Gamification, managers and empowerment
How JollyDeck is releasing the competitive potential that line managers harness
It may surprise you to know that the gaming industry is currently larger than the movie and music industry combined. But it does make sense. 35–44 year olds are the most enthusiastic gaming group, spending an average ~6 hours per week staring at screens, immersed in fan favourites like Candy Crush.
Having said that, did we really expect gamification to go away?
Of course we didn’t – and you shouldn’t either. Gamification is a topic our clients still ask us about often.
However, in workplace learning, rarely is the budget available to get gamification right. Often, this leads to shallow and superfluous implementations.
That’s why we decided to introduce a select variety of gaming mechanics to JollyDeck, and distribute those amongst different target audiences.
Bringing the competitiveness a step up the ladder
This means there’s tremendous opportunity sitting here no one should shy away from addressing.
There are two main opportunities when it comes to your line managers.
Firstly, they are more likely to embrace competition because they care about the teams’ results as it can directly affect them. If their team is behind on performance, it is the managers who are held responsible.
Secondly, managers are in direct contact with the employees and are the ones who are most able to support team members.
Therefore, if we can bring competitiveness to the managers, we can create a more inclusive form of competition.
How do we know it works?
It wasn’t that difficult, we simply observed the behaviour line managers have shown on JollyDeck.
They are the first to inform us if any members of their team are absent or have left.
This is because they care about their results. If one person is off on maternity leave and therefore not contributing to their teams’ performance because HR hasn’t updated user records, they let the “product” know.
What tools do line managers have to support their teams’ performance?
Most of what we’ve described lies in JollyDeck’s Team performance module in the learner’s app. Managers have holistic team reporting available, where they can drill down on the overall performance of their team members.
If a manager can see what their team members are finding easy or struggling with, then we want to give them the power to support them in the way they feel is most appropriate.
If individuals are lagging on tasks, managers can send a nudge via the app to remind them about it.
Reminders and nudges are completely automated and require almost no effort from line managers. They behave like a natural extension of the conversation within the team. Plus, the individual gets a personalised poke from their manager rather from the central function.
To further this, in Q2 of 2020, line managers will be able to assign supporting resources to their teams through the JollyDeck platform. If a manager feels that individuals need further support on certain topics, they can assign team members further content as required. All through the click of a button.