Not All Games Are Created Equal – Friday Distraction
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. Kronos recently partnered with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to talk absenteeism strategies on Workforce Institute Radio. Give it a listen here. Enjoy the post!)
Do you remember the term “pieces of flair”? I heard it for the first time watching the movie “Office Space”. The conversation went something like this:
Joanna (the employee): “You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?”
Stan (the manager): “Well, I thought I remembered you saying that you wanted to express yourself.”
Joanna: “You know what? I do want to express myself. And I don’t need 37 pieces of flair to do it.”
Badges (aka pieces of flair) are a common element in gamification. Badges help recognize achievements. But as today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos reminds us, gamification elements need to have a purpose.
Yes, games are fun. And concepts like gamification in the workplace can create learning, increase productivity, and yield real business results. But not every game element will produce the same result. Organizations need to thoughtfully plan their gamification strategy so they achieve the results they’re looking for – which I suspect isn’t playing a game just for the sake of playing a game.
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