“Do you think this is a game?” In the past, a boss may have used this line to criticize an employee for not taking their job seriously. However, in today’s more creative work environments, many companies are using game mechanics to achieve their goals. This business strategy is called gamification, and it’s the most fun way to get work done.

Take a Risk with Gamification
Gamification motivates people by drawing from a person’s desire for achievement and competition. Turing a goal into a game can be done with common tasks like employee training and even project completion. Gamification can also be used to get customers more engaged with your product or service. When customers engage your company as they would a competitive game, brand loyalty increases and you’re provided with valuable feedback that can be used to improve marketing efforts, productivity, and customer service.

Acquire Motivation Using Gaming Tactics
Gamification has broad (and board) applications. Businesses using gamification tactics aren’t necessarily dealing with customers playing cards and paying employees with Monopoly money, although, these strategies certainly qualify as legitimate gamification tactics. One successful example of gamification that you’re likely familiar with is reward points. Credit card companies reward consumers with points in order to motivate them to spend more money. These points can be redeemed for something a consumer cares about like airline miles and credit at their favorite retailer. Motivating with rewards is a powerful gamification tactic that drives sales.

Guess Who? Assembling Your Gamification Team
Implementing gamification for your business takes some “outside the box” thinking. Successful gamification tactics capitalize on a person’s drive for fun competition. Therefore, you don’t want the person in charge of gamifying a company task to be someone with a straight-laced and by-the-book personality. Instead, look for the guy or girl that has a knack for having fun and knows how to motivate others. You will also want to involve a staff member that has a proven creative side. With your gamification team in place, all you have to do is roll the dice with your team and watch company morale improve! Before you know it, everyone will get the same enjoyment out of your business as a friendly game of poker (when the cards are going your way, of course).

The Game of Life and Technology
In the same way that the most popular games of today are video games, there are great gamification solutions available for your company’s technology. Many of these gamification solutions can be installed on your company’s website. Gamification technology can also be utilized over your company’s network in order to track staff performance. This can turn the completion of projects into healthy competition.

Gamification Helps Technology Users Get a Clue
Gaming elements are showing up in more technologies. Software manufacturers are even making a game out of teaching users how to utilize their software. Adobe, for example, has an onboarding program for Photoshop called LevelUp that teaches users the basics of the software with assignments where badges and points are earned. Fun gaming techniques like this are making technology less intimidating for people that aren't technologically inclined.

Be UNO in Sales!
What are some ways that your business and its technology can turn up the fun with gamification? Think about your favorite game. What makes it so engaging? How can you incorporate those elements into your business? Thanks to gamification, the next time someone asks you, “Do you think this is a game?” You can roll your twenty-sided dice and reply, “Why yes. Yes I do. Go fish.”