In both business and life, feeling engaged and connected gives us a sense of safety and connection, and it is essential for our well-being. Managers, please take note: engaging your employees should be a top priority. But how can you integrate engagement into everyday work?
Sparking Joy in the Workplace
Celebrations and offsite activities are great, but they're few and far and in-between. Consistent, smart communication helps, but with engagement levels dropping, it's time to rethink our approach. Enter gamification – making work feel more like play.
Playing is a natural way to learn, and it aligns with the instant gratification that younger generations expect. Games make us curious and willing to engage. Gamification activates three core motivational elements: autonomy (control over our own actions), competence (the desire to master something), and relatedness (connecting with others).
Types of motivation
Not all motivation is equal. People are either intrinsically motivated (driven by personal satisfaction) or extrinsically motivated (driven by external rewards or pressure).
Imagine Sara, a sales assistant. If she’s pressured to meet targets for a promotion, she might feel coerced. But if she’s excited about meeting those targets because it aligns with her career goals and helps her connect with colleagues, her motivation becomes intrinsic, giving her a sense of control and autonomy.
What you want to achieve is intrinsic motivation because that’s the type of motivation that makes people perform better, going above and beyond their way to make the difference.
Powering intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation thrives in environments that offer competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Positive feedback is enhanced by social environments that offer competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Cognitive evaluation theory suggests that feeling competent can be enhanced by positive feedback, communication and employee rewards, but it needs to be accompanied by a sense of autonomy. So, in our previous example, the employee feels empowered to make decisions and find her own solutions.
Types of Rewards
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Intangible Rewards: Virtual points, badges, and praise.
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Tangible Rewards: Material goods like bonuses, gift cards, and merchandise.
While financial rewards and tangible goods are still important, Gen Z places a higher emphasis on intangible rewards that contribute to their personal and professional development, recognition, and overall well-being.
Better Gamification Ideas
Single Lottery Games
A study in Harvard Business Review (HBR) showed that single-lottery games are effective, specially for low performers. Workers earn tickets for their efforts, and all tickets go into one drawing for a prize. More effort means more tickets and a higher chance of winning, making the reward feel fair and exciting.
Real-Time Feedback
Use scorecards or benchmarks help employees track their progress. This way, they can see what they've learned, where they are, and how they can improve.
Leaderboards
Leaderboards can foster healthy competition. A healthy sense of competition is important, but too much competition creates demotivated employees. Instead of only showing the top performer, feature the top 20. This way, everyone feels they have a chance to improve and go further.
Discover How Gamification Can Transform Your Team
Reach out to us – we can help you and your team win any game.
