't know this was possible.
Always reinforce what you want more of and understand
that right first time and forever is an illusion.
So you will have to tweak your gameplay a little bit
like advertising campaigns they're seasonal,
they have themes, they have reasons to exist.
You start thinking
about gamification strategies the same way.
And know who can I contest with, Einstein said
that play is the highest form of research
and he invented an awful lot of great stuff,
so I'm not going to argue with the great man.
Thank you for listening and you can find me
at GamificationNat or Gamification Nation,
love to talk to you.
That's all.
[ Applause ]
[ Music ]
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