Gamification – Emerging Trend in eLearning
Gamification is an emerging trend in eLearning industry. Not only it engages the learners, it also challenges their abilities, capacities and capabilities. Using real-time or scenario-based situations, learners are made to choose from different answers. Each answer leading to a consequence, either positive or negative. Leadership is all about inspiring your team to follow you by leading from the front. Leadership comes natural but without training, it does not get a concrete direction. Without training you can lead all you wish, but your team will arrive nowhere.
Gamification – Shaping the Direction of a Leader
Gamification helps shape the direction of a leader. This begins with understanding how to reward leadership decisions and quantify the level of challenge in the game to meet the leader’s comfort zones. The training activity needs to be slightly ahead of where the manager is now. If its level is raised to a higher level, the manager won’t be able to cope up with the game and will end up in distress. On the contrary, gamification allows to create virtual scenarios of the situation which a manager is likely to face in his advanced position, as a leader of the team. Manager can choose his course of actions from the given options in a virtual scenario to learn. S/he will be able to face a crisis and enter a state of preparedness and response using virtual scenarios. Well trained workers can do their jobs without much input. The role of the leader is to steer them in the right direction by inspiring them. Which is why gamification is so powerful in making that transition from “following commands” to “fulfilling responsibility”.
Gamification – Reward Systems
Points, badges and leaderboard systems can be used to move workers toward desired target in gamification. Branching game decisions can be used to open up challenges faced by managers on a daily basis. A lot of decisions can stem from earlier decision taken by the managers. Using exhaustive simulations in gamification targets for leaders to achieve can be created. Gamification uses positive psychology of reward, motivation, engagement and wish fulfillment. Game systems that have the leader engage deeply in the process of understanding their worker’s needs and then harnessing their potential have great ability to encourage this state of flow. Through simulation gamification and teaching managers how to use gamification psychology in the work place, we move both the leader and their team toward this state of flourishing, where job satisfaction is high and output is strong.
Leadership through Gamification
Leadership training through gamification then utilizes;
- The understanding of how to use gamification and positive psychology to inspire and train.
- The ability to use gamification to explore leadership strengths and weaknesses.
Conclusion
If we focus on these outcomes, then positive psychology will make an enduring impression in the workforce. Over time, through good management planning, the organization can be transformed from within. Highly motivated, passionate teams are the goal, where there is flow in the work cycle. Or to return to the works of the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who wrote on this subject nearly 3000 years ago; “The best leaders are those that people hardly know exist!”
