Can games make you a better entrepreneur, employee, or executive? In a well-documented study conducted by Harvard University researchers Ryan Buell, Tatiana Sandino and Wei Cai, gamification consistently created greater engagement for employees, improved retention for new ideas and increased satisfaction with training programs (when games are used). Science says: if you are looking for ways to improve performance and accelerate learning, make it a game. If you want to drive greater collaboration and healthy competition, make it a game. If you want to teach a complex process, make it a game. To get what you want out of life, what happens if you look at it as…a game? Maybe work can be play, after all.
Bringing Games to Work Changes the Game
Consider the difference between attending a mandatory training and playing a game. The outcome and objectives might be the same, but the experience is totally different. Games get people involved, in a non-threatening way, when duties are replaced with play. Inside a game, you know that you have to find every way to win. Is that the same way you approach your life, your career, and your company? Work is serious, but play is not. The feeling of a game is different, and as a result, so is the outcome. To get what you really want from life, notice how you show up inside of a game: relaxed and focused. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take those feelings into the work challenges you are facing, right now?
For leaders looking for greater performance, consider that these three simple games will activate what companies want most: employee engagement, innovation, and collaboration. More importantly, research from the National Library of Medicine shows that games help people enjoy improving their performance. Try these games and see what shows up for you (and your teams):
- The Innovation Game – imagine that you have been given $100, and sent to a new town where you don’t know anyone. Without breaking the law, or texting a friend to ask for a loan, how would you double your money? What innovative ways could you discover for creating income? After one round of new ideas, change the game. Use the numbers from your last budget meeting. The context is your company. Ask your team to follow the same strategy for revenue growth, or improved efficiency, starting with a blank page. Winning means discovering the ideas you haven’t thought of yet.
- The Persuasion Game – for entrepreneurs, a powerful pitch is a series of “yeses” – agreements that indicate interest from investors. For entrepreneurs, leaders and sales people, it’s useful to learn how to reach a yes. The key is: be inarguable. (That strategy has been a big help to my clients on Shark Tank, Dragons Den and Shark Tank Australia). Are you good at getting people to say “yes”, in a way that’s natural and authentic (not sneaky and manipulative)? Because getting to “yes” is how you play the persuasion game. To win, you simply say things that are inarguable. You say things that are true, absolutely and always. Not a matter of faith or belief. When someone is playing the persuasion game, other players must ask this simple question: “Is that true?” If the answer is yes, the Persuasion Game player gets a point! But here’s the deal: players can’t say obvious stuff, like “The sky is blue”. You have to say things that focus on what people want, or desire – and it usually fits into this format: “Doesn’t it seem like _________?”, where you fill in the blank that makes people say, “Yes, that’s true.” For example, “Doesn’t it seem like we all want a sense of family and belonging?” “Doesn’t it seem like every patient deserves privacy around their medical records?” “Doesn’t it seem like we all want to be heard, seen and understood?” Share ideas that are universally inarguable, and you are winning the persuasion game. Want to take it up a notch? Say things that are undeniable about your business, your market, your competitors and your customers. Do others agree with you?
- Make that Stuff Work – players agree on a list of challenges (stuff) that your organization is working on. The challenges are placed on notecards, and dropped into a hat. The first player pulls out a notecard, and has to “Make that Stuff Work” – via a personal story that illustrates a key element of the challenge on the card. Note that the first rule is: don’t try to solve the problem. Relate to the challenge by telling a personal story – and see if you can say or share something new on the topic. Relating your personal experience is how you make that stuff work. The story can access a memory, or an aspiration, but it has to be personal. To Make that Stuff Work you can’t provide a history lesson. No preaching or teaching allowed. You have to approach the challenge from your own personal point of view, and use a story that illustrates that point. If your story is relevant, fresh and relatable, you’ve Made that Stuff Work. Maybe you haven’t solved the problem, but you’ve shared the way that you’ve experienced it from a personal perspective. Sharing that perspective is the first step in facing team challenges – and Making that Stuff Work. So many times, organizations jump into problem-solving mode – without considering personal perspectives. Remember, your team can’t win until everyone plays the game.
When you want people to work harder, play more. “People will support what they help to create,” says author, Jack Stack, in The Great Game of Business. Games require innovation, but without many of the “pressures” that can appear in the world of work. After all, it’s just a game, right? What happens if your team makes the rules? Making time (and creating a safe space) for gamification is the counter-intuitive way to improve performance.
Accessing innovation allows you to see solutions that others don’t, or won’t, or can’t. Innovation allows you to find new ways to get what you want, and the Entrepreneurship Game is a simple way to explore new ways of attacking the same old problems. Looking for growth? Play around with doubling your money. Then, notice that your ability to persuade and influence others starts when you learn to be inarguable. Can you say things that others know to be true? Or are you needing to convince everyone to believe that you are right? Maybe credibility is different than how you are imagining it. Instead of declaring your beliefs and expecting others to share them, offer your perspective in a story. Find new solutions, become more persuasive, and share your personal story. When it comes to getting what you want out of the game of life, why not play… to win?