Digital badging mechanisms engage learners, encouraging completion of training programs and subsequently, tangible and immediate results. This piece will explore how gamification became one of the most compelling features in UX design, and how it shows up in corporate learning, writes Potoula Chresomales, SVP of Product Management at Skillsoft.
Gamification is one of the most effective ways to create a valuable and engaging experience for employees throughout the learning process. Keeping employees engaged helps connect their actions to business outcomes, decreases absences and turnover, and leads to improved performance,
We all know that keeping employees engaged helps connect their actions to business outcomes, decreases absences and turnover, and leads to improved performance. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep them engaged, and professional development programs are no exception.
We all know that intrinsic motivation – the passion and desire to learn something new – is the most powerful force in professional development. Linking learning to career aspirations, life goals, and personal values can trigger deep, long-term, self-directed learning.
When it comes to HR tech, gamification is one of the most compelling features introduced in recent UX design. Reward mechanisms incentivize learners to complete learning and development (L&D) programs, offering a more tangible and immediate reward when the concept of self-development isn’t enough. Once employees are engaged, the mechanics help maintain focus by promising a string of rewards for learners’ undivided attention.
So why does it work? Whether in your favorite app or in the office for L&D, gamification keeps users engaged with four underlying forces: competition, personalized triggers, meaningful stories, and immediate feedback through micro-recognition.
Let’s explore a few examples of how gamification shows up in the UX design of several platforms.
1. Competition
People are hardwired for competition – against themselves, against others, and as a team. It prompts improved teamwork, enhanced social learning, a growth mindset, and better self-assessment of progress and abilities.
A basic human need is to be competent in your activities, and competition gives the user a way to build and demonstrate competence whether it is by earning points, seeing their progress on a graph, or seeing themselves on a leaderboard.
Take a lesson from the language learning app Duolingo. The app’s design puts the user in competition with themselves. The interface uses multiple features, from achievement streaks to in-app currencies, to encourage learners to open and engage every day. Achievements like daily streaks encourage individuals to log in, compete, level up, and test their knowledge.
Competing with others is at the heart of most games. Whether it’s trying to score more points or complete more tasks, adding a bit of healthy competition can help to motivate users. On Fitbit, users can set up groups to chat and compete with friends and family on who has completed the most steps in a month or complete a virtual adventure trail.
The last type of competition is competition in collaboration. If employees work together toward a shared goal, they can support each other and get a better outcome. Take the U.S. Army’s recruitment tool for example. Candidates interested in enrolling can sign up, download the game for free, and work together to test their skills and meet a common goal – ultimately rewarding each individual for working as a team.
Learn More: How Focusing on Learning and Development Enables Employee EngagementOpens a new window
2. Personalized Triggers
Powerful games are designed with triggers that bring the user back for more. The triggers can be personalized to each user with AI algorithms. For example, the trigger can be a challenge in the game that is selected for that user based on their interests, other online behaviors, or predetermined aspirations.
The trigger can also be a simple reminder delivered during a time of day when that particular user is most active. For some users, that might be at 8 AM, for others at 9 PM. Push notifications delivered on mobile devices can effectively capture the user’s attention.
The trigger can also be a message from a teammate inviting the user back into the game. In this case, the game also serves the human need to belong, to be part of a community, and to have a shared goal with a team.
3. Meaningful Stories
In the case of professional development, the game can be given meaning by taking the form of a case study or a real-life business problem to solve. For example, a game designed to prepare a new product manager for a larger role can involve launching a new product. That product can be in the same industry as the user to create more connections to the game’s outcome. The characters in the game – the product manager, the business stakeholders, the engineers, the customers – can be given personalities and stories to make the game more meaningful and motivate the user beyond the desire to earn points or rank highly on a leaderboard.
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4. Immediate Feedback Through Micro-Recognition
Immediate feedback is key to the learning process giving users a way to gauge their own progress and accomplishments.
The audiobook app Audible motivates users by awarding badges in their listening journey. Stats and badges are fun for users to track their accomplishments like listening time, levels of listening achievements, and the number of books in their library.
The social app Snapchat uses Snap Streaks – when two users send each other a photo or video for at least three days in a row – to keep users incentivized to open and use the app daily.
Brandon Hall Group researchOpens a new window shows that companies that use badging during onboarding are at least 60 percent more likely to have improved engagement, retention, and time-to-proficiency among new hires. Small measures like recognition encourage learning, leading to knowledge gains that ultimately close skills gaps, benefit organizations, and promote individual learners’ career growth.
Badges reward and recognize learning accomplishments and serve as a powerful engagement tool. They act as a simultaneous goal-setting and reward device that cues users to pursue objectives. They also enable users to signal their accomplishments to others easily. The ability to signal the development of a new skill or the completion of a difficult project gives more value to the learning experience overall. This makes sharing the accomplishment a new goal of the learning itself.
At CGI, one of the largest IT and business consulting services firms globally, 85% of its staff, called members, are deployed on client projects at any given time. The companywide online learning platform CGI Academia encourages members to earn badges for learning new skills. As a result, since the end of April, more than 54,000 CGI’s 77,500 members worldwide have leveraged CGI Academia, spending 557,287 total hours on the platform and earning 383,000 digital badges and counting.
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Looking Forward
As we consider future generations entering the workforce, Gen Z will have grown up with gamified learning tools used throughout their education. Gamification will be a very familiar pattern to them and the competition, immediate feedback, micro-recognition, and social sharing will be expected elements of their learning process. By then, gamification will be a necessary underlying capability of all learning technologies.
Do you think gamification is a powerful way to create an engaging experience for your employees? If yes, how? Share your thoughts with us on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window .