Can Gamification be Applied to HR?

At #hackingHR recently, Tom Goldenberg spoke about gamification in Human Resources.

Tom said that HR is renowned for delivering flat, one-way content. In practice this looks like: “Here are our values, now go and implement them”. But human centred design has taught us that this approach results in poor engagement with the content and very little change in behaviour.

Gamification is the idea of designing for human motivation, not just usability. Tom talked about the importance of adding 2-way conversations and fun into the process of creating and consuming content. I’ve seen this in the work we do helping companies build Culture Codes. When we start with a company, they often have a set of values that were delivered to the organisation by HR (or the CEO) in a flat, one-way manner. They are “dead posters on a wall” – not lived or well known.

Values should be defined through a fun, 2-way process, which should be memorable and trigger strong belonging cues. This co-creation allows everyone to buy into the results and gives you the behaviour change you’re looking for. One of the gamification techniques we use in our Culture Code workshops is LEGO serious play. Here’s an example: