Bringing "Gamification" To Your Outdoor Corporate Events

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and you're trying to get your company excited for the next round of team building events. While many employees enjoy spending some time getting to know each other, other employees may need an extra push. The answer is often 'gamification."

What is Gamification?

Gamification is the process of making desirable behavior more attractive by providing rewards for that behavior. One of the simplest examples of gamification in day-to-day life is the "stamp card" that many coffee shops provide. If you get enough stamps on your stamp card, you get a free coffee. Not only are you working towards the coffee, but you're seeing real progress every time you get a stamp. Though each individual stamp doesn't get you anything, it does get you closer to the next reward, which provides positive reinforcement.

The Value of Corporate Gamification

Many businesses are moving towards gamification as a way to encourage positive behaviors in their employees. Gamification makes things fun and interesting, by giving employees a way to track their progress towards their goals. Gamification is also being used in schools and by retail stores to encourage consumers to make purchases. It is essentially an effective, streamlined and systematic method of providing positive reinforcement.

Gamifying Your Outdoor Team Building

The hallmarks of gamification include iterative progress and an ultimate reward. To that end, you can gamify your outdoor team building by:

• Assigning points to activities and rewarding teams or individuals who have completed those activities.
• Creating a list of prizes that will be given out to employees who achieved the most during activities.
• Rewarding employees for working together or for taking on extra tasks.   
• Acknowledging employees and teams who get into the spirit of the team building exercises.

Gamification is a fairly simple process; it's both low risk and easy to implement. Nevertheless, when it is properly implemented, it can drastically change the "feel" of an outdoor team building event. Instead of being obligated to be there, employees are now competing with each other and trying their best. 

If your company has lackluster team events or if it doesn't seem like the employees are pulling enough value from it, you may want to consider looking further into gamification. Gamification is popular enough that there are a multitude of resources available, including corporate level resources, that give information and ideas for those looking to get started.

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