The emPLAYee – how gamification can foster innovation in your organization (Part I)

[tonja_erismann]

Wondering what an emPLAYee is?!

YOUR employee of the future!

Here's why:

1. Your workforce will be ¾ Millenials in ten years (Deloitte)
   
2. Millennials respond exceptionally well to gamification:
   • Half of Millennial respondents find real life less stimulating than gaming (MTV researcher Nick Shore)
   • Game Designer Jane McGonigal: the average 21year-old has spent over ten thousand hours playing video games, which equals the amount of schooltime between 5th to 12th grade
     
3. Gamification is a fantastic driver for innovation:
   • More than half of the companies that manage the innovation process will gamify that process by 2015 (Gartner)
     

• Gamification increases engagement in networks
  • Research shows that people who are engaged are not only more productive ((Fleming, L. and C. King, A. Juda, "Small Worlds and Regional Innovation“), but a higher level of interaction also significantly improves the quality of their contributions
• The more diverse your network, the more you’re exposed to the world, the more relevant ideas you will have
• The more you share your ideas, and collaborate with others, the richer your concepts will get and the faster they will reach maturity

• Better networked companies are better innovators.
  • Example: 　Zappos - ranked no.20 in the world's most innovative companies - organically creates innovation by improving employee networks and promoting a culture of ‘collisions’
• Millennials prefer to work in ‘wirearchies’ – dynamic digital networks of connected nodes free of predefined priorities or ranks – where the org chart no longer represents the "go-to" people in an organization. (Frank, M. and Roehrig, P. and Pring, B. "Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Bus...")

• Gamification builds on passion
  • The more passionate you are about a topic, the more likely you are to be well-informed and ready to persist in cases of resistance and failure – vital in Innovation, which we all know is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration (Edison)
    
    

So: Gamification is the ideal lever to raise your innovation profile as an organization, as it will be the ‘natural stimulator’ for your future worker, and a key ingredient driving the networked and passion-driven company.

Looking for some hands-on advice on how to gamify innovation? Read Part II of this blog!

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About the Author: Tonja Erismann is an innovation and strategy expert and Head of Innovation DNA in SAP’s Global Services Innovation group, with over 15 years of emerging technology management and consulting experience with leading global businesses.

Follow me on Twitter @TonjaErismann