21
How to Gamify Innovation By Planbox v. June 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
By Planbox v. June 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Table of Contents Introduction
Game Design
Rewards Status Rewards Access Rewards Power Rewards Stuff Rewards
Player Types
Best Practices for Designing a Reward System
Innovation Game Design Customer Examples Example – Scoreboards and Leaderboards Example – Stuff Example – Achievement Examples – Point System
Nothing Lasts Forever
How Much to Spend on Rewards?
Summary
1 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Introduction It's play that helps us do serious things better. Jake Orlowitz Rewards and recognition are tangible proof to participants that their input is valuable to the organization. These important tools not only validate the individual’s or team’s effort, but go a long way to build trust in the innovation process, create “buzz”, and motivate the entire participant community. To be effective, however, rewards and recognition must be inclusive, impactful, immediate, and visibly promoted by senior management. While monetary prizes and material items are popular and useful carrots for getting people in the game, they are decreasingly effective motivators of participant behavior in the long run. Recognition and other nonmaterial perks are “levers where the value to the individual is greater than the cost to the company”, a consideration that becomes ever more important to companies dealing with a tough economic climate. They are essential to the incentive structure of a welldesigned innovation process. Innovation events and programs have a game element and games have to be fun. This guide provides a high level description of game design and offers recommendations for developing a highly engaging rewards and recognition model. Key game design elements to make innovation fun and engaging are as follows:
Understand the players: understand: User profiles, demographics, skills, experience and interests Who will participate in submitting ideas (can be just about everyone
including your employees, customers and partners), reviewing them (subject matter experts and moderators) and who will follow up (managers) and complete ongoing action items (whoever is assigned to work on a phase of the idea or experiment)
Point system (also called experience points): develop a point system that measures any action taken by the user based on its value
Levels and badges: decide whether you will award badges and design levels that show who are the most engaged and expert participants
Rewards: Define and promote soft and stuff rewards for innovation activity Measure results, redesign if needed and take action based on the stats
2 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Game Design
A welldesigned game consists of the following elements:
Rewards Player types: achiever, socializer, killer, explorer Stages of mastery: novice / casual / expert engagement mechanics Point system Levels, badges and other achievements
Each of these design elements is discussed in more detail in the sections that follow.
3 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Rewards The following diagrams, explanations and examples describe the different types of rewards you should think about and consider before designing your innovation reward system. A carefully designed reward system will motivate, increase participation levels, improve user engagement and create positive vibes around your innovation program.
4 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Status Rewards
In a video game this reward would be equivalent to leaderboards, badges and levels
Examples of status rewards at work: LinkedIn recommendation letter Handwritten thank you note presented at an allhands meeting Awards: plaques, certificate of achievement, medal Leaderboards, badges and levels displayed on a frequently accessed
corporate social portal Status rewards are often tied to valuable player behaviour that supports the organization’s business objectives. For example, you may reward the top innovator of the year with a letter of recommendation or public praise. Status rewards are often awards to the those who are consistently active and are perceived to have made high quality contributions.
5 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Access Rewards
In a video game this would be equivalent to levels Examples of access rewards at work:
First to see sneak preview of new product investments Attend next senior executive closeddoor meeting on innovation Access to confidential competitive analysis, or research information Lunch with a senior executive, mentorship, reserved parking
Access rewards give users special privileges. For example a last month’s top contributor is invited to attend a closed door meeting by the top executives of the division where they discuss next year’s business plans and objectives; or given access to confidential reports and research that only a privileged few have access to.
6 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Power Rewards
In a video game this would be equivalent to levels Examples of power rewards at work:
Being a community moderator or reviewer Own the development of a set of ideas as idea champion Participate in budgeting and approval of innovation experiments/projects Gets first pick on vacation dates, office with a window, reserved parking
spot Power rewards entitle a player to have some sort of authority or control over others. In the context of an innovation program, moderators, subject matter experts and idea champions are given various forms of authority such as what comments are not acceptable, whether an idea has merit and how to go about proposing a proof of concept experiment.
7 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Stuff Rewards
Examples of power rewards at work:
Tshirts, mugs, gift cards, travel voucher Can be a drawing or awarded to a specific person for a specific achievement 1 out of every 20 participants wins a prize May include a more expensive sought after grand prize Earn more vacation days, work half a day Friday, skip Monday
Offering a limited set of stuff rewards in certain cases can be part of your gamification design as long as this reward type is not your primary option or used extensively throughout the entire innovation process.
8 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Player Types
Players of your game consist of any user who logins into the systems and takes some sort of action such as idea submitters, contributors, reviewers, moderators, subject matter experts and administrators, You should carefully define and get to know who are the main players you want to focus on. Who are they and what drives them. Then divide players into segments and design campaigns (challenges) that target their passions, skills, experience, interests and background.
9 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
10 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Best Practices for Designing a Reward System
Target two user types to start Pick at most three key performance indicators to measure the reward and
engagement system’s success Design for reinforcement do not employ a carrot and stick approach by taking
points away Stuff giveawayfocused innovation engagement mechanics quickly lose their
effectiveness need more frequent revamps and refreshes It is much harder to design a reward system that is focused on softer rewards but
they are much more successful Fund actual projects and experiments, give people time to execute them
rewarding success and failure are powerful innovation enablers
11 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Innovation Game Design Customer Examples
Example – Scoreboards and Leaderboards
12 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
13 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Example – Stuff
14 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Example – Achievement
15 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Examples – Point System
16 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Nothing Lasts Forever
Even the most well designed games get old, the novelty factor eventually wears off. Measure, measure and measure again to see what works and what doesn’t. If your key indicators (example: number of actions taken, number of idea status changes) start trending down consistently (adjusting for seasonality) then it’s time to tweak or redesign your reward systems. Even the key indicators should not be set in stone – is the game achieving its intended objectives? If your key indicators are tracking well but innovation results aren’t then you need to reconsider what is being measured. Some key activities to consider:
Quarterly numbersdriven review and analysis of rewards versus innovation activity versus results
Game design, quarterly review, engagement analysis and adjustments Without iterative game design people just end up with a “points and stuff”
system Challenge design based on corporate strategy
Map challenges into game levels and rewards Analyze/rejig: mix of internal team members & external advisors should conduct
and discuss assessments so that multiple perspectives and experiences are taken into account
17 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
How Much to Spend on Rewards? One of the questions we are often asked: How much money should be invested in reward innovation activity? As we presented in this guide we highly recommend that you carefully design your reward system around the SAPS (status access power and stuff) model. Our professional services team can help you design this model and iteratively improve it based on engagement results as we report on and analyze innovation activity on a quarterly basis. Only the stuff in the SAPS model costs money and is actually the least effective reward you can offer. You have to be really careful not to make the "stuff" the most sought after reward because it has the least long term lasting effect and is the weakest form of lasting motivation. In general stuff rewards for innovation activity can also draw from or fall into the same bucket (budget) you allocate for employee recognition activities. Here are some studies and surveys that provide you with general guidelines on what your employee recognition budget should be. Organizations invest in recognition in a big way – spending roughly 1% of payroll on recognition activities. WorldatWork, Trends in Employee Recognition, 2011 75 percent of companies have a recognition program, but only 58 percent of employees believe their organizations have these programs. This disconnect indicates that despite the money organizations invest in recognition programs – about 1 percent of payroll – many employees do not even know their programs exist. Many organizations have a huge opportunity to leverage their recognition programs more effectively through – at a minimum – improved communications about the programs in place. Bersin & Associates 2012
18 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Summary In summary:
Understand who the participants (players) are and design rewards (the game) for your target users.
Design a reward system that encourages the actions and activities you seek. Measure measure measure Change the game based on engagement levels and feedback Fund experiments and projects to close the loop people can see how their
efforts lead to points, to rewards, to experiments, and ultimately lead to winning projects
Celebrate, measure and reward the full cycle of innovation: from creative ideas to winning projects
19 © Planbox 2016
How to Gamify Innovation
Other Sources of Information Innovation Management Glossary: http://planbox.com/agileworkinnovationmanagementsoftwareglossary/ Planbox Innovate support portal https://supportinnovate.planbox.com Innovation Management Software Evaluation Guide http://planbox.com/freeevaluationguide/ The Ultimate Innovation Strategist's Playbook http://planbox.com/resources/ultimateinnovationstrategistplaybook/ Planbox Idea Contest Brochure http://planbox.com/resources/planboxideacontestmanagement/ Planbox Innovate Brochure http://planbox.com/resources/planboxinnovationbrochure/
References http://www.gamification.co/
About Planbox Planbox is the pioneering provider of cloudbased Agile Work Innovation solutions from creative ideas to winning projects. Our mission is to help organizations thrive by transforming the culture of agile work, continuous innovation and creativity across the entire organization. Our family of products include Collaborative Innovation Management, Team Decision Making, and Work Management applications. Planbox is designed to be the agile work innovation tool for everyone, built for companies and teams of all sizes. Planbox is trusted by some of the world’s most recognized brands including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Bridgestone, CMHC, Panama Canal Authority, Sempra Energy, Willis Towers Watson and Verizon with millions of internal and external users. To learn more, visit: www.planbox.com and unleash your innovation butterfly.
20 © Planbox 2016
