By Peter Messervy, Opus Magnum
22.September.20198
How can we win at business in this uncertain and competitive environment today?
A rapidly spreading business tool is gamification. We can apply gaming principles to the business process to increase motivation, productivity, and our chance of success.
Can we really call business a game?
Perhaps your business is your livelihood, your future, your path to success, even your very survival. It’s serious stuff.
Is it serious?
Making a game of something doesn’t make it less serious. In fact, it might well make it even more serious. Consider how seriously people take some games. Olympic sports for example, have you noticed how emotions can run high in card games or gambling. The moment of participation in an important game can generate amazing focus, energy and emotional levels. Collecting is a form of a game; some collectors show fanatical commitment.
Gamification is the term used for the application of gaming principles and game design elements to serious activities. It includes:
• The application of game-design elements in non-game contexts to make them more fun and engaging, and to improve user productivity and learning
• The use of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to these other contexts
• The techniques are intended to leverage people's natural desires for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, or closure.
• Gamification strategies use rewards for players who accomplish desired tasks or competition to engage players. Types of rewards include points, achievement badges or levels, the filling of a progress bar, or providing the user with virtual currency.
• Making the rewards for accomplishing tasks visible to other players or providing leader boards are ways of encouraging players to compete.
• Types of rewards can include points, achievement badges, levels, a progress bar, virtual currency, and actual prizes.
It is exciting because it promises to make the hard stuff in life more fun
How widely is it used?
Gamification is one of the fastest growing business tools.
Gartner predicts that a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay, or Amazon and more than 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application.
M2 research predicted that the gamification market will reach 2.8 billion in direct spending by 2016. (I have not yet seen those numbers verified but spending is significant)
The Google Trends graphshows gamification as one of the fastest rising search interests.
What value does it have?
Gamification is a powerful mind tool with proven outcomes
It produces better business results
It improves an ability to comprehend content
It Improves understanding in areas of study.
It Creates positive effects on people, regardless of individual and contextual differences
It increases productivity and motivation
What if I’m not competitive?
Some people claim to be non-competitive but they are most likely fooling themselves. Competitiveness is hard-wired into our make-up. The reason we avoid competition is usually lack of confidence, unwillingness to show up against superior players. It happens when the fear of failure is greater than the reward for participation or winning. But we may always choose our competitions of course.
Have you ever taken a photograph to show something you have achieved? A big fish catch, reaching a mountain peak, achieving difficult task outstanding on a winner’s podium. If so, you have exhibited a competitive behaviour.
What are the benefits?
Benefits to the business owner or operator:
Identifying new opportunities
Solving problems
Generating ideas
Identifying missing knowledge
Challenging thinking
Accelerating learning
Sharing brainpower
Understanding and adapting to change
Benefits to business
Developing effective growth strategies
Building the right business model
Identifying and mitigating risks
Setting the right goals and targets
Testing and measuring progress
What is the difference between simulation and reality?
Most business games are based on simulations of events and situations, allowing the player to try out decisions and activities to see how they might turn out in the real world.
A reality business game uses the actual business as the game piece and all activities and decisions can be carried out in the real business.
Simulations allow you to try things out in theory, reality allows you to work on your real business while playing the game.
Follow That Dream game is currently the only reality business game available. To find out more information, go to www.opusmagnum.com/follow-that-dream
©Peter messervy 2018
Peter Messervy is an international lecturer, business leadership coach and business writer.
