In the last post, I spoke about how gamification is changing education as we know it, both in workplace-related training and in ordinary education systems. I felt it was important also to mention several hurdles that may arise when trying to implement a gamification solution. None of these are very complicated to avoid, as long as you are aware of them and are able to spot them as soon as they appear.
Some employees will not like the idea of parts of their job being likened to a game. Some have never quite enjoyed video games, and being asked to participate in a platform which has a resemblance to these games may put them off. Other employees, who enjoyed the previous way training were conducted in the organization might be disappointed to see the changes occurring.
To prevent these types of negative feelings, we always recommend investing in preparing employees for the upcoming gamification implementation. This can be done through a newsletter that incorporates an exciting countdown until the gamification solution is launched, or creating a competition within the company to see who will be performing the best on the new platform. Also, it is very important to communicate to the workforce what the advantages of the new solution are, and how they will help both employees and the organization as a whole improve and go forward.
Gamification is an extremely powerful tool, and we see how it is affecting organizations every day. At the same time, it is important to use gamification where it is most appropriate. In other words, gamification is the most effective when it is used with quantifiable and measurable parameters. Although we believe that even aspects of work that may seem very difficult to quantify (things like good customer service habits, for example), can be taught through gamification, it is important to translate the traits you are looking for, even if they are a bit general or amorphous, into something that an employee can be measured on and see progress in.
An easy way to get around this is to start from gamifying the more quantifiable parts of your activity, and then moving on to the other areas. Once you do move into areas that are less clear cut, it is important to determine what would be considered success and how it can be measured.
When first attempting to introduce gamification into your organization, and especially when the implementation is in the area of elearning and training, it is important to emphasize not only the mechanics and the competition but the underlying content that you are interested in helping the workforce getting better at. It’s also important to communicate to employees how gamification can help them become better at what they do, and show examples of previous successes.
With every day that goes by, we see gamification become implemented in more and more verticals and fields. When done right, gamification can really transform a process, and sometimes, even an organization. In order for this to happen in your organization as well, put effort and thought not only into what you want to solve with gamification, but also how you will introduce it. This will help you reap the benefits and see results much faster.
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Prior to Centrical, Dalit worked at LivePerson and NICE creating digital transformation and customer engagement solutions. Her areas of expertise include complete product lifecycle management, translating market and customer requirements to draw a viable product roadmap, identifying champions, and then harnessing their enthusiasm to drive adoption of innovations.
Dalit Holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Computer Science from the Technion Technological institute in Haifa.
Previously the Global Head of Marketing for SAP SuccessFactors, April was responsible for end-to-end marketing for SuccessFactors around the world. In this role, April led strategic marketing plans to grow global brand recognition, revenue, customer success and category creation of human experience management (HXM), which is focused on solution innovations that put the employee at the center of work. April also served as a Diversity and Inclusion Lead at SAP and led global thought leadership and strategic partnerships inspiring an inclusive culture, women’s equality, supplier diversity, and sustainable supply chains.
April has been honored by various organizations including CRN’s “Women of the Channel” and as a “Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive” by EmPower. She holds a B.A. in Communications and Marketing from Simon Fraser University, Canada’s leading comprehensive university.
Ella holds a B.A in Psychology from the Hebrew University and MSc in Organizational Behavior from Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.
Previously, she held the role of Head of Product Experience and Communications for LivePerson, a leading Conversational AI platform, where she played crucial part in delivering significant product innovation and customer growth. Prior to her time at LivePerson, she held multiple senior product roles at NICE, a leading enterprise customer experience (CX) software provider, including Director of Product Portfolio and Director of Product Management.
Linat holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Computer Science from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya). She graduated magna cum laude from both institutions.
Prior to that he was CEO of Gilon-Synergy Business Insight, a national leader in Business Intelligence. In 2010, Gilon-Synergy was acquired by Ness Technologies (NASDAQ:NSTC) and Gal went on to serve as Senior VP at Ness, and was member of its executive management.
Prior to that he was VP customer relations and operations at Deloitte Consulting. He also worked at EDS and Bashan. He holds a MBA degree in Marketing and Information Technologies from the Tel Aviv University.
Jayme Smithers brings 25 years of leadership experience in enterprise software. He has been building and scaling high performance revenue teams in the worlds leading technology companies including Oracle, NetSuite, SAP, BusinessObjects, Crystal Decisions and most recently ThoughtExchange.
As the CRO at ThoughtExchange (a leader in Enterprise Discussion Management) he helped significantly scale their growth, led them into new markets, brought in key investment and helped them become the leader in community engagement across the Education sector.
At NetSuite, Jayme helped innovate, grow and scale key verticals as NetSuite become the standard Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) thanks to the introduction of new channels and a value centric approach to the sales process.
Prior to NetSuite, Jayme worked at SAP where he led various roles including global revenue channels, large enterprise and mid market teams. It was here at SAP where he built a strong partnership with our CMO April Crichlow where they focused on building world class teams with clear expectations, coaching and career development!
Outside of work, Jayme can typically be found with his family in the mountains sharing his love, passion and knowledge of nature and sport.
Jayme is actively coaching the Nancy Greene Ski league and competitive youth soccer.
Jayme holds a business degree from University of Denver where he competed in two varsity sports (soccer and alpine skiing) and he helped led the Alpine Ski team to back to back NCAA National Titles in 00 and 01.
Daphne has over 15 years of experience in Customer Relations and Retention in both B2B and B2C environments. Her area of expertise is leading customer success, consulting and global professional services teams within public and private sector companies. She is focused on leading teams to grow the partnership with our clients.
Prior to Centrical, Daphne worked software and service companies in the online marketing and gaming industry.
Daphne holds MA in Statistics – Specialization in Operations Research and a MBA degree, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ariel has over 16 years’ experience in a wide variety of R&D leadership roles. He is highly experienced at building R&D teams from the ground up, driving high levels of accountability and ownership and setting up automation infrastructures. For the past 10 years Ariel has managed both in-house and offshore development teams at companies ranging from startups to enterprise organizations.
Prior to joining Centrical, Ariel served as VP of R&D at Worthy.com where his team dramatically improved product stability, quality and execution. Before that, he was VP R&D at Applicaster where he led infrastructure changes from project to product. Ariel has also held various R&D positions at Retalix (later acquired by NCR).
Ariel holds B.sc in Computer science & Math, and MBA degree in Information Technologies, both from Bar Ilan University
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