LAS VEGAS–People spend an estimated three-billion hours are each week on video games, with the average age of a gamer being 35.
A number of credit unions are using some of the strengths and characteristics of those games to leverage “gamification” and improve employee performance—and satisfaction.
Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage audiences and solve problems. It’s a way to solve problems and engage employees so they do a better job, according to Patrick Mcelhenie, director of product management with CUNA Mutual.
He was joined at CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference by Jenna Gordon, sales manager with Summit Credit Union in Madison, Wis., which has deployed CUNA Mutual’s Inside Track solution and seen strong results as a result.
Gamification said Mcelhenie, starts with status, then moves on to challenges, win conditions, leaderboards, badges, and social network, before coming back to status. That’s at the basis of Inside Track.
Truly Engaged
Mcelhenie pointed to Gallup research that shows about 13% of employees are “truly engaged” at work. Engaged employees show a 52% increase in operating income improvement and are 87% less likely to leave, he added.
“So how does game-mechanics engage employees? If you’re not giving feedback to employees on a daily basis, you are missing out,” said Mcelhenie. “This is also a way to know if you are giving your employees too many tasks to allow them to focus on any one.”
There is another component that also works, said Mcelhenie: fun. “There is nothing wrong with having fun at work. People who are having fun at work are more engaged.”
CUNA Mutual piloted its Inside Track solution with a number of credit unions. Prior to the pilot, the CUs were using quarterly performance reviews and most lending officers were only hearing from supervisors when there was a problem. The CUs also had no way to capture peer feedback.
Afterward, employee standings/rankings were updated every 15 minutes, with quality feedback provided in real-time. Moreover, peers were also empowered to deliver feedback.
CUNA Mutual designed the leaderboard to be aspirational, but not embarrassing, according to Mcelhenie. The goal is to measure what matters, provide positive reinforcement, recognize top performers, and provide context for personal performance, he said.
The platform also sought to incorporate fun. To accomplish that, the designers created scenarios, including multiple choice questions around any subject of importance to the credit union. Employees have one minute to get it right and, if they did, they receive virtual coins. The questions were designed to always be pertinent to a person’s job or inform them about something related to the credit union’s strategy.
The platform allowed employees to duel each other on product sales, for instance, which also added fun.
Lender Expertise
The Inside Track solution was piloted with three credit unions, one of which is Summit Credit Union, in which 43 lenders were involved.
“Since implementation we have had a lot of success with it,” said Jenna Gordon, sales manager, Summit CU, Madison, Wis. “Lender expertise has increased.”
Gamification’s intrinsic value, said Gordon, lies in increasing performance awareness, increasing the knowledge base, spurring healthy competition, encouraging recognition, streamlining communications, and improving efficiency.
A snapshot of every Summit CU employee’s performance is created, according to Gordon. The credit union is using the tool to also create training tracks, for which employees receive a Virtual Achievement Badge upon completion.
The bulk of the internal page created for the employee is filled with “performance widgets,” which are visual representations of how the employees measure up against goals that look like a digital automobile speedometer.
“Managers can look at employee performance by specific metrics, such as comparison to other employees or the branch itself,” explained Gordon. “Managers can also see how employees did on certain questions, and then do corrective consultation. One of the things we love most about Inside Track is that we no longer need to retrieve results from several sources. Everything we need is all right here.”
Gordon said Summit CU has increased sales of PayPro by an average of 5% on $282 million in loans (average 46.4%). Loans disbursed have increased by 13%.
Gordon acknowledged that there have been some “bumps” along the way. User enrollment maintenance had been a challenge, but CUNA Mutual responded by creating a self-enrollment option. Another challenge is ongoing training and utilization by non-gamers has been obstacle.
Summit Credit Union is now in process of rolling out Inside Track to all of its lenders. Among its other goals now is to embed the solution into its training curriculum, find a way to monetize coins, and provide managers with a Summary Report.
Mcelhenie said that CUNA Mutual has also learned some lessons in the process of introducing and implementing Inside Track, including these four lessons:
- What’s measured gets managed
- What’s fun gets done
- The timing of feedback matters
- It has to be engaging or you lose them