Gamification In Learning & Development

In partnership with NHRD, we today had the privilege to host a session on gamification in learning and development, as part of NHRD Mumbai’s flagship conference called Dopamine.

Led by Mr. Lakshmanan (President, NHRD Mumbai Chapter) and Mr. Kasi Viswanath, the one-and-a-half-day conference focused on gamification across all aspects of HR – from recruiting and learning to engagement and rewards.

Our session was hosted by Kartik Mohla, Founder & CEO of InspireOne Technologies and included a presentation by Pulkit Handa, Group EVP & Head Retail Training at YES Bank and Sidhant Kashiva, Head Learning & Development at Mahindra Holidays followed by a panel discussion with both leaders and Sonali Majumdar, Head Learning & Development at Bennett Coleman & Company.

The session started off with an understanding of how successful gamification is a function of adopting a multidisciplinary approach involving other fields of expertise as well such as data science, learning content, behavioral psychology, among other things.

We also discussed how different approaches can be leveraged depending on the level of audience so that the gamification and learning experience can be adapted better to the learners, based on their tenure, experience, age and other factors.

Sidhant from Mahindra spoke about how AI can be leveraged by pooling data from various knowledge sources across the organization and then showcasing insights to leaders on how they apply leadership competencies on the job – either in real time or in a simulated environment. By leveraging Supernova, powered by IBM Watson, Sidhant spoke about how understanding the organization’s leaders at the first-time manager and mid manager level enabled was supported by evidence based data. This helped get a better buy in from the leaders as they got detailed analysis of their leadership strengths and development areas in a very transparent and easy to understand experience.

Moving to the front line, Pulkit spoke about YES School of Banking’s (YES Bank’s Learning Academy) strategy to adopt a hybrid approach to digital and physical learning wherein gamification is central to the approach.

He also spoke about adopting a sound approach towards digital learning & gamification which included launch, wait, learn, evaluate and then relaunch. He also showcased YES Bank’s digital learning solution, powered by Master-O to the audience as a live implementation of the gamification experience.

The panel discussed where and where not to leverage gamification in learning & development, the need to constantly focus on learning effectiveness as well as how digital learning and gamification can further ensure personalization in learning, leading to a better learning experience.

There were also interesting questions from HR and L&D leaders asking how gamification led to improvements in productivity and how it could tackle attrition challenges, especially at the front line.

The session concluded with lots of learning and exchanges from practitioners in three different industries sharing how they leverage gamification in their organization and what results they have seen.