Over the next few weeks, many people will ask themselves what they can do differently in the new year. They will set goals and put plans in place to make personal or professional improvements. Unfortunately, according to a study by the University of Scranton, 92% of people who set New Year’s goals fail to achieve them.

There’s an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. I believe it takes a village to make people successful. We simply can’t do it on our own. After all, we’re social in nature and influenced by those around us.

How can we motivate our team and get them to follow through with their New Year’s goal? One approach worth exploring is the use of gamification at work. This is where a great company culture can make a difference.

Through gamification, companies can help focus their employee’s energy, create optimism and drive success at things that are important to the individual. Jane McGonigal, an American game designer and author, advocates the use of games to channel positive attitudes and collaboration in the real world, stating “Game developers know better than anyone else how to inspire extreme effort and reward hard work. They know how to facilitate cooperation and collaboration at previously unimaginable scales. And they are continuously innovating new methods to motivate players to stick with harder challenges, for longer, and in much bigger groups. These crucial twenty-first-century skills can help all of us find new ways to make a deep and lasting impact on the world around us.”

Benefits Of Gamification In The Workplace

Gamification is the model of applying game-like elements to non-game-like situations. It encourages people to do repetitive, mundane tasks they already do by making it more fun, rewarding and engaging. It is typically used to reinforce good work and build employee morale. It can be used to motivate individuals, teams, and entire organizations. There are several aspects to gamification:

• Incentive: Set up an incentive where employees can compete for points and prizes. For example, a team could receive points for completing a task at the end of the week, and each team member receives tangible or experiential prizes.

• Social Influence: Creating a social game-like environment that encourages collaboration allows employees to support each other and become more willing to follow through on their goals. You could create a trivia game where team members can play together, and if they win, the winning team receives a prize.

• Empowerment: Gamification can empower employees by allowing them to build their skills and knowledge. You can set up an educational game where employees can learn about a certain topic and earn points for completing activities relevant to the topic.

• Ownership: Gamification can also increase employees’ ownership over their New Year’s professional and personal resolutions because they control their goals and success. By participating in the process, they feel more empowered and are more likely to follow through with their goals.

Helping Employees Achieve Personal And Professional New Year’s Resolutions Through Gamification

Personal and professional New Year’s resolutions will most likely be the same for most employees. The question is: How do you ensure they succeed?

There are many ways to enhance productivity and employee morale. For example, gamification is a way to use the principles of gameplay to enhance organizational productivity. A gamified work environment can create incentives to achieve personal goals such as personal wellness challenges and professional goals such as career development.

Considering implementing gamification into the workplace? Here are three ideas to help you get started:

1. Encourage Healthy Competition

One way to implement gamification is to create healthy competition between employees. They can compete against each other to see who can exercise the most or eat the healthiest.

One of the most famous examples of workplace gamification is a weekly step challenge to see who can get the most steps within the workweek. These challenges help encourage your employees to engage in activities that are good for their health and wellness. It’s a fun way to keep employees on track with their health and wellness goals.

2. Emphasize Team Building

Another way to use gamification in the workplace is to build a sense of camaraderie among employees. Team-building contests are a great way to foster teamwork and increase employee engagement.

For example, game nights, trivia and Zoom parties are all great ways to get employees to bond and have fun together. This will create a more social environment that will help your employees to get to know each other. The more connected employees feel to a company, the more loyal and dedicated they are to the organization. This will lead to higher productivity and employee satisfaction.

3. Foster Proper Work/Life Balances

Finally, gamification can also be used to help employees balance their work and home life. Employees need to have time to engage in activities related to their personal lives. This helps them feel satisfied and content and increases their productivity, engagement and loyalty to the company.

A leaderboard or tracking system can be used to encourage employees to enforce a no-email policy or commit to a certain number of meditation or yoga classes throughout the week. As employees meet specific goals, they mark them off on their tracker, and you can then share regular updates with the team to see where everyone stands.

Improve Your Employee Engagement Through Gamification 

Gamification is an entertaining and innovative way to encourage employees to achieve goals. It’s an easy way to improve your employee’s engagement so that you can achieve results and create a more productive workforce.

First Published for Forbes Human Resources Council by The Game Agency’s Head of Creative Strategy & Innovation Stephen Baer as a member of Forbes Human Resources Council Member