Get your game on.

As a manager, you may often notice opportunities for your team members to improve their skills. These skills can significantly impact their careers and lives, whether learning new software or developing soft skills such as communication or conflict resolution. However, let’s be honest: learning can be tedious for many individuals, especially when it’s mandatory annual training.  

While they may complete the requirement, the knowledge they retain is often negligible. When people are disengaged from their learning, applying what they have learned to their work or personal life becomes challenging, resulting in a diminished return on investment for the organization’s training budget. This can also contribute to a demotivating work environment, making inspiring team members to engage in learning opportunities even more difficult. 

Instill Motivation Through the Thrill of Victory

If your organization is struggling with this issue, Public Knowledge® can help. We are highly experienced in developing exciting and interactive learning solutions for public and private sector organizations. So, how can you inspire your learners? Our recommendation is to tap into their innate desire to succeed. This doesn’t necessarily mean competing with others but rather strategically utilizing the fundamental element in all games: achieving a goal. Winning in games is based on achieving a goal, and people will often replay a game multiple times to achieve that goal and feel the rush of victory. 

Finding the Right Balance

The objective of learning should be more than just completing mandatory training; it should be incorporated into the process. For instance, one could aim to earn enough tokens to obtain a key that unlocks the final content module or tops the leaderboard. Another option is to tackle a challenging real-world issue by gathering and analyzing data to generate a viable solution. This motivational aspect, drawn from gaming principles, is called gamification when applied to education. 

The Benefits of Gamification

• Enhanced learning experience. The learner can have fun while learning if the game is engaging. 
• Instant feedback. It provides immediate feedback to help learners identify their strengths and weaknesses. 
• Improved learning environment. Gamification in eLearning creates a safe and effective environment that allows learners to practice real-life situations and challenges informally. 
• Prompting behavioral change. Using tools like points, badges, and leaderboards can help develop new abilities. 
• Responsive to different learning needs. Gamification can be utilized for various learning needs, such as onboarding, product sales, customer support, soft skills, awareness creation, and compliance training. 

Gamification in Action

We recently designed and created a simulated gaming platform to engage our client’s audience. At the beginning of the training, the learners were presented with a challenge and worked through it using the simulated gaming platform while learning the essential content to complete it. The client’s feedback about the effectiveness of the training and the learners’ satisfaction with it was overwhelmingly positive.