How can you ensure your employees have these top 3 soft skills in 2024 and help them develop these essential skills to drive success?

Written by: Gordon Tai (Gamification Designer)

The professional world has undergone a major shift due to the global pandemic in 2021. Companies around the world have embraced rapid change, pivoting towards digitization, leading to remote work and a surge in employee upskilling. As a result, many companies are investing more in upskilling than ever before. 

As we approach 2024, the working world is preparing for another transformative phase. Generative AI is set to disrupt almost half of workers' skills in the next five years. This means it's more important than ever to have a workforce that can adapt and be resilient. The question on everyone's mind is: "What skills will define success in 2024, and how can organizations prepare?"

Infographic taken from IBM: Augmented work for an automated, AI-driven world

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The Soft Skills Imperative

Recent research by IBM, involving 3,000 leaders and 21,000 workers across 20+ countries, has shed light on the increasing demand for soft skills beyond technical expertise. These skills include time management, collaboration, and communication.

Here's how HR professionals can take action:

1. Time Management Mastery

• Offer time management workshops or seminars for employees, providing practical tips and tools to enhance their time management skills. Create a resource library with time management resources for ongoing development.

2. Cultivating Collaboration

• Implement cross-functional team projects that require collaboration. Encourage team members to share their experiences and best practices in collaborative settings. Create a collaborative workspace to foster teamwork.

3. Effective Communication

• Offer communication training programs emphasizing active listening, clear speaking, and conflict resolution. Foster frequent team meetings to enhance departmental communication.

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ThinkAdapt Business Simulation

A Unified Solution: ThinkAdapt by ThinkCodex

To bridge the gap between recognising the importance of soft skills and effectively fostering them within your organisation, we introduce ThinkAdapt by ThinkCodex.

ThinkAdapt functions as both a teambuilding simulation and crisis management theories. Teams engage in an adrenaline-charged environment, where they:

• Master Time Management

• Prioritise Collaboration

• Emphasise Communication

By deploying ThinkAdapt, HR professionals can reinforce the soft skills development journey within their organisations. It's a real-world solution that mirrors the challenges businesses face today.

We've successfully partnered with esteemed clients such as Nestle, AIA, and Sumitomo-Mitsui Banking Corporation, witnessing firsthand how ThinkAdapt equips professionals with the essential skills needed to thrive in the ever-evolving professional landscape.

Testimonials from our learners

As we head towards 2024, HR professionals need to focus on developing soft skills such as time management, collaboration, and communication. ThinkAdapt simulation by Think Codex can help prepare your team for the challenges of tomorrow!

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Are You Ignoring the Key to L&D Success? The Importance of Employee Feedback

Written by: Aaron Leong

Every Learning and Development (L&D) team’s dream is to have committed and competent employees, the vehicle that drives an organization’s growth and profit in an ever-growing business landscape. It falls to the L&D teams in organizations, small and large, to develop and retain talents with the appropriate skills and attitude, yet this challenge has only increased following the pandemic. With the changes in employee expectations, more so with Generation Z entering the workforce, it is far too easy for managers to take on a reactive mindset and prematurely conclude that employee attitude or work ethic has deteriorated.

As part of the L&D community, we are responsible for aligning employee career goals with company goals, so we must take a proactive mindset in understanding what underlies this phenomenon, and one such approach is through employee feedback.

Co-workers engaging in discussion

This article will first propose 4 ways an organisation’s L&D could benefit from listening to and acting on employee feedback. Next, we explain how employee feedback is inherently tied to the most essential elements of human motivation, which then predicts employee performance and retention.

WHAT ARE THE 4 WAYS?

1. Employee feedback gives you a clear picture of the skills or support that is currently missing in the team and, consequently, what type of support or training the team needs. With the increasing complexity of the technology and problems to solve, the plethora of platforms or business tools make it challenging for L&D to accurately identify the most relevant and appropriate for their company within budget and time constraints. Prior to adopting any new tool or introducing any new training programme, L&D needs to have a clear and accurate understanding of the challenges or roadblocks currently faced by employees. As such, employee feedback would highlight said issues, allowing the L&D team to accurately identify the relevant skills required by the employees. For example, employees could be stagnant in their careers and might benefit from a more structured way of brainstorming or strategic planning, but if you manage to identify that the employees already have excellent ideas, it is possible that their struggle lies with communicating their ideas in a clear and convincing manner. Since the L&D’s role is to ensure that employees are equipped to achieve the results that are expected of their position, employee feedback could shed light on the optimal way to use the company’s resources to grow the team.

1 to 1 feedback with your manager often helps

2. Furthermore, use employee feedback to ensure that the organizational and departmental policies remain effective and efficient in the current times. As organizations grow in reputation and teams grow in confidence and expertise, the tendency to become more homogeneous and rigid increases. This means that people are more susceptible to groupthink and struggle with divergent thinking, an important aspect of creative problem-solving and critical thinking. Moreover, sometimes our standard procedures or best practices might no longer be effective or efficient. Employee feedback would then be an important data-gathering process in obtaining diverse, and even dissenting, opinions. Clarity on what still works and what requires improvement shields the team from groupthink and prepares the company for future challenges before they occur.

3. Additionally, it will ensure that the policies and processes in the organization are employee-centric, that is, the company’s vision is aligned with employees’ day-to-day work. Employees are more engaged and productive when their work and how they are treated at work are consistent and aligned with the organization’s vision and mission. For example, it would be hard-pressed for employees to think innovate and problem-solve in a culture that rewards rigid adherence to potentially outdated best practices. Rules and systems were created by people with specific purposes. Employees, the very people whom the vision and mission are meant to guide, would give you the most accurate feedback on whether the systems in place are achieving the purpose they are supposed to.

4. A subtle, and less direct, effect of active listening and acting on employee feedback is forming a culture of learning. As L&D, we act as models and examples to employees in terms of how to behave and act at work. By demonstrating that we are open to upward feedback and constructive criticism, we establish a safe environment for sharing ideas and experiences, an environment that emphasizes self-improvement and encourages humility, creating a space to have difficult conversations. A learning culture encourages employees to be transparent about their mistakes or struggles, which are important predictors of eliminating mistakes in the future. A learning culture promotes collaboration and learning from one’s peers and mentors, resulting in growth in productivity and innovation. Conversely, a culture that prioritizes performance undermines psychological safety, encouraging employees to be guarded and always on the lookout for their own performance and career. In conclusion, a culture that practices upward feedback values improving ourselves instead of proving ourselves.

Human Motivation

The aforementioned advantages of feedback in L&D touch on three important elements of human motivation. Based on the Self-Determination Theory, humans are highly motivated and demonstrate quality performance in an environment that encourages autonomy, foster relatedness, and grows their competence. By providing the most relevant support and training, we increase employees’ competency, allowing them to excel in their work career development. By designing employee-centric policies, we encourage employees to practice their autonomy as their feedback and engagement with the L&D could improve their work conditions and have an impact on the organization. Employees would then feel that they are part of the company as opposed to feeling like a replaceable cog in a machine, encouraging them to take ownership of their careers and increase their commitment. 

Example of Self Determination Theory

CONCLUSION

It is easy to forget that employees are one of the stakeholders in the organization. What is an organization without the people or the processes (created by said people) in it? As with any other stakeholders, you need to understand their needs and involve them in decision-making processes. As such, employee feedback is vital in developing the ideal team in any organization.

Let us know what are your thoughts on this in the comment below and if you enjoy reading our articles, do join our community to get latest insights on gamification and L&D.

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5 Methodology Models to Measure the Effectiveness of Trainings: A Comprehensive Guide

Written by: Andrew Lau (CEO of Think Codex)

As companies invest more in Learning and Development (L&D) programs to help employees acquire new skills and stay competitive, measuring the success of these programs becomes increasingly important. In this article, we'll explore different methodology models that L&D professionals can implement and the critical metrics they need to measure to demonstrate the value of their programs. We start off by examining the most widely used learning effectiveness model – Kirkpatrick Model and then comparing other models against it. 

Kirkpatrick Model by Donald Kirkpatrick

The Kirkpatrick Model is one of the most commonly used methodology models in L&D. Developed by Donald Kirkpatrick in the 1950s, this model has four levels of evaluation:

L1 Reaction: This level measures how learners feel about the training program.

L2 Learning: This level measures how much learners have learned from the program.

L3 Behaviour: This level measures whether learners have changed their behavior due to the program.

L4 Results: This level measures the impact of the program on the organization's results.

The Kirkpatrick Model is a valuable framework for evaluating the effectiveness of L&D programs. However, it's important to note that the levels are hierarchical, and each level builds on the previous one. For example, learners are less likely to learn from the program if they don't react positively to the program. They are less likely to change their behavior if they don't learn from it. And if they don't change their behavior, the program is less likely to positively impact the organization's results.

Comparative Methodology Models

In addition to the Kirkpatrick Model, there are other methodology models that L&D professionals can implement to evaluate their programs:

Phillips Model by Jack Phillips

This model takes a step further by not just measuring Levels 1 to 4 which is similar to the Kirkpatrick Model but has a Level 5 measuring the return on investment (ROI) of the training program. The Level 5 ROI measurement uses data from L2 Learning, L3 Behaviour & L4 Results to create a model for finding out what monetary returns the organization is actually getting back from the training dollars spent.

L1 – L4: Following Kirkpatrick Model
L5: Return on Investment

In the form of calculation,

ROI (%) = (Net benefits of the training program / Total program cost)  x 100

In the end, the Level 5 calculation comes up with a percentage (%) of ROI. While this is something that is indeed good to measure, there remain a number of challenges in implementing Level 5. Among them:

1. High cost of effort to measure L5 – it takes extensive data collection and working with a number of stakeholders to get accurate data.

2. Delayed Results – as a lot of effort is required, the results of L5 can often be delayed beyond the expected timelines of evaluation by stakeholders.

3. Accuracy of measurement – while calculating, there are a number of assumptions made to put both tangible and intangible factors in focus. Some of these are subjective and up to interpretations depending on stakeholders. It’s important to note that this challenge appears in L4 of the Kirkpatrick & Phillips model to a lesser extent.

4. Ideal but not pragmatic – while it’s great to have these measurements, very few training programs warrant L5 measurements. Jack Phillips himself noted that only 5-10% of training programs require measurements at L5. 

5. Lack of data or cooperation from the customer – sometimes a customer just does not have the data required to make a L5 measurement as not all companies track the data of their operations. In the absence of such data, it is often a painstaking process of creating new data sets which can require additional work for stakeholders – which leads to resistance from them.

Brinkerhoff Model by Robert Brinkerhoff

This model is also known as Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Model (SCM) which emphasizes the importance of post-training support and reinforcement to ensure that learners apply what they have learned. Brinkerhoff states that traditional evaluation models such as Kirkpatrick & Phillips models were wrong to just focus on assessing the scope of a training’s effect. He says that the true measure of business results is from performance. SCM is not concerned about finding the average performance of training participants (Kirkpatrick & Phillips Models), but focuses on looking for extreme examples on both ends of measurements.

As such this model measures the performance of the most successful participants and the least successful participants as use cases to understand how well did a learning program perform. The model looks at contrasts or extremes from both ends by seeking to understand 2 important areas:

1. In a best-case scenario, how well did a program perform? This is derived from analyzing participants who show the most increase in performance after a training program.

2. In a worst-case scenario, how badly did the program perform? This is derived from analyzing participants who may show the least or no increase in performance after a training program.

Brikenhorff Model

How this model differs from Kirkpatrick & Phillips models is that it requires a few things:

• The development of an Impact Model – the definition of what success looks like.

• Creating a Success Case Study.

• Creating & implementing surveys that can identify best-case and worst-case scenarios.

• Conducting interviews.

• Documenting successful cases.

• Drawing insights, summarizing conclusions, and providing recommendations to stakeholders. 

Kaufman Model by Roger Kaufman

This model is based on Kirkpatrick’s model and seeks to improve on it by looking at measurements at a detailed level (L1a and L1b) and big picture level (L5). It’s broken into 5 levels – though if counted, there are actually 6 levels.

• L1a Input: This level covers training materials.

• L1b Process: This level covers the delivery of the learning process.

• L2 Acquisition (Micro): Individual & small group payoffs. Did the learner “acquire” the learning?

• L3 Application (Micro): How well the participants utilize what they have learned on the job.

• L4 Organizational Results (Macro): Organizational level payoffs – business results.

• L5 Customer / Societal Results (Mega): Customers & Society payoffs – the 2 major stakeholders that an organization serves.

Here are some key differences in the Kaufman Model:

1. Group ‘clients’ into Micro (Individual & Small Group), Macro (Organization), and Mega (Customers & Society). This is found in L2, L3, L4 & L5.

2. Divides Kirkpatrick’s Level 1 (Reaction) into Kaufman L1a (Input) & L1b (Process).

3. Introduces a new Level 5 (Customer & Societal Results) which looks at a much broader picture.

So what are the pros of the Kaufman model? Firstly the split in Kirkpatrick’s L1 (Reaction) breaks down the experience into 2 Kaufman factors – supporting materials (L1a Input) and delivery (L1b Process). This helps to isolate the issues of experience by looking at the quality of materials or the quality of delivery.

What are the cons of the Kaufman model? While aspirational and good from a high-level view, trying to measure customer & societal payoffs (L5) require extensive effort, time, and budget. There’s also a high level of ambiguity as there are too many factors at play when we talk especially about customer & societal impacts. In fact, by measuring at L5, it’s hard to isolate these impact factors. This goes against Kaufman’s original intent in where else the goal in L1a & L1b was to isolate factors.

So on one hand, the goal was to improve on Kirkpatrick’s model by isolation (L1a & L1b), L5 instead went against the same goal of isolation, thus giving conflicting views on the Kaufman Model.

Where does Gamification Fit Into all these Models?

Firstly, what is gamification? Gamification is the use of game phycology & game mechanics in non-game environments while achieving non-game outcomes. Such a use case is Learning & Development.

Coming back to learning evaluation models, at the core – most models measure 4 things:

• Experience – What was the experience like?

• Learning – What did the person learn?

• Behaviour – Is there a change in behavior at work?

• Results – What individual, team, or business outcomes can be seen?

Gamification’s methodology itself is not an evaluation model but instead is considered one of the most effective ways to drive impact at the levels of Experience, Learning & Behaviour which ultimately leads to Outcome. Let’s break it down to how gamification does that.

• Experience – a great experience comes from the right type of engagement. Gamification and game-based learning use the methodology Creation (Ideation & Experimentation) as opposed to just Consumption (Information Download) found in most learning methodologies.

• Learning – the most important learning comes from not just the acquisition of the knowledge but rather the application of the knowledge. The application of knowledge is typically where challenges and problems will appear. As such, it’s critical that application can happen within the learning session itself. Game-based learning methodologies such as Business Simulations (emphasis on Business) allow participants immediate application & feedback. Coupled with debriefs that tie it back to organizational context, learning becomes highly effective.

• Behaviour – one of the challenges of getting a learner to change their current behaviors is their current habits. Often what is learned is forgotten or replaced with resistance to old habits. Gamification’s iterative and habit-looping techniques get the learner to learn new & better habits which are then overlaid on top of old habits. When learners are back at work, they then begin to practice what they learn from the new habits.

Results – a changed behavior comes down to 3 factors:

1. The ability to retain the knowledge learned

2. The retrieval of new habits

3. The confidence to try out what was learned.

The confidence factor comes from the retention of knowledge and retrieval of new habits. If a learner can remember what they learned and also act out what they learned, then there is confidence to behave in a new way – which then leads to business results.

How to Choose the Right Model

1. Do you have data in place for measurements? If you know where the data is, then a number of models might work.

2. Do you want to create new data sets for measurements? This can often be a complex and long process.

3. Do you have the cooperation of the different stakeholders? Measurements not only require input from the HR professional but stakeholders from the business. Many often have no

4. Do you understand the different models? Do you know what is measurement required and how success is defined in each of the models and how it will fit into your organization?

5. Does the effort required makes it worth getting the results? In essence, this is a cost-benefit analysis. Is the results worth the trouble of going through the measurements – some of which require extensive effort.

Using Different Models For Different Learning Programmes

Should we use different models to measure different training programs? From an outcome perspective, this is ideal. From a practical perspective, the costs may far outweigh the benefit. Our recommendation is using different models should be determined by:

1. What type of results do you really need?

2. What type of effort are you willing to put in?

3. What type of monetary cost are you willing to invest?

4. What type of support do you have in the organization?

5. What level of expertise do you or your vendor have on the different models?

Why Measure L&D Metrics?

Before delving into the different methods for measuring L&D metrics, it's important to understand why it's necessary. Here are some key reasons:

• Measuring L&D metrics helps organizations understand the effectiveness of their training programs and identify areas where improvement is needed.

• By measuring the ROI of L&D initiatives, organizations can justify the investment in these programs and secure funding for future initiatives.

• Improve employee engagement which can lead to increased productivity and reduced turnover.

• Increase employee performance because when they have the skills and knowledge they need to do their jobs well, they are more likely to perform better.

Measuring the effectiveness of L&D programs is crucial to ensure that they are achieving their intended goals. By using key metrics and frameworks such as the Kirkpatrick Model, organizations can get a better understanding of the impact of their L&D programs. Subscribe to Think Codex's content and explore our other resources to learn how to measure their effectiveness and achieve your goals using frameworks like the Kirkpatrick Model.

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Dealing With The Aftermath Of 2020 (Part 1)

Written by: Kerry Wong

It has only been a little over six months since the year started, but 2020 has exceeded all reasonable expectations. Continuing from 2019, the devastating Australian wildfire was the first large scale crisis of 2020 that dominated the world's attention. Shortly after that, WHO officially declared Covid-19 as a pandemic and countries began implementing various forms of lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus.

 The magnitude and speed of collapse in activity subsequently caused the world economy to suffer, and both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have since issued statements that the world is facing its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s. There has also been a movement against police brutality and discrimination across the globe. Honestly, it feels like 2020 is an insanely tricky hidden level I stumbled upon in a game, with boss characters popping up one after another and I am neither equipped nor prepared.

 In this article, I want to explore the impact of the recent events on millennials and Gen Z as consumers through my perspective as a millennial.

Economic Downturn and Change in Spending Behaviour

As the world is collectively suffering a severe recession, the global unemployment rate has soared within the past few months. Accounting for a third of the workforce and falling within the younger end of the spectrum, millennials and some GenZs are, unfortunately, the disproportionate holders of the kind of positions disappearing the fastest. On top of that, as most millennials began entering the workforce around the time of the previous financial crisis, most were unable to accumulate wealth and gain the financial security the previous generations enjoyed. As job security is uncertain, millennials are now more likely than ever to be careful with their spending. While they are known to be willing to splurge more on conveniences and comfort, non-vital or impulse purchases should significantly reduce as priority will be focused on surviving and prepping for the unknown.

However, that does not mean that they would entirely give up on all conveniences and comfort. Besides deciding whether a purchase is necessary and the price is justified, millennials and GenZs will likely be more selective with who they decide to do business with as well, especially if there are similar products with similar price points from multiple companies. According to the 2019 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey, millennials and GenZs tend to speak with their wallets. They are willing to start and stop relationships with a business for very personal reasons. The figure below shows some of the reasons why they have started or ended a business relationship.

Source: Figure 9 – Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019

As storytelling is becoming more prevalent and used to engage consumers, a product or service is no longer seen as a standalone offering, and younger consumers are now considering all aspects of the company. They understand that if they want companies to change, the best way to do so would be to stop their relationship and hit the companies where it hurts the most, their bottom-line, as continuous buying would only reward the behaviour and perpetuate the situation.

Heightened Sense Of Responsibility Towards The Environment And Society

As can be seen in the figure below, the top personal concerns for both Millennials and Gen Zs is climate change and protecting the environment. With the loss of more than a billion individual animals and thousands of native flora during the Australian wildfire and the heart-breaking imagery and videos shared across the internet, millennials and GenZs are likely to be more concerned about the environment than ever. It is also not comforting that we seem to come across more record-breaking climate phenomena every year, such as "Hottest-Ever Year for The Planet's Atmosphere" or "UK's Wettest February On Record Since 1862".

Source: Figure 2 – Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019

In a survey conducted by YPulse pre-pandemic, 54% of the respondents said that they regularly worry about climate change and 67% of them said that they had already changed some of their behaviours because of it. Even as the pandemic and quarantine are ongoing, young activists are bringing climate strikes and protests online, and many are still having discussions about it. They obviously will not be forgetting about it anytime soon, even in a post-pandemic world.

 Besides climate change, millennials also believe that businesses have a responsibility to improve the livelihood of their employees and improve society, on top of running the actual business. The figure below provides some statistics on how millennials perceive companies. As we have observed how the tragic death of George Floyd has sparked a global movement against police brutality and social injustices, it shows that not only are millennials and GenZs active and vocal about issues directly impacting them, but they are also willing to engage on behalf of people who cannot do so for themselves. Growing up with the internet, millennials and GenZs have had access to different viewpoints, cultures, and resources from a much younger age, which have allowed them to be more fluid in the way they perceive the world.

Source: Figure 4 – Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019

What Should Businesses Do?

First off, it would be a good exercise for a company to evaluate their values, internal processes and see whether it aligns with the priorities of millennial and GenZs. Assuming that a company have evaluated their values and internal processes and made any necessary updates or changes, the next step would be for the company to communicate it to the public. At this stage, companies can incorporate some gamification to engage the consumer further and motivate them to select their company over their competitors.

The 2 core drives of gamification I would be touching on would be Epic Meaning & Calling and Social Influence & Relatedness. Epic Meaning & Callingis the Core Drive where a person believes that they are doing something greater than themselves or they were "chosen" to do something; while Social Influence & Relatednessis the Core Drive that incorporates all the social elements that drive people such as mentorship, acceptance, social responses, companionship, as well as competition and envy.

 An example of a business that has incorporated both core drives in their brand is Body Shop. By announcing and promoting their various endeavours such as their "Forever Against Animal Testing" campaign and "Community Trade", their commitment to trade fairly with suppliers and ethically source ingredients, they have essentially attached a world mission, an epic calling, to their products. In an industry where these are common issues, which some people are genuinely against and concerned about, the idea that buying your skincare products from Body Shop will help support the community is extremely motivating.

 Besides that, as social creatures, we are very much influenced by what our peers feel and think about us. When we perceive a behaviour to be a widely accepted social norm, we tend to have a stronger urge to do the same as we want to be part of it. Referring back to Body Shop, if more people around you start using the products, and talking about the causes and impact it has on society, it will create a compelling situation that will motivate you to look into the brand as well.

 However, with that said, while gamification can assist with getting a consumer engaged and more motivated to check out your brand, if your product is of bad quality or you were not transparent and honest, millennials and GenZs will call the bluff and walk away. Companies need to walk the talk.

 Stay tuned for my next article as I will be exploring the impact of the recent events on millennials and Gen Z as employees.

References

 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/deloitte-2019-millennial-survey.pdf

https://www.ypulse.com/article/2020/04/22/climate-change-will-still-matter-to-gen-z-millennials-heres-how-we-know/

https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/a-new-study-of-150000-millennials-revealed-that-they-have-these-10-surprising-things-in-common.html

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/ankurmodi/2019/12/26/the-untold-side-of-remote-working-isolation-and-lack-of-career-progression/#3a7b3f0e68c7

The Realities of Remote Working during a Pandemic.

Written by: Bryan Woo

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, several governments across the globe have implemented some form of quarantine order in their respective countries, to minimize the spread of the disease. Malaysia is no different, as our government has issued a Movement Control Order (MCO), reinforcing stringent social distancing amongst its citizens in order to cope with this pandemic.

As a result, many organizations have no choice but to adopt compulsory remote working into their work culture. To say that this change in working style and environment has been disruptive would be an understatement, as many employees have their fair share of struggles balancing between work and home commitments, all while in the confines of their own homes. 

 At the time of writing, we are well over 3 months since the MCO has been implemented. Throughout this period, we have been receiving requests from clients of various backgrounds on solutions that may help their employees cope with their new working environments. 

With that being said, let’s take a look at some areas that will heavily be impacted by long-term, compulsory remote working and what can be done to help individuals better adjust:

Productivity & Engagement

Workplace productivity typically describes the amount of work your staff can do within a certain number of hours or amount of labor cost. Most established organizations would have set up ways to measure and track productivity in their workforce, including staff who primarily work remotely. Furthermore, it is important that these measures are implemented in a manner that is within an atmosphere of trust and let employees feel that they are not being spied upon.

Unfortunately, even the most sophisticated measures can still be challenged by an ongoing pandemic, causing many organizations to be concerned with maintaining productivity as well as employee engagement. As the lines between work and non-work hours begin to blur, many firms will be at substantial risk of long term employee burnout. Research has shown that employees will feel that they are compelled to always be responsive to work-related duties, even if it is not urgent (1). This may be further amplified due to ongoing worries over COVID-19.

With that being said, our team at Think Codex has identified key areas of productivity that play a crucial role in keeping employees engaged with their work while not sidelining their mental and physical wellbeing: Clarity, Routine, Focus and Wellness. 

i) Clarity

When people are unclear, time and effort are wasted. Ask yourselves, are you able to set clear goals with your team? Are these goals being measured and to what extent? Daily? Weekly? And lastly, what is being done to keep employees accountable and transparent to their goals?

Having a system that states what is expected of employees on a daily or weekly basis will ensure that goals are being measured in a clear and concise manner. 

ii) Routine 

Clear routine gives a sense of purpose as a motivator so that employees understand what their objectives are for the day. Furthermore, this helps them better plan out their workdays and set clear distinctions between hours dedicated to work commitments and hours solely for rest and family. 

Granted, it will take some time for many individuals to ease into a routine, especially those with demanding family responsibilities. That is why a strong support system must be made available to help these individuals settle into their new routines with minimal complications.

iii) Focus

People who are not focused end up spending their time doing anything but their most important work. Hence, it is important that boundaries are set in place to minimize distractions. It can be as simple as setting up physical boundaries such as dedicating a room or a spot at home solely for work purposes and nothing more.

Aside from this, organizing work based on priority will allow individuals to accomplish their most important tasks in an order that best fits their schedule. 

iv) Wellness

It has become increasingly common for many organizations to prioritize employee welfare, thus implementing healthy workplace practices to help foster a culture of wellness. Unfortunately, in the case of remote working, this can sometimes be often overlooked mostly due to distance and a lack of visibility amongst employees.

That is why it is crucial for employers to encourage a culture of support, where employees are able to rely upon and communicate with one another when needed as well as emphasizing the importance of self-care practices. After all, good work is associated with better physical and mental health, and even less absenteeism. 

Team Dynamics & Collaboration

In any work setting where shared goals are the norm, team dynamics can either make or break an organization. Because each member is reliant on each other for success, it is imperative that clear communication as well as equal participation are present in a team, so that a culture of collaboration can be fostered.

However, employees who belong in full-time remote teams may struggle as they rarely meet up in person, yet often work on multiple shared projects together. Furthermore, efforts to collaborate within remote teams are often subjected to virtual distance, in which an over-reliance on smart, digital devices to communicate may lead to teams disconnecting (2).

With all this in mind, we can see that there are two main factors at play in shaping effective remote working teams: Communication and Team Identity.

i) Communication

Workplace communication is an uncommon challenge in many organizations, more so in the case of remote working. Any team that lacks effective communication will hinder efforts to achieve collaboration and productivity. Fortunately, there are some best practices that we can refer to, in order to minimize poor communication.

Firstly, it is highly recommended to establish communication norms by being explicit about how your team should communicate. Doing so will not only remove the ambiguity that so often surrounds workplace communication, it also provides a helpful guide on how team members are expected to interact with each other. Aside from this, organizations can even take a step further by incorporating virtual “water cooler” sessions by allowing team members to dedicate time to talk about non-work related matters. These can include things about their interests or even to check up on one another.

Aside from this, remote teams will benefit from identifying mediums/tools to best promote communication and collaboration. Not only will it provide an outline of what kind of messages should be sent through which mediums (e.g. emails, WhatsApp, etc.) , but also prevent team members from being bombarded and overwhelmed by multiple work messages from too many channels.

Lastly, organizations can also look into channels that reduce a sense of distance among team members, such as switching remote communication to regular video calls, which may be better for establishing rapport and creating empathy.

ii) Team Identity

When people feel a sense of community, they are more comfortable reaching out to others and more likely to share knowledge. Hence, team members who share a strong team identity will encourage a culture of trust and support among its members.

The first step to achieving a strong team identity is to clearly define and establish a shared goal. This can be done by clearly defining their goals, timeline as well as the level of authority among team members in relation to a project. Doing so will encourage a sense of unity as well as the accountability that will help push teams to succeed. This will also make developing processes to help team members keep each other in check much easier. 

Naturally, having a strong team identity can encourage more collaboration among team members through idea sharing and brainstorming to accomplish a common goal, providing everyone an avenue to equally participate. Furthermore, this will provide an avenue for employees to build relationships, communicate well and resolve conflicts creatively, which can have a major impact on team collaboration. 

As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, many organizations are forced to be agile in order to create opportunities during this time of uncertainty. We at Think Codex are no different. In fact, our newly developed gamified digital programs are created with the sole purpose of helping organizations address the challenges presented in this article. If you find this relevant to your organization, please contact us at contact@thinkcodex.com.

We look forward to working with you and helping your organization overcome whatever challenges this pandemic might bring to your workforce. 

 References:

1.    https://hbr.org/2020/04/3-tips-to-avoid-wfh-burnout

2.    https://virtualdistance.com/

If COVID-19 is A Game

Written by: Gabriel Goh

Before you start reading, imagine yourselves in the future. The concept written here is hypothetical.   

Time Travel 

 In 2047, Covid-19 has simmered down and as many real-life epidemics and tragic incidents, games are created based on the real events that happened in the past so that people could learn from these incidents even though they do not live through them. In 2047, there is ONE online game that always remains #1 on the Top 10 Games Chart since the first day it was published.   

The game would be known as “Pandemic – COVID19”.  

This would a cooperative game that requires players to work cooperatively to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In this game, each player will be given a region of their own to manage. To win the game, they will need to discover a cure in getting rid of COVID-19, while minimising loss of life and maintaining citizens' well-being in their respective regions.

Now, let us dive in and see how this game would be the number one game, hypothetically. You might think it’s the game mechanics that will be making it a top seller. You’re partially correct, but what would play a bigger role are the core drives that are being implemented in the game.

What is core drive? According to Yu Kai Chou’s Octalysis framework, 8 core drives motivates human behaviours. They are the “why” that makes us perform certain actions. In this game, you will discover 3 core drives, namely Loss & Avoidance, Social Influence & Relatedness and Empowerment. 

Core Drive 8 – Loss & Avoidance 

This is the drive where people are motivated through the fear of losing something or having undesirable events transpire. This core drive is intended to motivate players to keep playing the game.

Source: Loss & Avoidance Design: Ultimate Loss vs Executable Loss by Yu-Kai Chou

In this game, COVID-19 (the antagonist) is contagious and it spreads rapidly from one person to another. It will demands the players to constantly log in to the game so that they could perform in-game actions to ensure the citizens in their regions are safe. Other than COVID-19, players would also need to manage social issues such as groceries hoarding and rebellious citizens. 

 If they don’t return to the game, they will lose when the impact of COVID-19 is accumulated and becomes out of control. These incidents might intrinsically motivate the players, compelling them to proactively be involved in the game to avoid these negative outcomes. 

Core Drive 5 – Social Influence & Relatedness

This core drive incorporates all the social elements in driving people, including competition, companionship and so on. As humans are social animals, this core drive works well by tapping into our desires to connect and compare with one another. 

In the game, there will be a real-time tracker that shows the number of infected citizens and the last thing players want is to see their regions appear on the top of the tracker. Due to social pressure, they are to invest more time and effort in making sure they are off the tracker. 

Alternatively, the tracker is also be used to motivate the players to offer help. As humans are empathetic creatures, they are naturally driven to support those who are struggling to perform well in the game based on the tracker. 

Besides that, there is also a forum where players could exchange tips on how they manage their regions with one another. At this point, they could receive different forms of help to eradicate the disease that could not be achieved on their own. Players are less likely to lose interest once a sense of community is achieved in this game. 

Source: Detroit Institute of Arts

Core Drive 3 – Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback 

This core drive emphasises on “play”. Players who are driven by this core drive tend to be creative and always experiment with new ideas through trial and error. 

This game will allow room for creativity as players get to bring their imaginations to life. Players get to be creative in coming up with different rules & regulations to keep their regions safe from social issues and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, they will have the chance to invent and experiment with a variety of technologies in discovering a cure for the virus. 

However, how will they know their actions are effective? Fortunately, a comprehensive feedback mechanism is designed in the game to answer this question. With the feedback mechanism, players will be constantly driven in coming up with improvisations to replace methods that don’t work based on the information derived from the real-time tracker, citizen panic level, region status and other indicators! 

This will be a great game as it taps into players’ innate desire to create and affect the environment around them through their imaginations.

Source: Why Giving Feedback Matters by Lucidchart

Conclusion 

What keeps the players engaged in the game isn’t really all about the game mechanics, but the core drives underlying them. This game serves as an example on how designers utilise the power of gamification to keep players engaged all the time.  

 Will you give this game a try? 

Flow In Learning Gamification

Written by: Edward Teoh

Minute upon minute, and hour upon hour, the undiscerning video gamer lost track of all sense of time, hunger, thirst and fatigue. It is already midnight, his face lit only by the morphing screen in a dark room, yet nothing else in the world seemed to matter to him.

Fascinated by the way artists lose themselves at work– their singular focus at producing art, how both brushstroke and painter merge as one, and how they lose the perception of time; Mihály Csíkszentmihályi coined the term ‘Flow’ in 1975. Flow is often described as a state of hyper-focus, when one is fully immersed in performing a task at hand. The Flow state is achieved when both the ‘skill level’ and ‘challenge level’ of a task is matched (at a high level).

Source: The Experience Fluctuation Model by Massimini, Csíkszentmihályi and Carli (1987)

Games are a powerful medium through which the flow state has been induced successfully without fail, for millennia. The sweet-spot of converging the ‘challenge level’ of the game with the player’s ‘skill level’ is continually achieved through the “scaffolding” phase– where the game difficulty is ever-marginally increased to match the player’s improved skill levels. The neurochemistry at work in our brain’s hardwiring makes us indefensible towards the highly addictive elements of operating under game-like environments.

We have come a long way in our ability to create fun and addictive games, helping people tap into the Flow state. This led to the intuition and realisation that we could harness the power of games, and “gamify” other areas that matter to us as a society. Gamification has in recent years experienced an exponential rate of adoption in various areas, as people can now be self-motivated (in the Flow state) to perform certain actions to achieve desired outcomes– an ‘autotelic’ response.

One area of gamification that has gained traction can be found in the corporate training and the learning & development area. Various gamified learning solutions were designed to simulate the real workplace and business situations, to allow both business leaders and team members to learn experientially through gamification. These gamified learning solutions temporarily extract workers from their day-to-day work environments, and allow the participants to play, test out ideas and put into practice newly learnt theories. This playground of sorts allows participants to play without fear or restrain, as the simulation mitigates the risks incurred by making mistakes and nullifies the opportunity cost of making wrong decisions.

By gamifying learning and development in business, the participants/learners can continually improve on their soft skills and technical skills. Gamified learning solutions serve as a medium that allows them to tap into the Flow state by arriving at the sweet-spot– by converging the ‘challenge level’ of the game with the participants’ prevailing ‘skill level’. The solutions can also be designed to simulate a marginally tougher and more challenging business environment, causing the participants to progressively learn and pick up more sophisticated skills.

Source: The Experience Fluctuation Model by Massimini, Csíkszentmihályi and Carli (1987)

Participants usually begin with an emotional state of ‘Worry’ when they are introduced to the gameplay in a learning simulation. At this stage, guidance is required to teach participants how to play through a series of demo rounds. Throughout the gameplay, participants will increase their level of mastery through course correction and iteration. The simulation difficulty can then be increased in tandem, so that participants move on to higher experiences of ‘Anxiety’, ‘Arousal’, and lastly, ‘Flow’.

Under the Flow state, participants will be hyper-focused to learn and tackle challenges in various areas of business, such as strategic thinking, problem-solving, sales and marketing, culture and others. This is a highly valuable state where learners become self-motivated to learn. With each successive round comes the opportunity for participants who are “in the zone” will reiterate, tweak and perform ideal business practices and make decisions. This warrants the transferability of learnings from within the simulation, into the real workplace.

After all, what is the point of putting valuable people through endless training and wasting countless manhours, without seeing actual and measurable business results? As the business mogul, Mary Kay Ash once said “A company is only as good as the people it keeps”, the following may also be true– “A company is only as good as its investment in people is”.

Our New Gamified Learning Solutions!

Our team has been hard at work in 2019 coming up with new gamified solutions for corporate training in subject matters such as Performance Management and Business Acumen which are vital for an organisation.

Below are the details of our new offerings:

THINKCRUCIAL
Performance Management Simulation

THINKCRUCIAL is set in the smartphone industry where each team’s goal is to develop the best smartphone in the market by managing performance through effective coaching methods. This is a competitive simulation where participants are placed in teams where they compete with each other to be the best smartphone manufacturers in the market.

In THINKCRUCIAL, participants learn emotional awareness in order to maintain employee well-being before, during & after the performance management process by utilising the Emotional Intelligence Model

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THINKDISRUPT
BUSINESS ACUMEN & FINANCIAL MODELLING SIMULATION

THINKDISRUPT is a competitive simulation where teams are split into 2 categories: big corporates and disruptors, which are then pit against each other to develop and grow their respective businesses and manage their financial health while navigating through an ever changing environment.

In THINKDISRUPT, participants are able to analyse and understand financial statements, effectively evaluate the financial impact of business decisions, understand the key elements of Business Acumen, including 
strategy, financial, marketing and sales, operations, and people management.

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We strive to produce world-class gamified learning solutions to empower businesses and organisations across the region as we continue to bring gamification toe the forefront in corporate training.

Head over the Contact Us page to schedule a chat with us. To know more about our other products click here

Gamification in Motivation

Written by: Sufiz Suffian

Gamification has become a buzz word as of late with many growing interest in the subject, particularly on how gamification could be injected into other areas, be it in learning, product and service design, and more. This has a lot to do with it being closely associated with increasing engagement and fun. But what makes gamification so engaging and fun in the first place? The very idea of gamification doesn't necessarily mean creating a game, as many would mistakenly believe. If that was so, it wouldn't be much of a surprise as to why people would find it that enjoyable in the first place. Rather, gamification by definition is taking engaging elements in games and applying them in a different environment. So not exactly a game, yet it is game-like? The best way to possibly approach this is to understand what makes something engaging in the first place.

An “engaged employee” is said to be someone who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. In other words, engagement is all about motivation. So, to properly engage people, it is imperative that we understand what motivates people to begin with. Motivation can be broken down in different ways but for all intents and purposes, we will focus on two variances of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. When a person is extrinsically motivated, their behaviour is motivated by an external factor pushing him/her to do something in hopes of earning a reward or avoiding a less-than-positive outcome. On the other hand, when a person is intrinsically motivated, their behaviour is motivated by their internal desire to do something for its own sake. Among the two types, most would obviously prefer the latter. Yet if we look at the foundation of today's world, most of it is built on extrinsic motivation.

Consider the industrial revolution, where technological developments played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of industry, from railroads to steam engines to electricity. But with new advancements came a new set of challenges, how can these be best managed and maintained for sustainable growth? Businesses were being run haphazardly and incredibly inefficiently. To combat this, a gentleman named Frederick Winslow Taylor invented "scientific management". In essence, scientific management is a theory of management that analyses and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labour and employee productivity. The heart of it all? Extrinsic motivation. It promoted the idea of "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work". However, as the years went by and new innovations appeared on humanity's doorstep through the efforts of brilliant individuals and companies, resulting in a more complex world and increasingly sophisticated inhabitants, we find that we are still stuck in the shadow of scientific management and continue to focus on rewarding the good and punishing the bad.

This incompatibility comes from the change in how we do work today compared to when scientific management first came into existence. Back then, almost all work was algorithmic where one would merely need to follow a set of established instructions down a single pathway to one conclusion. Today, most of these tasks are either outsourced to cheaper nations, automated, or made obsolete by other advancements in technology. Most of what we do at work today is heuristic in nature, where one would need to experiment with possibilities and devise a novel solution to most problems of today. Scientific management's carrot and stick ethos works best for algorithmic tasks, but can impair heuristic ones. Some might think paying someone a large amount of currency to do any given task would motivate them significantly, but most often than not the opposite tends to occur.

Studies have shown that paying or rewarding someone to do good deeds such as donating blood or volunteering would in fact reduce their motivation to do those things compared to when they were not paid to do them in the first place. Countless other studies and experiments have been conducted all over the world where one group of test subjects were given a reward to complete a series of tasks while another group was given no reward for doing the same tasks, and the results were all the same. Rewards impaired motivation. It simply took the joy out of doing the tasks, causing performance to suffer, foster short-term thinking, and sometimes even encourage unethical behaviour and cheating.

Wikipedia, undeniably the largest encyclopaedia in the world, is free and created and edited by volunteers from around the world. None of its contributors were given financial rewards for their work despite billions of people using it in their own pursuit of knowledge and curiosity. As we've learned, rewarding these volunteers would probably lead to the downfall of Wikipedia. So why does intrinsic motivation drive us so much? To create masterpieces of art, to find cures to deadly diseases, and to create the next disruptive innovation? And most importantly, how can we inject intrinsic motivation into our workplace to increase engagement of our employees and managers? The answer lies in one word - Autonomy.

Autonomy means acting with choice, be it choosing when to go to work, how to solve a problem, and where you do work. Having a sense of autonomy has a tremendous effect on individual performance and attitude. It promotes greater conceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence toward challenges, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological being. In other words, autonomy is creating an environment where people can make their own choices freely, which is something gamification excels in. Sure, some choices they make may not yield the best results immediately. But in the long-term, they'll make the right choices that work best for them. But with this much autonomy, surely there is room for abuse? Control is needed right? Control leads to compliance, whereas autonomy leads to engagement, and only through autonomy can we truly reach our full potential and even achieve mastery.

So rather than creating more linear processes for employees to comply to, giving them more freedom to approach work however and whenever they prefer might be better (with some clear boundaries set of course) as this creates the right environment for intrinsic motivation and autonomy to foster and spread.

Sufiz Suffian is the Chief Business Officer of Think Codex, a Gamification Consultant & Trainer.

You may reach out to him via https://www.linkedin.com/in/sufizsuffian/

ACCA Article: The Gamification at Workplace has Benefits for Everyone.

Our CEO, Andrew Lau, was recently invited to give his opinion on gamification in an article published by ACCA about the benefits of gamification in the workplace.

In this article, which includes opinions from other gamification gurus and experts, our CEO talks about the importance of psychology in gamification and how people have false information that gamification involves heavy digitalisation.

“A lot of people think gamification is all about apps, board games and online stuff. But gamification is 80% psychology; the rest is game mechanics and dynamics,“ he says.

Gamification is certainly a concept that can be applied in various subject matter depending on your intended goal. Our game-based learning used in business training is made to motivate employees and thus increasing the productivity of employees exponentially.

Read the full article, written by David Ho, here.

Dto-lah (Sime Darby's first experiential home-owning digital platform)

Recently, we had the opportunity to work with Sime Darby, a leading property developing company in Malaysia on their new and innovative platform, DTO. DTO (pronounced as ditto) lets potential customers take charge of the property that they intend to own.

Potential customers can choose to design their own future home by choosing the characteristics of the future property such as floor types, kitchen design, and all the way to the pavement of the property. We had the chance to work with Sime Darby and inject gamification into the app in order to increase the participants’ engagement level and also to make the tedious process of choosing the designs fun and addictive.

We are proud to be involved in this project where we come out of our usual business of gamification in corporate training and L&D. Certainly a new challenge and an experience for us to increase engagement and overall reception towards the project.

We wish Sime Darby all the best in the success of this project. Do visit their website at https://dtolah.com to experience the excitement yourself.

Gamification In Fitness

TAPPING INTO THE CORE DRIVERS OF HUMAN MOTIVATION, CREATING BETTER ATHLETES.

 Written by : Shobana G

Over the past 5 years, being an adrenaline junkie and someone who loves everything about fitness and sports, I found myself slowly evolving into the person I have always desired to be, in aspects that are beyond the four walls of the gym. This is what involvement in sports and fitness can do to an individual. For me, it has helped build desired habits, character, values and a mindset that enabled me to pull through different situations in everyday life.

Now, let’s dive into my experience with a gamified intervention that got me highly engaged in my involvement in the gym as an athlete and how it played a significant part in keeping me motivated to perform better over time. 

When I signed up at a Crossfit gym slighter over 2 years ago, I was introduced to a mobile application called Wodify, a fitness and gym management software that is designed to help gyms grow. Not only that, this function is made compulsory to all gym members and athletes to book workout sessions, keeping ourselves updated with notices from the coaches, tracking fitness performance and many more. 

Based on my experience interacting with Wodify as a user, I have discovered that the adaptation of gamification in the functions and features of this app has generated an ability to trigger the core drivers of human motivation, as stated in the Octalysis framework which was developed by Yu-Kai Chou. The Octalysis framework talks about the 8 core drivers of human motivation namely, Meaning, Accomplishment, Empowerment, Ownership, Social Influence, Scarcity, Unpredictability and Avoidance [1]. The following gamified features of this app which will be discussed on revolves mainly around four of the core drivers which are Accomplishment, Unpredictability, Scarcity, and Social Influence.

GUIDING DEVELOPMENT & PROGRESS WITH PERFORMANCE CHARTS

Images on the left show the tracked performance of a specific exercise known as the “Chainsaw Row” 

Development and Accomplishment is the internal drive of making progress, developing skills, and eventually overcoming challenges [1]. In most types of fitness activity, we perform so many different exercises and it is almost impossible to keep track of performance in every exercise by remembering them. Manually writing notes and numbers down can be time-consuming and the process of generating a performance chart from manually written notes is a cumbersome process. The best way to make tracking easier is to automate it [2]. Performance charts and other visual forms of measurement on gamified mobile apps show how an athlete performed in comparison with their previous results besides providing individual records. To have good control over certain things, tracking or keeping a record is important, just like how we have credit card statements to control financial expenditures. Gamification creates a sense of control among users, allowing them to decide which milestone to complete next. Likewise, performance tracking in fitness is crucial in ensuring development as it enables one to identify their strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, one of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress [2].

BUILDING A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT THROUGH BADGES & LEADERBOARDS 

Images above show a “Results” page that displays badges awarded to the user (athlete) and a leaderboard displaying the results of the users in the female category.

Badges are a visual representation of the athletes’ achievements, in this case, a form a reward obtained when an athlete hits a “Personal Record (PR)” or in simpler terms can lift the heaviest weight in comparison to all the past lifts. A leader-board displays athlete rankings that defines which athlete performs best in the “Workout of the Day (WOD)”. Unlike performance charts that show the performance of one user within a certain period, a leader-board shows the performance of other athletes. Both badges and leaderboards are forms of extrinsic motivation which also creates a sense of accomplishment among athletes. This in return motivates every athlete to work harder and push boundaries to perform better in every training session. On top of that, it fosters competition among the athletes, the healthy kind. Leaderboards that display achievements of other athletes encourage individuals to accomplish more and compare their results with others, triggering the social influence core driver which will be discussed later on in this write-up.

A NEW DAY, A NEW SET OF CHALLENGES - CREATING UNPREDICTABILITY & CURIOSITY 

The image above shows a description of the Workout of the Day (WOD), programmed by a coach. 

This feature on this app provides a view on what athletes would expect during the training session on a certain day. As the WODis only released past midnight every day, it creates unpredictability and curiosity in individuals who are anxiously waiting to know the“challenges and obstacles” they are about to face. Generally, this is a harmless core drive of wanting to find out what will happen next. If you don’t know what’s going to happen, your brain is engaged and you think about it often [1]. Speaking from my own experience and interaction with this app, there are days when I stay up till the clock strikes 00:00 merely to take a look at the WODor the latest would be one of the first things I do in within the first 30 minutes of starting my day in the morning. In my perspective, having this core drive triggered helps one prepare themselves mentally and physically before facing a certain challenge or task, which is indeed the desired habit to have as a fitness athlete.

CREATING A SENSE OF URGENCY WITH SCARCITY 

Images above show the Class Schedule feature which requires reservation and signing-in.

Moving on, let’s look into this feature of Wodify which allows you to book or “Reserve” your training sessions beforehand. Scarcity in an individual arises when there is something that a person needs but a certain need has a limiting factor to it. For example, all members of the gym can attend the workout or training sessions ONLY if there’s a reservation done and for every session, there’s a capacity limitation attached to it, besides a reservation cut-off time of two hours before the session. Those who fail to reserve their desired time slots will be denied participation. To avoid facing such situation, members are encouraged to reserve slots a day or two in advance. Scarcity creates a sense of urgency, which indeed is an applauded value or habit in a good athlete as it shows their commitment towards the sport and the desire to get better by committing to training sessions. In the words of Professor Todd May, when there is always time for everything, there is no urgency for anything. A life without limits would lose the beauty of its moments, and it would become boring [3].

BUILDING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH SOCIAL INFLUENCE

The image above shows the interaction among the gym members based on the achievement of one person.

Last but not least, this intervention has also tapped into the social influence drive as it allows peers to interact on the platform at the end of the workout session, especially once athletes have keyed in their weights, scores, timings, etc. This includes actions like posting a comment or “Like” the results of an athlete. Acknowledgement, “Likes”, positive comments or compliments from peers can be very empowering and motivating after a long hard day, what more if these positive comments come from your coach! This not only empowers the person on the receiving end but also the person who is executing the action. When you see a friend that is amazing at some skill or owns an extraordinary capability, you become driven to reach the same level [1]. Not only that, these types of interactions make up the building blocks of a strongly-knit fitness community. 

To sum up, although gamification in mobile apps are often adapted by brands mainly as an effort to increase user engagement as a marketing tool, I believe that gamification has a greater positive impact towards the fitness and sports industry in terms of building motivation and a sense of discipline which at the end of the day forms desirable habits that makes a good athlete. 

3 Great Examples of Gamification in Marketing

Written by: Kanes Kulanthavelu

It is a no brainer that marketing is one of the most crucial elements of any organisation. Be it for profit or non-profit, marketing has been the driving force of many business success stories. Whether it’s for driving traffic to your site, lead generation, sales accumulation, increasing your market reach towards your intended target audience and even for brand building in general, marketing has been a centuries-old cornerstone for businesses to flourish.

 We however exist in an era where change occurs in a blink of an eye; what is important today may be gone tonight. Of course, this implies that the general attention span of your specific target market may be directly proportional to the rate of change. So the question is, how do you ensure your marketing efforts bring forth a lasting impact and audience engagement that withstands the test of time while accomplishing your intended objective?

 Enter Gamification. A revolutionary contributing factor that is a tried and tested tool to help boost your marketing efforts by distinguishing them from the crowd, to be the sole diamond among the stones. 

 In this article, we will look through a few gamified marketing campaigns that I feel has stood out and achieved its intended objective exceptionally. 

But first, let us dive into what is Gamification in marketing. 

 What is Gamification in Marketing

Gamification in marketing is the application of game elements that add an addictive ingredient into your marketing efforts. This is to ensure that your marketing campaign is more interactive which boosts up the engagement rate of the intended target market. In a survey done by Demand Gen, it found that 93% of marketers agree that interactive content is effective in educating its buyers compared to 70% who believed that static content does the job.  

 Now that we’re familiar with what Gamification in Marketing is, let us look at a few marketing campaigns that was carried out in Malaysia, and outside of Malaysia, that I believe has stood out amongst the rest. 

McDonald’s (MCD) Elections

Whether you are a fan of fast food or not, everyone knows McDonald’s. In recent times, McDonald’s Malaysia came up with its uniquely styled election campaign. In this campaign, diners get to vote for their choice of meals that are currently offered by McDonald's for its Malaysian customers. The ‘candidates’ were McChicken, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Double Cheeseburger and the famous Ayam Goreng McD. Between 13-26 June 2019, for every purchase that the customer makes between the four ‘candidates’, a vote goes to the voting meter on the McDonald’s website. This was a great way to get consumers riled up over which of its four contenders deserve the title of Malaysia’s favourite McDonald’s meal. From a marketing perspective, the genius of this campaign was that it managed to exponentially boost up the sales of its set meals.

The average price of the McChicken set meal, the cheapest set meal out of all the four ‘candidates’ is around RM 7, and it was ‘voted’ by the diners by an astounding 400,000 times (approximately). I’ll let you do the math on how much total revenue was collected at the end of the election campaign. 

Guerlain KissKiss Campaign

In a recent attempt to introduce the concept of luxury brands to the youth in China, the luxury skincare and cosmetics brand Guerlain partnered up with Sunrise Duty Free to create a game similar to Tetris which appeared on Sunrise’s WeChat account. The objective of the game was to create engagement and awareness amongst the Chinese Global Shopper. This highly addictive game had a few levels where players complete the game across multiple levels, eventually leveling up towards an end goal. Towards the end of the game, players were asked to submit their information such as their name and phone number to enter a lottery for a chance to win a KissKiss Matte Lipstick. This helped Guerlain build a huge database consisting of potential customers. I have no doubt as to why it would be a successful viral campaign, especially when you are able to win a luxury brand make-up kit by just playing a game. Within 10 days of its launch, the highly addictive Tetris game had attracted 18,582 page views and 10,000 players.

DTO-lah

Last, but certainly not least, Think Codex partnered with one of the leading property development companies, Sime Darby, to develop a project called DTO-lah earlier this year. DTO, which is the abbreviation for Design To Own, is a crowdsourcing platform where consumers have the intriguing ability to design their own house where they’d be moving into. This way, consumers have complete control and ownership over their choices, from the wallpapers, kitchen tile, bathroom sink and even the door design to suit their taste and liking. The most popular design will be implemented at the property itself! This is a one of its kind project that empowers first time homeowners to be involved in the process of constructing and dictating the creative element of their first property. 

Find out more about DTO by visiting their website. 

In conclusion, implementing gamification in marketing has proven to be an effective way of driving up engagement and interaction to your content. Its overall approach acts to enthusiastically engage and excite your target market, resulting in you hitting your marketing objectives more effectively. 

The Building Blocks Behind Gamification

Written by: Bryan Woo

Video games have been a big part of my childhood ever since I first held a video game controller. I vaguely remember countless late nights spent sneaking out to the living room, loading up some of my favourite video game titles and telling myself that I would go back to sleep once I finish this quest or defeat this final boss. Or so I said. 

Looking back, it’s funny how it would take a huge amount of willpower and convincing for me to engage in more “productive” actions, like studying or household chores but when it comes to playing games, it took no convincing of any sort. Fast forward a couple of years, I would come to better understand that I simply wasn’t motivated to do other things as much as I was motivated to beat Ghasty Gnorc from Spyro: A Hero’s Tail.

(Ghasty Gnorc via Google Images)

Motivated being the keyword here. 

The ability to tap into the power of motivation is why gamification has been recognized as an innovative and promising concept for a wide variety of industries in the past decade (1). The idea behind this is by utilizing various design elements from games as building blocks, and apply these to real-world scenarios to foster and maintain the motivation of its various users (2). 

That being said, to gain the most out of a gamified initiative, one can benefit from looking at commonly used game elements and diving deeper into the psychology and science (or as I like to call it, Psy-ence!) behind how these elements can motivate specific behaviours:

Points and Badges

(Points and badges found in fitness app, “FitBit” via Google Image)

Considered a basic element of a multitude of games, points are used typically as rewards for users when they successfully perform certain actions as well as providing a numerical representation of a player’s progress (1). Although the action of awarding points can serve a multitude of purposes, I find that points are at its most impactful when used as a form of immediate feedback when users display specific behaviours or actions. 

We see this commonly in various loyalty programs (i.e. Uber, Grab, etc.), which are designed to encourage its users to perform desired actions or behaviours. Displaying these behaviours will in turn reward users with points which can be used within the platform to obtain various incentives, thereby conditioning its users to repeat the desired actions if they want to earn more points. 

Points are often paired alongside badges, which are used as a visual representation of a user’s achievements that can be earned within a game or a gamified platform (1). Badges can be used in a variety of functions in a gamified platform, either serving as a goal that a user work towards or to represent status symbols its users to show off. By associating certain challenges or tasks with badges, a user’s actions can be influenced and stir towards completing acts that reward players with these badges.  

Additionally, another impact badges can bring to games and gamified platforms lie in its ability to tap into social influence. Earning certain badges can be used as a form of symbolizing one’s membership into groups that share the same achievements (3), thus forming a small community among its users. 

Leaderboards and Progress Graphs

(Scoreboard found in navigation app, “Waze” via Google Image)

Humans thrive on feedback, whether if it’s for a project that we are working on or for a hobby that we seek to improve on. Feedback provides us with useful information that helps us determine the rate of our progression. In games and gamified platforms, feedback is often provided in the form of leaderboards and progress graphs.

The primary function of a leaderboard is to rank users against one another, according to the “success factor” or “winning state” of a game or gamified platform (4). By tapping into the competition as a motivator, implementing a leaderboard can encourage a sense of competitiveness among its users as they compare their performance to that of another user when performing specific tasks.

That being said, the motivational potential of leaderboards may vary, as it can either be an effective motivator as well as a demotivator. Research in gamification has shown that while competition caused by leaderboards can create social pressure, thus encouraging more user participation, it was found that the positive effects of competition are more likely to occur when users are performing at the relatively same pace or level (1). Likewise, if the majority of a user base is not motivated by competition, a leaderboard may often do more harm than good for a gamified platform. 

Aside from this, progress graphs also provide feedback about a user’s progress in a platform, by comparing a user’s current performance to that of their own at an earlier stage (5). In contrast to leaderboards, which compares a user’s performance to others, progress graphs only evaluate a user’s performance over time. 

Progress graphs motivate its users by allowing them to focus on their improvements in a game or a gamified platform, thus creating an environment that allows for learning and mastery to occur. 

Stories and Player Avatars

(Story mission page from fitness app “Zombies, Run!” via Google Images)

Stories have important emotional meaning that creates engagement from people. It captures the imagination of people while tying together an emotional experience. That is why having meaningful stories in games and gamification, and using them consistently can bring great results.

Stories can be a welcomed addition to a gamified platform as they complement existing elements like points and achievements with added contextual meaning (6). Some examples include adding characters that the users can relate to or even changing the context of an activity found in a gamified platform. A simple walk in the park can now be transformed into a thrilling survival run from attacking zombies. 

A user may feel inspired and motivated to immerse themselves if a story is engaging and in line with their own interests. 

Some platforms take this a step further and allow their users to be the main star of the story, by introducing player avatars. These are visual representations of a user within a game or gamified environment (1). More often than not, most platform allows for some level of customization for users to create their avatar to their liking. It helps give a sense of identity for the user and create even more immersion within the platform. Furthermore, allowing users to interact with others using their avatars can encourage social interaction within a platform, thus leading to communities being form.

 
Every day, we are often exposed to a wide variety of platforms that uses elements of gamification. So the next time you come across some of these elements, you will have a better understanding of why these elements were included in the first place. 

References

1)   Werbach, K. & Hunter, D. (2012). For the Win: How game thinking can revolutionize your business. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273946893_For_the_Win_How_Game_Thinking_can_Revolutionize_your_Business

2)   Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R. & Nacke, L. (2011). Gamification: Toward a Definition. http://gamification-research.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/02-Deterding-Khaled-Nacke-Dixon.pdf

3)   Antin, J. & Churcill, E.F. (2011). Badges in Social Media: A social psychological perspective. http://gamification-research.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/03-Antin-Churchill.pdf

4)   Costa, J. P., Wehbe, R. R., Robb, J. & Nacke, L. E. (2013). Time’s Up: Studying Leaderboards for Engaging Punctual Behaviour. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257519212_Time's_Up_Studying_Leaderboards_For_Engaging_Punctual_Behaviour

5)   Sailer, M., Hense, J., Mandl, H. & Klevers, M. (2013). Psychological Perspectives on Motivation through Gamification https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278672057_Psychological_Perspectives_on_Motivation_through_Gamification

Kapp, K. M. (2012).The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Educationhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/273947281_The_gamification_of_learning_and_instruction_Game-based_methods_and_strategies_for_training_and_education_San_Francisco_CA_Pfeiffer

Gamification in Parenting

Written by: Sufiz Mohd Suffian

With the increasing awareness of gamification globally, many organisations have begun injecting gamification into just about everything. From gamifying employee Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), onboarding new recruits, and even purchasing new property. Whether it is by incorporating game elements to elicit competition, slapping on a leaderboard to rank "players", or curating an engaging experience, these all stem from game thinking and gamification. As most of us know, gamification does not necessarily mean creating a game. Rather, it is incorporating engaging elements in games into a non-game context. With the right application, organisations have yielded positive results in user engagement, revenue generation, and customer satisfaction. With such great results, it's no wonder organisations are rushing to squeeze gamification into just about anything.

But apart from the workplace, one wonders if there is a place for gamification in the household. Specifically, in parenting.

Parenting is akin to an amateur sport with consistent trial and error. Since I’ve become father to a beautiful baby girl, my wife and I have done considerable research utilizing various books on parenting - from understanding the way the brains of babies are wired to how parents have raised successful children in different parts of the globe. In our research, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between parenting and gamification. Obviously, I am not suggesting parents award points to their babies for taking regular naps, or rank children on a leaderboard. Much rather, I focused on the way parents have successfully engaged with their children to nurture and raise them to become confident and capable members of society.

So how does gamification relate to parenting then?

Creating the Right Environment
This may seem obvious, but what does creating the "right" environment really mean? In gamification, this usually involves creating a safe and engaging environment for "players" to play in. This is especially apparent in game-based learning or serious games where game elements are designed to trigger desired behaviours and reward players for continuously displaying them, which in turn reinforces and builds positive habits. Players can safely make mistakes and fail without any negative repercussions to their personal or professional lives.

Having a similarly safe and engaging environment is crucial for a child's development. The human brain is wired to focus on one thing, survival. If our brains think it is in any kind of danger, it will stop its focus on anything else, including learning. Once the brain senses that the danger has passed only then can learning resume. This means that using fear as a motivator to learn is not ideal. This includes rigid and strict parenting practices that force children to perform. Research has found that this has negative effects on a child's development and results in the child merely becoming a parrot, acting in a manner that pleases their parents but in reality does not actually improve their intelligence, which is known as learned helplessness. Instead, creating an environment filled with positive motivators is best for a child's development.

Playing to Learn

We all can agree that the one thing that children love to do is play. Gamification in essence is about injecting play into pretty much anything to make the experience fun. Although it isn't exactly like a game of tag or hop scotch, gamification is able to turn something that is mundane or serious into a fun and playful experience. Whether it is through the rush of collecting likes on your latest photo on Instagram, or securing enough sales to land you the top spot on your sale department's leaderboard, play is what ultimately drives engagement in players.

For children, play is often seen as a relief from serious learning, when in actuality for children play IS serious learning. Parenting experts (and expert parents) often emphasize on the importance of creative play for children. Free play teaches children to be less anxious and how to cope with stress. In fact, the more they play, the better they become at learning social skills and engaging in social or play contexts. Through pretend play, children are able to understand emotional challenges experienced in different roles and develop empathy.

Reframing Mindsets
Gamification has a way of changing the perceptions of players towards different situations, environments, or people by using the right game elements. The playful nature of games allows us reframe our mindsets by creating a safe and fun environment to let our guards down and welcome different possibilities into our minds. Reframing works particularly well with children.

Reframing with children is mainly about helping them shift their focus from what they cannot do to what they can do. Parents help children see situations from different perspectives, allowing them to focus on the less negative conclusions or outcomes. To do this, parents need to create a safe and positive environment for children that is free from negative labels (e.g. "He is so lazy") or limiting language (e.g. "I'm not good at that"). Negative labels and limiting language are very defining - the more children hear them, the more negative conclusions about themselves they make. Guiding children to a new, wider and more ambiguous picture about themselves and the world around them helps them to reframe positively.

Setting Rules of the Game
Games usually come with a set of rules for players to follow. To get the full experience or the desired results, players would follow these rules throughout the game. Parenting also comes with their own set of rules (and discipline), especially when it comes to raising a moral child. Children generally have an innate sense of right and wrong. However, moral behaviour is something that builds over time and requires a particular kind of guidance. Research has shown that families who raise moral children tend to follow very predictable patterns when it comes to rules and discipline. To sum it up, the recipe to moral children lie in three crucial ingredients: clear, consistent rules and rewards; swift punishment; and rules that are explained.

Parents need to set clear rules in the household and explain the rationale behind them along with their consequences to the children. If rules are broken, parents should impose punishment (that is emotionally safe and not a form of abuse) quickly, firmly, and consistently, which is then followed by explaining to the children why what they did was wrong. However, if children do follow the rules and display desired behaviours or even refrain from displaying bad behaviour, they should be rewarded or given praise as a form of acknowledgement. This helps children clearly differentiate between what is right and wrong, and ultimately builds their moral compass over time.

Parenting can be a daunting task especially to new parents. However, even games and gamification can provide useful guidance to the rookie parent in the sport of child development.

The Power of Habits

Research has found that we make thousands of decisions in a day (Sahakian & Labuzeta, 2013). How is that even possible? It's not possible, because our brain will overload & shut down. However the brain has a secret weapon - it's called habits. Up to 40% of decisions made by the brain are using habits (Verplanken & Wood, 2006), which greatly reduces the amount of active processing power the brain requires.

How Do Habits Work?

Habits work in loops. So each habit loop starts with a trigger/event. The brain then decides if this requires active thinking or recalling a habit that is stored. Once decided, an action is executed and the brain waits for feedback. If the feedback is good (reward)- it reinforces the habit, if the feedback is bad (pain/negativity), it starts to diminish the habit in the brain. In gamification, game designers use game mechanics that apply habit loops to reinforce the type of behaviours they want to see. If designed properly, gamification can help to enhance positive and constructive behaviours.

Now that we know how habits work, the next question is, what type of decisions and actions are hard coded into habits by our brain? Most of us have this idea that habits are for actions like which hand we use to hold our toothbrush or which route we take to work. We think that habits are formed for the mundane and low level decisions or actions. However, habits are formed based on which decisions or actions that is the most frequently used. The more times we repeat a decision/action, the more likely it will form habits. As such, for a sales professional, the habits that will form are; pitching to clients, handling objections, making cold calls, etc.  This means habits often take over the core functions of a person’s job.

Habits In Business Context

Here's the all important question. Why does a lot of business growth or culture change fail in organisations? It’s because habits overpower any external effort to change the default mode of habits – often known as comfort zones. As such, unless we focus on the behavioural components of habits, any transformation programme will yield little results. 

Why does training/e-learning sessions have a high failure rate of retention and sustainability in the workplace? The main reason is habits overpower any attempt by the person to apply new learning in the workplace. Participants need a space where they can unlearn, relearn and then apply the learnings while building new habits – all done before they go back to the workplace.

So then, what do we do? Habits are very hard to break, so we create new habits instead. By using gamified simulations, habit building models, and iterative techniques - we allow people to practice and rapidly develop the target behaviours and habits.

How effective is gamification in the context of learning? With one of our Fortune 500 client, their finance team reported a sales increase of 266% across the board for 300 staff that attended or sales simulations. The way we did it was by building the right habits so that when an event or trigger happens in the workplace, the brain will access the new habits as opposed to the old habits.

So if you are looking for business or behavioural results, make gamification your top consideration when implementing a solution.

An Effective Behavioural Change is Only 3 Steps Away

Written by: Gabriel Goh, Gamification Designer

This is an interactive article and I would like to invite you to take part in this – creating behavioural change in yourself.

Everyone longs for change. When I say change, it refers to a desirable change. For instance, John has been overworked doing everything by himself and he needs to learn to delegate his tasks to others. However, not everyone is willing to commit to change, simply because they think it is hard.

Before we talk about creating behavioural change, let us take a step back, how does an individual’s behaviour change occur? According to Fogg’s Behaviour Model, behavioural change occurs when the 3 components, namely Motivation, Ability, and Trigger are present at the same time.

Behavioural change = Motivation x Ability x Trigger

Before we dive into the components separately, here is my first question to you:

“What is the ONE behavioural change you would like to see in yourself?”

Motivational

According to Fogg, there are 3 types of motivations, which are physical, emotional and social motivations. Let’s take John as an example and I will demonstrate how to apply gamification in the journey of delegating tasks. If you are wondering what gamification is, basically it is the use of game elements in non-game applications (in this case, to stop overworking) to keep you motivated and engaged in the task.

Physical

From my point of view, another term for physical motivation is extrinsic motivation. As human beings, we have the tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Hence, we are inclined to do certain actions only if we know we will be rewarded. Tying back to the example, in order to make sure John starts delegating his tasks, we can reward him by offering tangible rewards that act as instant gratifications, such as free vouchers for a romantic getaway with his loved one, lunch opportunities with a CEO, etc.

Emotional

From my point of view, emotional motivation refers to intrinsic motivation. According to Growth Engineering, hope is the most powerful motivator in making sure learners are engaged in the task. For instance, give him an Epic Meaning for delegating tasks. What does it mean to him if John changes his current behaviour? By doing so, it gives him a sense of purpose in taking part in something that is meaningful to him.

On the other hand, we could also use fear as another emotion to make sure that he is on track. For instance, we could leverage his fear of burning out mentally, fear of physical exhaustion, etc. Remember why was it so effective when your parents banned you from watching TV or eating dessert if you did not do what they wanted you to do? They utilised your fear of being deprived of the things that you desire as a “motivation”. It can normally be seen in games like Monopoly. For you to win, you need to keep yourself from falling into bankruptcy.

Social

Social motivation is also known as the motivation for belonging. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a sense of belonging is a basic human need and we cannot survive without it. This explains why prisoners are punished by being placed into solitary confinement as this is against human’s instinct to live alone.

Hence, it is common to see a lot of game developers create games that allow players to compete against or cooperate with one another. Besides that, they also include social elements into their games, such as leaderboards, forums, etc.

If John is motivated by having a sense of belongingness and relatedness, you can invite him to join a focus group where he could connect and share stories with colleagues or peers who have had a similar experience.

Here is another question for you: “What motivates you the most?”

Ability

In this model, the ability doesn’t refer to someone’s competency for a particular task. Fogg defines ability as to how simple it is to do a certain task. Simplicity is the key here as the more complicated a task is, the more motivation is required. Here are the 6 key elements that you should take note of when you are minimising your task. Before you proceed to the next question, do check out Fogg’s “Six Elements of Simplicity”.

If John was told to delegate all of his tasks on the very first day, it would seem almost impossible for him. As a result, he might not even start to change as the stakes are too high. It would be so much easier if the task is broken down into parts. Firstly, start with delegating 20% of his tasks, followed with 40%, 60% and so on.

“How would you make your task simpler?”

You’re almost there……

Trigger/Prompts

One last step. If we want to break out from our old lifestyles and achieve something new, we will need a reminder as a trigger. For instance, place post-it notes on your desktop or ask someone to be accountable for your change. As for John’s example, we could ask him to declare the changes he is going to make in front of his colleagues so that they can hold him accountable of his actions by reminding him from time to time.

Here is my last question for you: “What will you be using as your trigger?”

Or, “Who will hold you accountable?”

In a nutshell, make sure that the changes you want to implement really matters to you (motivation), the behaviours are as simple as possible (ability) and prompt yourself to take action in the right way (motivation). Most importantly, find out what keeps you engaged and gamify your process, I can assure you the path towards change is not as hard as it seems anymore.

3 Gamification Trends To Look Out For In 2019

Written by: Kerry Wong, Head of Gamification Design

The use of “Gamification” is becoming more widespread, as many organisations around the world are adopting the methodology to create positive behavioural change, strong organisational culture, better education and training. Gamification is here to stay but the job is still half done as it is still undergoing massive innovation. Here are 3 trends you need to look out for in gamification.

Gamification in Politics?

Gabe Zichermann, author of The Gamification Revolution(2013), Gamification by Design (2011) and Game-Based Marketing (2010), says that gamification will gain popularity in politics and civic organisations.

In the recent 2018 mid-term US elections, Gabe Zichermann collaborated with TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, a late-night talk and news satire programme, and launched a smartphone app called This Is Not a Game: The Game. The purpose of the app was to educate US citizens about the political sphere, test the electorate’s knowledge, and encourage players to vote.

Leading up to the big day, the app offered a daily trivia game, where players answer questions centred on the midterm elections, after which an inaugural pot of $5,000 will then be split among the winners. When players were knocked out, they could earn second chances by completing challenges such as registering as a voter and signing up for election reminders.

Source: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

It is what’s inside that counts.

Yu-Kai Chou, the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards(2017), says gamification will ‘go deeper’ as marketers seek for ways to make the desired behaviours enjoyable instead on stimulating action solely with rewards and gifts.

As the industry becomes more mature, gamification designs centred on rewards and incentives (extrinsic motivation) will give way to designs centred on making behaviours or tasks actually enjoyable for the participant to carry out (intrinsic motivation). While extrinsic motivation design is very helpful in getting a person to start performing a specific behaviour or task, it has been found that the moment extrinsic motivation is eliminated from the equation, the person will lose interest in continuing to carry out that particular behaviour or task.

For instance, if you want a child to perform well in school, an external incentive will only get you so far. Speaking from my own personal experience, I used to really like studying, I found the whole experience fun and engaging. Then, in my last year of primary education, I got my parents to agree to get me a present if I got good grades. The incentive worked, I was excited and driven, and I eventually got the grades to back it up.

However, once I entered my secondary education, the external incentive was no longer there and I ended up losing my initial motivation to study. The experience was no longer as fun or as engaging as before. I never really understood why until I found out about the impact of extrinsic motivation.

Perhaps a better way my parents could have done to tackle this would be to ignore my request and reassure my effort to foster my sense of self-achievement (PS: I love my parents, mind you). After all, someone who is intrinsically motivated is more likely to continue working on it despite the challenges they may face.

Source: Yu-Kai Chou’s Octalysis Framework – Left Brain (Extrinsic) vs Right Brain (Intrinsic)

How you feel impacts what you do.

An Coppens, Founder and Chief Game Changer of Gamification Nation, wrote an article highlighting empathy mapping and how it plays a role in instigating behavioural change.

In the new age of gamification, a strong and emotionally engaging narrative will be important. For example, Judy Willis, a neurologist wrote in her book that fun experiences increase levels of dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen in the human body – all things that promote learning. So, it is important to incorporate happy and fun experiences when designing a learning programme to nurture these positive emotions, which subsequently leads to a higher retention rate.

Source: iStock

It is interesting to see how gamification has matured as an industry, as well as the shift towards a more intrinsically motivated approach. Can’t wait to see how it would evolve in 2019!

Gamification In Business

Written by: Sufiz Suffian, Head of Business Development

Gamification is quickly gaining traction all over the world, including Malaysia and can be seen just about anywhere.

In fact, you may have already interacted with elements of gamification numerous times over the past couple of hours, whether it was through social media, e-commerce sites, or while purchasing groceries at your local supermarket.

So before we dive deeper into how gamification has invaded our lives, it is best to first understand what gamification even is.

What Is Gamification?

In my career, I have come across many misinterpretations of gamification. Although the name does include the word "game", it is often not as simple as that.

Gamification is the concept of using game design elements in non-game applications to make it more fun and engaging. In short, it is essentially behavioural psychology in human-centric design that you can interact with just about anywhere.

Gamification has the capability to motivate an individual to display a particular behaviour or undertake a series of actions for a specific goal or purpose. This is accomplished by encouraging users to engage in these behaviours by showing them a scaffolded path to mastery, and by taking advantage of our human psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.

Gamification involves identifying "player types" and their corresponding motivational drives.

By understanding who your target audience is, you are able to include motivational elements to spur your audience to act in a particular manner that would benefit you and possibly your business.

Moreover, if these motivational elements and desired behaviours occur frequently enough and in the right order, users will begin to develop habits that will keep them coming back for more.

After all, everyone loves games, so why not turn everything into one?

Why Gamification?

Whether it's collecting points to unlock discounts or prizes during your next purchase, or to earn higher cashback rates by making a transaction at certain business establishments, with the right motivation and the right "reward" (be it intrinsic or extrinsic), businesses have got you right where they want you.

For instance, Facebook alone uses endless elements of gamification, from collecting likes on your recent status update, or having your friends share an article you posted on your page. As of 2017, daily social media usage of global internet users amounted to 135 minutes per day, up from 126 daily minutes in the previous year!

Unsurprisingly, the world has also taken notice of gamification. In 2014, the global gamification market size was approximately USD 960.5 million and is expected to reach USD 22,913.0 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 41.8%.

There is even an increased interest in gamification globally as shown by significantly improved Google search trends for gamification over the years, including in Malaysia.

Google Trends for gamification worldwide.

So what sort of gamification is already out there and what can you learn from them to potentially inject some of it into your own business?

Examples of Gamification

The e-commerce giant Lazada is among many businesses that frequently uses gamification to drive their sales revenue. By shopping via their mobile application, you can access an array of gamified promotions and vouchers. Most have elements of scarcity and/or time limitations to spur users to quickly take action on their purchases.

Example of Lazada’s gamified promotions and vouchers.

What's more, after getting your first good deal via Lazada, you'll be motivated to open the app again and again just to chase the next great deal.

Lazada also has "shake rewards" which has become a growing trend among businesses in Malaysia. This includes implementation by mobile wallet Boost, and multinational banking and financial services company Standard Chartered. By using your mobile device's motion sensors, users can shake their device to gain random rewards or vouchers which they can then redeem during their next purchase.

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Example of Lazada’s Shake-It Campaign.

Example of Standard Chartered’s Shake & Win Campaign

Another example is DooIt, an online live trivia game show where participants log into their mobile application at certain times of the day to answer a series of questions to win a share of the daily prize money. Yes, actual money.

Advertisements are peppered in between questions and pleasantries by the game show "hosts" while the participants are concentrating hard on their screens to quickly select the correct answers to each question within the limited time. What you have here is a fully engaged audience that have made time in their busy schedules to participate in a game with other like-minded participants (which normally number in the thousands at least) just to win a small share of the prize money.

This creates a unique platform for businesses to advertise their products and services to an audience that is fully listening during an age when advertisements have cluttered every public and virtual space available (think advertisements on billboards, television, radio, websites, etc.).

Gamification has also been used in fields of medical research, particularly AIDS.

For 15 years, many experts in the world were hard at work trying to decipher a crystal structure for one of the AIDS-causing viruses known as the Mason-Pfizer Monkey virus (M-PMV), but were unsuccessful.

The University of Washington's Center for Game Science collaborated with the Biochemistry department and FoldIt, an online puzzle game about protein folding, was developed. Over 240,000 players all over the world registered for the game and competed against each other. As a result, a solution to the structure of the M-PMV was found in merely 10 days!

This was a major breakthrough in the AIDS research field which these experts could not accomplish in 15 years, while a game did it in a fraction of that time with the help of many competitive gamers.

Image of FoldIt online puzzle game for AIDS research

The simple act of shaking your device, opening a mobile application at specific times of the day, answering trivia questions, or competing against strangers to solve complex puzzles for any kind of reward, be it big or small, creates a feeling of satisfaction, success, achievement or victory for the user which can trigger the release of endorphins (the feel good hormone) in the brain, which makes the user feel better about themselves. It's no surprise how this can quickly turn into a habit for the user.

It is clear that gamification is nothing to sneeze at and it will continue to grow in relevance throughout the world, including the business world.

Business owners have often been stumped with the problem of generating more revenue, customers, and market share. Just as these PHD-wielding scientists had spent 15 years of their lives trying to solve an equation to the Mason-Pfizer Monkey virus. Perhaps the formula they have been seeking all this time was right under their noses.

The formula was most likely, the often underestimated: gamification.