In a series of blogs I will share with you my advice to get at least 80% of your employees learning by the means of gamification. Previously, you’ve read about the different types of players, how to start a competition and how to motivate your employees. In this blog, I will share with you my last indispensable tips and tricks.

Pitfalls 

After having mentored several competitions, I’ve seen some pitfalls you’ll have to take into account. I will share them with you, of course:

• Be aware of cheaters
  Sad but true. Like in any odd competition, the learning competition is just another one in which you can cheat. In your journey to the top, you could choose to gain points without actually learning or doing something. It’s like filling in the answers of a test which you already knew beforehand. You’ll get a good grade, but you haven’t actually learned a single thing. Cheating can be prevented by making sure the prize at the end is not too big or valuable. It should of course still be fun to win, but it should definitely not be too bad to lose.
• The ‘gap’ between teams is getting too big
  It’s possible one team takes off superbly, while another team stays behind a little. If this gap gets too big and it gets impossible for one team to catch up with the others, it’s a smart move to not pay too much attention to the team totals. Reward individuals players instead, and stress the importance of individual contributions and active players.
• Being the winner does not necessarily mean having learned the most
  Every competitor will learn in his or her own way. The way you start working on whatever you wish to learn, will influence the competition. However, the amount of points you’ll bring in (or whatever it is you’ll reward) does not indicate the amount of knowledge someone gains. The competition is a means of stimulating learning, but the winner of this competition will not necessarily be the one who’s learned the most at the end.

“The winner of this competition will not necessarily be the one who’s learned the most at the end.”

As long as you’ll pay attention to the above mentioned pitfalls beforehand, I am almost sure of your success. The activation scores I have seen were most impressive. More than 80% of the employees has actively worked on his or her own learning journey and shared positive feedback as well. Down below you can find some of these positive reactions:

• The competition enables you to feel a positive social pressure: you want to show everyone you’re doing the best you possibly can.
• It serves as the big stick. The competitive element serves as a motivator.
• The competition creates a form of solidarity: ‘’I am not learning on my own, but we’re doing it together’’. We all feel the need of learning more.
• So many conversations about learning emerged. The competition was the thing to talk about that week.
• Attention was brought to learning. A positive stimulus.

Get learning to be a competition!

What are you waiting for? Do you want to challenge your company’s achievers, killers, explorers and socializers as well? Go for it!

This blog was the last one in a series of four to get your employees learning. Do you need any help organizing your own competition? With the help of New Heroes, that's going to be an easy one. The gaining of points goed automatically and is build-in. Up for a brainstorm?

Feel free to contact me through e-mail or give me a ring (+0031 73 84 49 910).