Presentation given at the Gamified Conference at Bangalore - http://www.gamified.in

1. Gamification for Arresting
Attrition
Madhusudan Rao
Research Scholar
@madhugr

2. Gamification
Gamification is soon moving
into trough of disillusionment
Analysts say that only 20% of
gamification implementations
will succeed by 2014
Picture courtesy: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2013-05-19/
Is it true? If so, why do you
think so?
• Failure to design use-cases applicable within
enterprise
• Force-fitting gamification does not help
• Understanding psychology of people involved will
increase chances of success

3. My talk today
• Deals with one of the top issues within Indian IT Organization
– attrition
• Faced by all, irrespective of size, scale, location – any guesses
on the attrition % in organizations?
• Gamification has an inherent advantage – Motivation factor
• Target audience is Next-Gen (One in every five Facebook
users play games each month – half billion global FB users)
• Corpville fills this space in the organization – let us see how?

4. Teams
• They are the same across different fields
– whether it is Information Technology,
Cricket, football or even Bollywood
• Team-work is essential in our daily lives
but heavily under-rated

5. It is all about teams
Picture courtesy: cbsnews.com
Picture courtesy: sports.ndtv.com
Picture courtesy: fans.fcbarcelona.com

6. Teams
• For effective teams, very important prerequisite is a good Manager
• Teams have their own complexities and the
Manager is expected to overcome all!
• Let us look at some examples

7. 'Superstar' players
Picture courtesy: indianexpress.com

8. Managing Super 'egos'
Picture courtesy: flickr.com
Picture courtesy: indianexpress.com
Picture courtesy : cdn.dravenstales.ch

9. Troubled relationships from past
Picture courtesy: foxsports.com.au
Picture courtesy: indiatimes.com

10. Multi-national team composition
Picture courtesy: smh.com.au

11. Are we asking for too much?
• Is the Manager equipped to carry out these
expectations?
• Does the Manager know what the team needs are?
• Do certifications (e.g. PMP, CSM) help him in the
people aspect?
• Does he/she have the tools to help the team
perform?
• Is the team performing to its fullest potential?

12. What is the major impact when a
Manager does not perform?
Attrition

13. Causes for attrition

14. Impact of attrition
•
•
•
•
Organization loses a valuable asset
Project loses knowledge
Manager faces customer pressure
Next steps – the team then has to
– Identify replacement
– Incur additional re-training costs
– Realign team spirit

15. Is the Manager tuned in to his
team's mood swings?
Is it possible at all ?

16. How do we reduce attrition?
Let us try to change the way we work!
How?
Increase motivation
Equip the manager
Identify behavioral trends

17. Reducing Attrition
INCREASE MOTIVATION

18. New Motivational Hierarchy
Passion and zeal: for whom their job is
not only intellectually meaningful it is
indeed spiritually meaningful to them.
Enormous meaning comes out of their
work.
Human creativity: brought by people
who would ask how to do this in a
fundamental different way? What is
there to learn from other industries?
Where are the chances for radical
innovation in this product/service?
Initiative: take ownership for a
problem, an opportunity before you ask
them, not bound by a definition of their
job
Intellect: take responsibility for their
own skills, bring best practices to the
work place
Diligence: work hard, stay focus, long
hours etc.
Obedience: show up, do the job
Source – "Management Guru" Gary Hamel’s interpretation of Maslow’s Hierarchy for the info-age

19. Case Study – Brand Velocity
•
•
•
Founded by Jack Bergstrand inspired by Peter Drucker's Post Capitalist
Society
Jack developed a points system instead of a hierarchical-based
compensation system
Points are awarded for
– selling great work,
– delivering great work,
– recruiting and developing a diverse group of people
•
E.g. $500,000 gross margin equals 500,000 points
–
–
–
–
$125,000 for leading the sale
$ 75,000 distributed for assisting the sale
$ 150,000 for leading the delivery,
$ 150,000 distributed for assisting the delivery

20. Reducing Attrition
EQUIP THE MANAGER,
IDENTIFY BEHAVIORAL TRENDS
Introducing CorpVille

21. Corpville

22. Components
Tasks are selected
by employees but
few tasks are
suggested by
Managers
Time-sensitive –
special tasks if
they are
qualified
Rewards for work
done,
celebrations,
support themes,
events
Tasks
Challenges
Exchange
Analytics
PBL
For awarding,
redeeming,
trading, gifting,
and exchanging
“WS coins”
Gain real insights
into employee
behavior; align
with rewards
platform; insights
into strategic
plans
Decorations
Points (WS
coins), Badges,
Leaderboards

23. Use-cases

24. Benefits

25. To summarize
• If implemented properly, Corpville can become the
eyes and ears of the Manager
• Metrics gleaned can provide valuable insights into
his/her team
• Corpville helps organizations
– reduce attrition,
– increase productivity,
– improve morale

26. Happy teams
Picture courtesy: http://wikipedia.org