A screen shot of the True Office application
In recent months I have read several articles in he business press of forward-thinking companies who are incorporating the gamification trend in to their training programs. Gamification in this context can transform a training program in to a story telling video game experience with progress-based scoring and rewards. This approach if optimized correctly can greater captivate the employee’s attention and enhance the learning experience, to achieve greater knowledge retention.
Fortune Magazine recently featured an example of True Office’s compliance game training applications. The applications take the form of an interactive story, told in a fast paced manner over the course of about 20 minutes. Following the game’s completion, trainees complete a 10-minute quiz to confirm their understanding of the material. Here is the True Office demo:
True Office applications are delivered by the cloud and are compatible with almost any device. The video below explains a little more about the True Office application software:
As you can see in the video above True Office consider their software to be a way to greater engage my generation the Millennials, when doing compliance training. Since my generation has grown up with technology and are accustomed to interaction, True Office believe their applications which use tablets and mobile technologies are far more suited to engaging what they refer to as the ‘New Media Workforce’ than binders and videos from the 80’s. I couldn’t agree more, this approach is very current and relevant to the 21st century business environment.
In addition to the obvious advantage of making compliance training less tedious for employees, the program also offers advanced analytics. Companies using the True Office game are able to obtain exact figures of how long employees spend reading policies. Such information is greatly helpful for compliance protection in the case of liability suits. In addition the analytics can help companies to identify areas where additional training is needed. For example, if employees consistently make the same mistakes on the quiz, areas of confusion can be addressed in additional training or can be sued to revamp the current training process.
The analytics and fun aspect of gamified training programs demonstrate great potential, but what do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Marie Wiere's Blue Sky Management Blog 
Great post. The potential is there but it will be interesting to see if companies are disciplined enough to stay committed to this approach. What happens when trainees win? What happens after the second or third year of implementation?
Any plan sounds good in theory but if you don’t stick with it then there is no point. We will see what happens in the HR industry with gamification.
Thank you Anthony for your insightful comment and for visiting my blog.
I think this approach would need to be incorporated into ongoing training programs too. Updated refresher courses should also be used to keep employees informed of changes.
Marie,
This is fascinating technology. I agree that it has tons of potential. It seems like a much more interesting way to do employee training.
I was also thinking that perhaps something like this could work in the education industry. Maybe it could be utilized in some situations to make school a little less boring?
That sounds like a great idea Greg. It would especially help break up the monotony and greater engage students in some of the required but dry classes.
Gamification is the latest buzzword in the training industry.
I use the game metaphor a lot when working with executives, CEO’s, biz owners, and professionals. I tell them they get to choose how the game is played, the rules, the players, the field, etc.
In the end, it’s all made up.
So true! Thanks for the comment Steve.
This is really a good feature of gamification in Employee Training program. I think without this feature the Employee Training software that I use works really good. Have a look for your reference http://www.workflowstoday.com/products/peoplequest