Staying competitive in today’s fast-moving digital economy is easier said than done. Operating in a digital environment requires a significant shift in company culture and an agile software environment that accelerates time to value. Creating a DevOps environment helps companies keep pace, but it requires a workforce that is empowered, excited and motivated.

Gamification offers a unique opportunity to continuously engage your workforce by applying game-design elements and game principles into a corporate setting, making work more fun. Companies can develop a team-oriented Pod model that incorporates gamification to improve employee engagement and productivity, enable team members to work more efficiently, accelerate the learning curve and deliver more sophisticated products to market faster.

When I joined Cognizant Softvision as CEO, I wanted to empower our teams and promote a continuous delivery mindset by developing a delivery model that was customer-centric, differentiated and unique to each client without being prescriptive. Thus, Game of Pods was born.

The global, Game of Pods gamification program is designed to provide timely and superior customer service. At a high level, Game of Pods inspires and measures team performance and delivery while encouraging and monitoring individual performance. During competition, the Pod and its members are recognized and rewarded for their collective and individual contributions with badges and trophies.

We typically focus on the output of each pod, rewarding collective behaviors and achievements that help the pod reach higher efficiency and quality targets. Collective badges are awarded to the pod while personal and peer-to-peer badges are awarded to the pod members. Pod badges are earned as a team and are focused on the health of the project, performance of the pod, quality of delivery and alignment with client objectives. A leader board displays the badges each pod earns, their experience points and their trophies. Pod and individual recognitions are celebrated over email and across Facebook Workplace, and shared with all employees.

While perhaps not as intense as “Game of Thrones,” Game of Pods is the epitome of gamification in action and enables organizations to reach a higher level of efficiency and professionalism while challenging employees to achieve personal goals in a fun, team-oriented process. In addition, Game of Pods offers other benefits such as:

• A flexible model that can work in any client environment.
• Team empowerment that incentivizes teams and individuals to achieve more.
• An approach that encourages diverse thinking that recognizes and rewards teams and individuals for improvement.

Game of Pods is most effective in organizations that embrace an agile mindset and understand the need for flexibility in today’s fast-moving environment. While gamification has come a long way, successfully incorporating it into the workplace can be challenging. However, integrating gaming into your organization can empower and excite employees, motivating them to overcome obstacles that might otherwise stand in the way of success and sustainable innovation.

— Andres Angelani