Gamification

A new buzz word has recently appeared into the call centre management world, Gamification. Gamification  aims to transform the workplace improving worker satisfaction and call centre productivity.  What does this Gamification mean? How does it work? Is it right for your workplace?
To start with at its core Gamification rely on one fundamental fact:

“The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression”
Brian Sutton Smith, University of Pennsylvania
For McGonigal, the founder of the Gamification philosophy, playing games is no different to working. Whether we are shooting bad guys in Call of Duty to win a multiplayer game or making a sales pitch over the phone to meet sales target, we are carrying out a set of tasks to meet a goal.  She goes onto argue that both work and play are naturally stressful situations. The key difference is in stress caused does not lead to the same psychological benefit as it does when we play a video game. To make things worst the recent GenM 2013 survey (http://tinyurl.com/kfnuk48) suggest that:

“75% of workers at call centre surveyed experienced some form of emotional or interpersonal personal problem or even mental health problem.” 

Jabra, GenM Report – One Year On

This can be translated as a loss in productivity and cause significant damage to the quality of services provided. So the question lingers why do gamers get such a kick out of gaming and yet call centre workers remain so isolated and depressed despite the similarity between both task?

“When we don’t choose hard work for ourselves it’s usually not the right work and the right time, for the right person”
J. McGonical, Reality is Broken (p.29)
McGonigal argues that the principle difference between playing games and working is in the choice of the user. When we voluntarily subject ourselves to stress we openly enjoy the ‘stimulation’ of our chosen activity (this does not have to be just games think of a haunted house or a roller coaster). Gamification is about generating this kind of emotional response in our team members through a change in business culture.

At Dancing Lion we can help you design a Gamification strategy that rewards your players who accomplish the desired tasks. You can have a call or contact centre environment where people choose daily to feel  motivated and inspired to do their best.

To find out more phone: +44 (0) 1908 644791 or email steve@dancinglion.com