Play and learn

A few years ago, I was leading leadership development for a blue-chip company. One of my first assignments was to establish a new leadership framework supported by an ambitious development plan.

On a beautiful spring day in London, I presented a “revolutionary” plan to engage and develop the company’s future leaders, leveraging digital resources and experiential learning—both of which were quite new at the time. The presentation went well until I introduced the fourth pillar, focused on compliance and risk management.

I made a critical mistake by saying, “The best way to engage leaders on this topic is through gamification…”

Before I could finish, the UK CEO abruptly interrupted: “My leaders are not here to play games. They’re here to work. I don’t want games in leadership development.”

It was too late to explain the benefits or provide a nuanced definition of gamification. This experience taught me an important lesson: as learning professionals, we often rely on jargon instead of communicating in straightforward, business-focused terms.

What I Should Have Said

One of the biggest challenges in leadership development is engaging busy leaders who are pulled in many directions by client and business demands. To address this, we must adopt innovative learning methodologies to capture their attention and maximize learning outcomes.

For younger populations, gamification can improve motivation by offering rewards like badges or coins, as well as fostering healthy competition and social interaction.

For leaders, gamification boosts engagement by evoking powerful emotions like pride, joy, curiosity, and optimism. It encourages active participation and discovery, helping to develop problem-solving skills in an immersive, interactive way.

At its core, gamification isn’t about “playing games.” It’s about integrating game-like elements—such as rules, challenges, outcomes, and real-time feedback—to create a safe learning environment that maintains interest.

Reframing failure as a natural part of learning is perhaps its most valuable contribution. When errors are seen as opportunities to try, practice, and improve, repeated failures coupled with real-time feedback become powerful accelerators of growth.

The Case for Gamification

Research consistently shows that gamification delivers positive outcomes and enhances participant performance. However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Overuse of gamification can lead to diminishing engagement, as interest fades when every learning context is gamified. Moreover, games alone cannot guarantee better performance—they must be part of a broader, well-designed learning strategy.

That said, gamification can also democratize learning within organizations by leveling the playing field.

A Personal Anecdote

On the topic of gamification in education, my children recently played a board game with their uncle, who happens to be a professor of statistics. The game required a bit of strategic thinking and a basic understanding of statistics. Much to everyone’s surprise, Alice, my youngest, beat her uncle fair and square!

This experience reinforced my belief that gamification has the power to engage, educate, and even surprise us, regardless of age or expertise.