The seriousness inherent in business means that, apparently, they are separated from games by a total abyss, but if we consider, for example, the Professional careers wave management by competencies For HR, we will understand that gamification in the company is increasingly necessary. Of course, it is one of the many challenges faced by the Latin business culture, which is very confined in certain archaisms. We have to understand that Gamification in the company can be our ally. And, furthermore, it can be in many ways.
Gamification can be the way to fight against obsolescence in the processes in which many organisms fall. In every organization there are three major areas of improvement:
- HR.
- Relationship with clients/users.
- Quality and commitment to the final products and/or services.
Gamification in the Company: Collaborative resources and competitive resources aimed at HR
In the current framework and in the future, companies and organizations have to be increasingly competitive, that is, they not only have to be better than the competition, but also increasingly the best version of themselves. With this, they ensure short-term survival, but, above all, the “fun” of thinking, growing and creating in a future free of uncertainties.
The necessary application of gamification in the company is based on the extensive socio-economic changes of the last 5 years, which can be summarized as:
- New generational additions: From the oldest members of Generation , be familiar with their habits. An implementation with this type of profile would be smoother and very well received by workers.
- Flight of talent: The decapitalization of talent in HR is one of the main drifts that many companies suffer. Faced with this, proposing friendlier work systems that encourage collaboration or teamwork through gamification is a real solution that reduces workplace discomfort, channels talent and enhances collective intelligence.
- Non-monetary reward systems: If the company does not have the possibility of compensating the efforts of its staff with an increase in emoluments, it can always resort to social or labor recognition. Taking into account the typologies of gamer, in the case of ambitious and achievers Being able to stand out from others or the simple fact of overcoming challenges (in this case work) can be a good stimulus. Even in the case of sociable, Being able to have a sense of belonging to the community is enough to stimulate them or generate greater proactivity.
A sustainable gamification system is complex to create and must be anchored in 360º thinking in which HR managers must be involved, but also senior management, which must fully support it. When applying possible gamified systems we can structure them around:
- Management by competencies: Starting from the definition of competence:
«Aptitude: quality that makes a person suitable for a purpose,...ability and disposition to perform well...»
An important analytical process must be carried out, a reverse journey that must dismantle the company's way of thinking:
OBJECTIVES → PROCESSES INVOLVED → TASKS NECESSARY FOR THE PROCESS → SKILLS INVOLVED / KNOW HOW (KNOW-HOW TO DO) FOR EFFICIENT EXECUTION.
This means that, depending on the processes, a list of competencies or Superpowers that we have to collect as a Magic card deck to have a team like Lord of the Rings and thus have certain guarantees against battles. Having those skills that can be repeated in more than one person and the level of performance of each one will give us a roadmap of where we should reinforce with gamification, so that, if we use digital skills (knowing how to use new technologies) and we are weak in accounting management, we already know what type of profiles and knowledge we must strengthen.
Core competencies, the key to Gamification in the Company
The final analysis must involve identifying the so-called Core
general competencies or competencies, that is, youall those that are linked to a job (or family) and are non-negotiable
bles, so anyone who wants to access that position must possess it. For example, to be an airplane pilot, a core requirement would be knowing how to land or take off a plane. However, the ability to deal well with the public or having knowledge of first aid are desirable skills, but not essential.
In addition to acquisition, we can gamify the improvement in the performance of each worker.
- Job analysis: If we know the competencies and the minimum/maximum skill level for each job, our human resources become a puzzle of capabilities that, together, give us the worker optimal for a specific job vacancy.
- Individual Productivity: If we understand productivity as the virtue of doing more with less, we can quantify current performance and set future goals. In this phased process, the organization is already clear that global productivity is the sum of the individual productivity plus the interdepartmental productivity. Productivity is given by greater technology when executing tasks while using less time, resources and energy to finish with an optimal result. Quantifying and training to improve is the part that gamification can regulate and energize.
- Professional careers: The routine inherent to doing work in a corporate environment is capable of killing the most creative and proactive soul, even if they work at Google for 4,000 euros a month and only two hours a day. We must all have work goals and personal objectives, since establishing internal careers allows a person to be motivated to move up the organizational ladder. A gamified system in this case is very simple. Each phase can be overcome if we acquire new skills or raise the level of our skill or technical expertise in one we already possess. In this case, existence in the company becomes a kind of “goose game” with a clear beginning and end.
- Collaborative processes: When an organization already has more than one headquarters, department or work team, it is necessary that gamification includes games that reward and encourage teamwork. It is not just that this facet is a core competence (know how to work as a team is fundamental in any organization, family or system worth its salt), But we can also measure the degree of work empathy that the members of the organization have. It has been proven that the greater the empathy, the better the communication and the easier it is to overlap projects that involve more than one department.
In the next article and based on the methodology of the case, we will show you how to gamify a project.
