Game-Based Storytelling Puts Your Employees At The Heart of Internal Communications

If you’re honest with yourself, the content on your internal communications platform is boring. Nobody is reading them. There could actually be a rack of reasons why your employees don’t read your intercoms but the main reason is a lack of engaging content. The problem most companies will encounter when internal communications are ignored are mistakes – and they could be costly.

Internal communication is an important platform to ensure everyone receives and understand the same information. Oftentimes, the message you need to get across is critical for the success of your business. Intercoms build workplace culture, cohesion, boosts productivity, drive engagement and enhances morale. Experiments in corporate settings found that gamification-based storytelling proved to be an effective method of engaging employees. People naturally react positively in response to stories.

Game-based storytelling adds context to internal communications; animated content is visually engaging and stories provoke deeper insights and an emotional connection with your audience. Moreover, if you place your employees at the centre of your communication people can associate with the characters and the situation. The focus of the story should be actions your employees perform regularly and situations they experience in the workplace or working from home – which may be a new experience your staff is still getting accustomed to.

Through their actions and experiences, animated characters can make values and culture relatable in a way that strategy documents laden with dry content cannot. The best method of communication is to show, not tell. Showing brings a situation to life and, when done well, evokes an emotional response and helps people remember the content.

Why Game-Based Storytelling Works

People are automatically drawn to stories because they are fundamental to the human experience. What’s more, when people see themselves reflected in the character, they are able to interpret the meaning of the story with a deeper understanding.

Storytelling is central to cognitive responses and understanding. Because people are so engaged by stories it is a far more effective means of communication than reciting facts, information and events. You could say humans have a natural addiction to fiction.

Animated characters are an effective mechanism in storytelling that can evoke the human aspect of a business and paint a clear impression your employees relate to. The most effective animation identifies a problem and provides a solution. Game-based storytelling, therefore, has all the attributes you need to deliver your message in a way that will engage your employees. Moreover, they are more likely to remember what you’ve told them.

Telling Game-Based Narratives

Game-based storytelling for internal communications should focus on a story your employees can relate to rather than the gamification elements. It is important to relate the story in a natural way, rather than forcing a message. The stories you publish through internal communications should align with the shared reality of your employees, or a potential reality they could experience if they make a mistake.

For example, new legislation may restrict your company from performing an action your employees are accustomed to. You may communicate this distribute this news through email and a team meeting, but when an employee is on auto-pilot they will forget about the new regulation and perform the old routine. This could be a costly mistake.

Game-based narratives should satisfy certain conditions. 

A low-threshold for participation – invite employees to submit story ideas. This encourages people to get involved from the outset and will naturally improve engagement.

Develop Problem-Solution – the narrative for your story should ideally deliver a message in a fun way. Start by placing your character in a problematic situation and work your way towards the solution.

Interactive – create gasified content that gives players the choice of what action they want to take. This is ideal for training, what to do in the event of a fire or new regulatory requirements your employees need to know.

Authentic – create stories with a narrative your employees can relate to. Your employees will provide inspiration for storylines.

Include dialogue – your characters should either speak audibly or with speech bubbles in response to the options players choose. Integrate relevant information in the plotline of the story. When they make a wrong move, describe the consequences of their actions. When they make a right move, explain the benefits.

List takeaways – provide feedback on the player’s performance. This can be used to serve as a reminder of actions they need to take, or the message you want to get across.

Takeaway

Game-based storytelling is a great way to improve the employee experience of your company and provides the executive team with a powerful channel to effectively use your internal communications platform.