“Show me a person who knows to lose and I’ll show you that you are a big loser”
Vincent Lombardi
There is increasing talk about the gamification as a solution to motivate people with different objectives: social change, marketing, healthy habits, human resources and so on.
As usual, the widespread emphasis is focused on the most colorful elements: aesthetics and technology; what might be called “scenic” aspects. However, especially when we talk about gamification of internal processes, i.e., those that occur within organizations, are often forgotten the human aspects.
From the point of view of the people, it is important to consider the direct participants of the gamification, as I already mentioned in a previous post. This is fundamental in gamification of processes related to the management of people into the organization: business process, innovation, human resources, change management, etc.
But there are another indirect participants that many times are overlooked and that are very important for the project to be successful and I mean whit this the managers, team leaders, supervisors or directors in general. The type of leadership that they can potentiate or turn off the beneficial effects of a “gamified” context.
It is useless if we have a great system of gamification if the executives involved are not using the proper style of leadership.
And which style should be used by an executive to adequate to a gamified model of management? Well, it’s not hard to deduct, should be enough to analyze some key characteristics of the videogames to realize that the type of leaders we need match in several aspects with the model of positive leader that the successful organizations must have:
| Videogames elements | Characteristics of the positive leader / Game-leader |
| Wilfulness | Persuasion: He/she knows the team and its aspirations, is sable to involve and moving wills more than enforcing. |
| Clear goals | Clear objectives: He/she has a purpose in mind and is able to transmit it correctly to the team. |
| Concrete rules | Coherence: He/she adopt clear rules and fair ones that are accepted and understood by everyone. |
| Rewards | Acknowledges the effort: He/she knows how to recognize the achievements and efforts. |
| Challenges | Defies: He/she create challenges to develop and stimulate to push people out of their comfort zones and avoid the stagnation and grow professionally. |
| Feedback | Orient: He/she knows how to give feedback in a professional and proper way, addressing the facts and respecting people. |
| Aesthetics | Gives attention to form: He/she is careful giving his/her own example, manages the non-verbal communication, spaces and times. Promotes a strong organizational culture. |
| Retries | Motivate: He/she gives support in difficult times, encourages, invite to action. He/she know that every single attempt is an opportunity of learning and improvement. Observes the progresses more than the mistakes. |
| Storytelling | Vision: He/she has a clear vision that gives sense to the task and effort, transmit it and remind it very often. |
| Levels | Develop: He/she adapts the difficulty of the task to the ability (Flow: Optimal experience channel), stimulate. Delegates though an adapted and scheduled process. |
We are really serious here, no matter that it comes from the videogame field. It’s not about forgetting the efforts or difficulties, but to give them sense and value. This is the mission of a leader and the goal of a proper gamification design. This will push the team to a positive approach towards their work.
In internal gamification the leader is key to generate an attractive work experience that can motivate, promote learning and achievement of objectives. It’s very important to verify and develop the leadership abilities if we want an organization to be successful.
More even if we intend to use the gamification as a way to bring about changes in the internal processes. What is your level in these skills and competencies? Do we know if our managers are ready? Assessment and training in leadership, coaching, feedback techniques, communication… and other management skills are key to achieve this.
Let’s see if, at least this time, we begin with the people and conclude with the technology.
(Translation from spanish version)
