The Gamification Revolution: How Leaders Leverage Game Mechanics to Crush the Competition by Gabe Zichermann & Joselin Linder

Author:Gabe Zichermann & Joselin Linder [Zichermann, Gabe]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2013-03-27T14:00:00+00:00

Training for Meaning

The U.S. Army, L’Oréal, and Marriott all learned that games not only help tease out qualified, interested candidates but also help to deliver a meaningful understanding of the positions themselves. As Marriott, for example, expanded into foreign markets, the company immediately encountered a lack of understanding about the products it offered. For example, was a Coke supposed to be served hot or cold? What was the value of that Coke to the customers? Why did they want it? And how could the servers contextualize all of this when a Coke, at least where they came from, frequently cost more than a day’s wage?

In an article by Alexandra Guadagno for Human Resources, David Kippen, CEO of Evviva, the firm that designed My Marriott Hotel, recalled a conversation with a hotel manager in Beijing. The manager, upon hiring a new waiter, said he would watch time and again as each waiter walked to a table, hands shaking, to deliver a glass of Coke.

“His hands are shaking,” reports Kippen, “because this stuff is, in a way, liquid gold.”

By placing the serving of that Coke into a game context and attaching points to success, Marriott can create incentives and rewards for the correct behavior. For example, servers would see that the Coke is taken out of the refrigerator, poured over ice, and then casually placed on the table in front of the guest. The objective of this cross-cultural teaching and learning is to facilitate understanding and drive service standards.

While modeling simple behaviors is one thing, using games for more complex challenges, products, or business goals might seem counterintuitive. However, gamification is inspiring a similar depth of comprehension across industries, and they are improving employee performance, knowledge, and as a sidebar, satisfaction.

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