Gamification.
Carl Dunstan taught me about this recently.
Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts, that’s what it says on Wikipedia anyway.
It is about involving people in a game-like environment to encourage healthy competition to get things done.
It is pure genius.
If done properly.
It is really pretty much a science in its own right, but if you can create urgency and competition and a sense of gaming, then people become inspired and competitive and try to get stuff done.
Unconsciously we have implemented things like this at work before (the word of mouth card reward scheme was one thing) but to do it across a business to make it fun and alive and engaging, that is all together something else.
It has been around forever, but not for me, but as it says in the Wikipedia page “Gamification techniques are intended to leverage people's natural desires for socialising, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, or closure, or simply their response to the framing of a situation as game or play
That sounds good to me.
Blog Post Number - 2196