We know that games work to engage and retain employees, particularly the younger generations. Thus, we were pleased when we heard recently that global professional services firm Deloitte LLP uses games to increase engagement on its online learning portal for leaders, called the "Deloitte Leadership Academy."
Launched in 2008, the portal gives Deloitte leaders access to content through their mobile devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablet devices. The portal offers content in 12 areas of study and equips leaders with the competencies they need to be successful in the firm’s global business.
About a year ago, the Leadership Academy was not meeting the firm’s levels of desired participation. That’s when some of Deloitte’s learning and digital strategy leaders collaborated to create a solution. They looked for a way to make the learning experience more fun, rewarding and engaging for users and came up with gamification.
By maximizing variations of gaming techniques used in other traditional educational settings, Deloitte’s learning leaders sought to motivate its workforce to increase participation in the online portal. They structured their game like school, where students work at different levels, earn grades and even receive rewards for achievements. They called it "Badgeville."
Started in 2010, the Badgeville gamification platform uses rewards and recognition in the form of colorful online badges to maximize engagement and drive desired behaviors. After working with Badgeville on the integration for a few months, Deloitte recently rolled out a completely gamified version of the portal this spring.
People are already earning badges, and sharing them on LinkedIn and Twitter. Moreover, this Badgeville portal is engaging learners around the world. The platform includes a leader board, where users can see how they stack up on learning objectives compared to their peers. However, users also find the learning motivating because they want to “beat their own personal best.”
Expect to see enterprising entrepreneurs creating less-elaborate games for their small- and medium-size companies and software producers to create reasonably priced turnkey versions for these companies to buy. We have only scratched the surface of the potential for games to engage – and retain.
