What if I told you work is fun?! Would you believe me? Children learn skills, confidence, and problem-solving through play – adults can do the same by infusing more play into our work.
Integrating play into daily operations is one way leaders can enhance engagement, motivate employees and make everyday tasks more enjoyable.
Make tasks into a game.
First, identify tasks in your day-to-day work that could be gamified - the team can help brainstorm the tasks too. Assign a simple point system eg. Responding to emails: 1 point each; Completing a report: 5 points; Resolving a client issue: 10 points each, etc.
Next, create achievement levels. Participants can achieve levels based on the points they accumulate. Each level might come with a small reward or recognition. Here’s an example:
- 100 points: Bronze Level (e.g., 1st choice of from the treat box)
- 250 points: Silver Level (e.g., foosball game with player of your choice)
- 500 points: Gold Level (e.g., rockstar parking spot for a day)
Special recognition of team members who shine while getting routine work done is a ninja technique to motivate. It doesn’t have to cost anything. How about badges or trophies that are passed on month to month. They might be for:
- “Innovator Badge” for suggesting a new process that is implemented
- “Helper Badge” for assisting a coworker with a task outside one's usual responsibilities
- “Worker Bee Badge” for hitting daily tasks consistently over a month
Nobody wants to add unnecessary tasks to their to-do list, but gamifying day-to-day work that is easily trackable and requires little reporting can help motivate your team members and help the whole organization get more done.
[Photo credit: Ellipsis Drive on Unsplash]
Lean into playful competition.
Competition within a team helps foster an environment where there is a challenge to grow their skills and performance. For example, most customer service teams use a customer satisfaction survey that asks the individual to rate their experience on a scale of 1-10. The team's leader could implement a leaderboard to track who on the team can receive the most 9s and 10s. The team's leader could even include a team reward for a set goal or average score among all team members. In this example, all team members are competing to be at the top of the leaderboard with individual results, while remaining focused on a larger team goal. This way, when individuals win, the whole team wins.
Should leaders be weary of toxic competition among team members?
If you are leading a sales team who earn commission, a leaderboard tracking the most sales, revenue, or any monetary value is likely to lead to toxic competition among team members. It will have the opposite effect on the team's work ethic, because lower performers already know they are not earning as much as others. If there is someone at the top, there is also someone at the bottom.
There is no benefit in singling out lower performers. The first question to ask when a team member is performing lower is “why” and what is the context? Is this person fresh out of college and lacks practical work experience or time management skills? Is this person someone who has been with the company for a decade and has remained stagnant or has a short term loss of motivation?
Once the first question is answered, the leader can reevaluate the best way to implement a game system that will motivate that individual. Perhaps, create a leaderboard and establish points for attending workshops for new skills, accomplishing a certain style of assignment, or engaging with another team member by shadowing that person on the job.
Gamifying tasks is not only about the rewards.
When we think of games as adults, we are quick to think of prizes for winning. Remember when we were kids and played board games for the sheer joy of playing the game? When we gamify parts of a job, it creates more joy in doing the tasks and a shared purpose for the entire group. This commonality among team members works as a driving force towards a common goal. Non-profit organizations for instance often have a goal of raising money for their cause. The team responsible for fundraising isn’t doing so for personal monetary gain or a pizza party. It’s because they’re passionate about the goal of the organization and the impact it will have. Think about the impact of the work you do on peers, clients, and the greater community. Let that help motivate you.
Gamifying tasks in the workplace offers an opportunity for team members to be acknowledged and appreciated for their contributions to the organization. Finding ways to infuse play into work can help boost motivation within a team. After all, we are all big kids!
Article collaboration with Morgan McKale.
*** If you have a story about how you used gamification to shift a team from disengaged to creative and high-functioning, I’d love to hear it! Book a call with me or send me an email.***
Carrie Tuttle is the lead coach, speaker and founder of Team Mojo, a firm that works to ignite energy and meaning into work for sales and marketing professionals.