The way we work, teach, and communicate needs to evolve to keep up with the ever-changing times, and employers have realized that video games can effectively capture and engage audiences.
Why Use Game-Based Training Solutions Τo Engage Your Millennial Workforce
In the digital world, success is often defined as staying ahead of the curve and people are constantly seeking more efficient ways to navigate their personal and professional lives.
The days of reading a 50 page instruction manual has been replaced by watching a five minute YouTube tutorial. Thousands of daily distractions (emails, g-chats, texts, notifications, calls, etc.) have eroded our attention span to mere minutes. This societal attention deficit (S.A.D.) has conditioned us to quickly move from one task to another without retaining much information.
These S.A.D. times brought about by the information age have had the most significant effect on the Millennial generation. It is difficult to attract and maintain the attention of Millennials who, each year, are becoming a bigger part of our corporate workforce. But Millennials love games for the fun, challenge, and constant feedback that they provide. With this in mind, companies like Marriott, Canon U.S.A., and American Express are actively using games to train and test entry level employees. Games draw people in and keep them focused through compelling art and animations, storytelling, real-time feedback, and motivation.
The value of games is immeasurable because they both help employers and engage employees, providing them with a safe place to practice and fail.
Games make it easy for employers to deliver content in bite-sized components and ensure better retention. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), 70% of major employers utilize games to train employees. Managers no longer have to wonder if their employees have completed their training or what they know. They can quickly review user analytics for this information as well as more nuanced information like user personas: If Michael doesn’t score great on the social skills section, maybe he should be reassigned from the Sales department. If Emma is a high performer but takes her time completing the game then you know she is detail-oriented person. The data we get from games about our employees can be used to put them on the track to succeed which will only in turn benefit our companies. After analyzing play statistics, employers can re-work their content to make sure the message(s) they want to convey are getting across clearly and being retained.
The Game-Based Training Solutions Τo Engage Millennials In Your Organization
Training games come in all shapes and sizes. Some companies create custom games to reflect the unique aspects of their business or culture while most leverage existing products in the marketplace. Below is a list of 5 products that have been around for years, adopted by hundreds of companies, and are seen as highly effective.
1. Knack
Knack enables companies to identify individual employee talents and strengths to help them stand out. Through games, players showcase themselves in authentic ways and demonstrate unique patterns of behavior. For career planning, predictive leadership, and talent and innovation discovery, Knack generates education and employment opportunities through games.
2. Knowledge Guru
Knowledge Guru offers game templates that challenge learners to climb mountains, get to the top of skyscrapers, and drive in races. Every game combines the power of story, points, badges, and leaderboards with learning science that makes game content easy to recall on the job. Call centers, product managers, and sales leaders report using these games for product and process training.
3. GameLearn
GameLearn offers a suite of pre-built games designed to improve employee soft skills such as negotiation and conflict resolution. Players engage in different scenarios through the lens of customizable avatars and practice several business techniques. GameLearn requires no software, only an internet connection.
4. Qstream
Qstream measures and manages the strengths of sales teams 3 minutes per day. The app offers quiz formatted games to keep users engaged in the information and to ignite high team performance. Qstream primarily focuses on sales training via their mobile platform.
5. The Training Arcade
The Training Arcade offers a library of fun, casual games that can be rapidly customized with any content to reinforce educational material, assess knowledge retention, measure overall teaching effectiveness, and improve learning outcomes. The library is content agnostic and filled with various interactive learning games that combine training content with a fun, addictive, and replayable game that reinforce lessons while employees play for higher scores. A robust administrative site and analytics dashboard enables the client to update game content and track user performance in real-time.
Final Word
While games have been popular for years, companies are using them to train new employees more than ever because of the low risk and high reward. Games provide employees with a fun and safe environment to experiment, using the information they have just been taught, and offer challenges, feedback, and rewards that are extremely motivational. Companies use the feedback and analytics from these training games to make sure that knowledge is being retained, employees are being developing, and learning content is being retained.
Find this article published at elearningindustry.com
