Change Management Gamification: A New Approach to Communicating Organisational Change

In today’s fast-paced business environment, change management has become a crucial element for organisational success. However, managing change can be a daunting task, as it often involves changing the existing organisational structure, processes, and culture. To address this challenge, leading businesses are increasingly proposing a new approach to driving organisational change through gamification.

In this article, we’re going to explore the concept of change management gamification and how it can be leveraged to facilitate effective and sustainable change within organisations, as well as provide examples of how we’ve helped some of the world’s biggest brands drive this approach forwards.

If you’re looking at change management and ways to implement it quickly, effectively, and in a digestible way for your organisation, gamification could be the solution.

Gamification: The Basics

We’ve covered what gamification is in detail before, but if you’re new here, here’s a quick rundown of what gamification is and the principles behind it.

Gamification, in short, is the practice of applying game design elements and mechanics to non-game contexts with the aim of engaging and motivating users. It has become a popular approach for promoting positive engagement in various fields, including education, marketing and healthcare. The core concept of gamification is to leverage the intrinsic motivation that comes with playing games, such as the desire for achievement, competition and social interaction, to encourage users to engage with a particular task or system.

The process of gamification involves identifying the specific goals and desired outcomes of the system or task, determining the target audience, and designing game elements that align with the audience’s interests and motivations. Some common game elements used in gamification include points, badges, levels, leaderboards and challenges. These elements are integrated into the system or task to create a game-like experience that motivates users to engage with it.

One of the core principles of gamification is feedback, which involves providing users with real-time information about their progress and performance. Feedback can take the form of visual cues, such as progress bars or notifications, or social interactions, such as peer-to-peer feedback or recognition. Another principle is the concept of rewards, which involves providing users with tangible or intangible incentives for completing tasks or achieving goals. Rewards can take many forms, including virtual items, discounts, or exclusive access to content or services.

Gamification is used across multiple industries and is something we’ve worked with a diverse range of clients on, including Biffa and Coca-Cola. Read more of our case studies to explore the practical applications of gamification in more detail.

Key Change Management Activities

Change management is the systematic approach to planning, implementing and monitoring changes to an organisation’s processes, culture or structure. It aims to minimise disruptions and ensure that changes to management framework are implemented smoothly and efficiently, while also maximising benefits and reducing risks.

The process of change management typically involves several key steps. The first step is to identify the need for change, which may arise from a variety of sources, such as changes in the market, new technologies, or internal factors such as cost or performance issues. Once the need for change has been identified, the next step is to plan and design the changes, taking into account potential risks and the impact on stakeholders.

Communication is an essential component of change management. Communicating the need for change and the benefits it will bring helps to build support and overcome resistance to pending revisions. Change management also involves identifying and managing potential risks and ensuring that the necessary resources, such as training or technology, are in place to support the adjustments.

Another critical aspect of change management is monitoring and evaluating the change’s effectiveness. This allows organisations to identify areas where further improvements can be made and ensure that the desired outcomes are being achieved, as well as seeing whether they’ve managed to achieve successful change implementation on a broader scale.

How Gamification Engages Employees in Transformation

When it comes to transformation initiatives, such as changes in organisational structure, culture or technology, gamification can help employees better understand and embrace the changes. By using game mechanics such as points, badges and leaderboards, employees can track their progress and compete with their colleagues, creating a sense of accomplishment and healthy competition. This method of experiential learning not only drives engagement, but it also helps employees retain important information more effectively.

Furthermore, gamification can help break down information silos and encourage cross-functional collaboration by creating shared goals and a common language. When employees from different departments or teams participate in the same game, they are forced to communicate and work together to achieve a common objective. This fosters a sense of community and promotes teamwork, which can be invaluable in transformation initiatives that require coordination across the organisation.

Change Management Gamification Benefits

Gamification has numerous benefits for change management. It makes change management fun and engaging, provides real-time feedback, promotes teamwork and collaboration, and helps to overcome resistance to change. These benefits can help businesses to successfully implement organisational change initiatives and achieve their goals, as detailed below.

Increase employee engagement rates

One of the main benefits (and goals) of gamification is that it makes change management fun and engaging. It transforms the change management process from a tedious and often boring task to an exciting and enjoyable activity. This is because games are inherently motivating, and they provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when objectives are achieved.

According to a study by TalentLMS, gamification increases employee engagement by 60% and improves knowledge retention by 90% – making business change implementation simulation models a viable approach if organisational structures and processes are changing considerably and require extensive changes to implement.

Improve performance metrics

A secondary benefit of gamification in change management is that it provides real-time feedback to employees, allowing them to monitor their progress and adjust their behaviour accordingly. This feedback helps employees to identify areas for improvement and motivates them to strive for better results.

A study by Aberdeen Group found that gamification improves performance metrics by an average of 14%, so if the goal of change management is to maximise benefits and output through systemic change, gamification is a good way to achieve this KPI.

Enhance collaboration across departments

Gamification promotes teamwork and collaboration among employees. When employees are competing against each other, they are more likely to work together to achieve a common goal. This helps to build a culture of collaboration and teamwork within the organisation.

According to a study by Deloitte, companies with a collaborative culture are five times more likely to be high-performing, again, allowing organisations to achieve change management KPIs in an efficient and effective way.

Increase change adaption

The final major notable benefit of introducing gamification to the change management process is that it helps to overcome resistance to change by making it more palatable. When change is presented as a game, it becomes less intimidating and more accessible. This helps to reduce anxiety and increase acceptance of change among employees.

A study by Gartner found that gamification can increase the adoption of new technologies by up to 50%, making it more efficient to get employees to adopt systemic changes through this implementation medium.

How to Implement Gamification in Change Management

At Sliced Bread Animation, we help businesses of all sizes introduce gamification as a means to bring about structural change in an efficient and effective way. Our process is simple and is designed to make implementation as easy as possible:

1. Define your objectives

Firstly, it’s important to define the objectives of your change management program and align them with the gamification approach. This involves identifying the key behaviours, skills and attitudes that need to be reinforced or changed to support your desired outcomes. It also requires selecting the appropriate game mechanics, such as points, badges, leaderboards and challenges, that will incentivise and reward the desired behaviours. We can provide assistance with choosing the right mechanics based on your goals.

2. Communicate intent and instructions

The second step is to ensure that the gamification strategy is integrated with your broader change management plan, including communication, training and support. This means creating a cohesive and consistent message that highlights the benefits of the changes being implemented, provides clear instructions on how to participate in the gamification program, and offers ongoing feedback and recognition for progress and achievements.

3. Analyse and evaluate effectiveness

The final step is to continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the gamification strategy and adjust it as needed. This involves collecting and analysing data on participation rates, engagement levels and impact on the targeted behaviours and outcomes. It also requires soliciting feedback from employees and stakeholders and incorporating their suggestions and concerns into the program design to complete the process with maximum efficacy.

Speak to the Gamification Experts

Here at Sliced Bread Animation, we have extensive experience in gamification. Our award-winning team has helped improve employee retention and learning through interactive and engaging mediums, and we’re available to help your organisation achieve the same. Get in touch with us to find out more.