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But it was not until 2010 that I understood that my most inspirational leaders were playing games. Instead of pushing through in order to learn more, they were able to motivate themselves and others to learn in a fun and contagious waythat resembledgames, something we played joyfully and mastered naturally during our childhood.They were in fact,consciously or unconsciously, using gamification to advance in their leadership.
What is gamification? Gamification is defined as the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts. It is used, among other things, to engage participants in solving problems, enhancing learning experiences, getting entertained, measuring success and establishing loyalty.
When it comes to enhancing learning experiences, it allows you to create meaningful goals, fine tune your skills, receive feedback, inspire others and share with communities of your choice. It is all about playing to win, and here is how you can implement gamification in your own advancement:
1. Set a stretch goal
You do not have to know exactly how you are going to accomplish this goal. It could be getting a new client, conducting your first webinar or getting a new speaking engagement. Be aware of the risk that your initial goal could soon get more ambitious!
2. Mobilize your environments
Who do you have to involve? Who can help you? Where can you engage with the people who can help? You will be positively surprised to see that most people want to help if they understand what you need and why.
3. Share the progress you are making in public
Engaging with others is key to making your goal a reality. This is when things start to happen in your game. You inspire others while at the same time getting inspired by other players yourself. The other players offer invaluable support and keep you accountable during the game.
As a student to the CoachVille Coaching Curriculum, Master Certified Coach Dave Buck introduced me to the world of gamification. His education was set up as games, and as a student, I assumed the role of a Player. Over time, I mastered new skills and got better results in a fun way! Since then, I have learned more about the various motivational factors that help us get results from gamification via Professor Kevin Werbach and his fabulous Coursera Gamification Course online.
When looking back at my own experience of playing games to enhance my learning, there are 3 key insights that have been instrumental in helping me understand the CONCEPT OF PLAY better:
- Instead of pushing through and getting things done, I WANT TO move forward and explore options on my own and by involving others.
- By sharing my game progress and findings with others, I find myself in a position to INSPIRE OTHERS to act and play themselves.
- My game often becomes bigger than my initial goals as the game unfolds and I discover new and unexpected opportunities. PLAYING BIG becomes the default.
In fact, gamification is gradually becoming business as usual, and I recently decided to convert the upcoming, free of charge Virtual Leader Conference into a GAME, hosted by gamification expert and business partner, Carina Kindkvist. So, if you are curious about enhancing your learning and stretching yourself as an Advancing Leader, this is your chance to come join us September 15-21 and check it out for yourself…. Game on!
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Virtual Leader Conference 2014: “Empowering the Advancing Leader in You”
If you like this topic, you will love our #vlc14 Virtual Leader Conference game coming up September 15-21, 2014 where other speakers and attending Advancing Leaders are playing to inspire, learn and implement success strategies in pursuit of their next big thing as a leader. You are welcome to join us in the game on demand and free of charge via http://vlc14.katycaroan.com
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Have you ever caught yourself pushing through an activity, determined to do whatever it takes to be able to tick off your physical or mental TO DO list? Have you ever started your day planning to do what you have been avoiding for a long time, finding yourself having done something else by the end of the day? It happens to me all the time, and it was not until I learned about the Concept of Play by MCC Dave Buck back in 2010, that I fully understood how I could approach things differently and not only grow myself, but also support my clients in doing so. In short, the Concept of Play includes the definition of any challenge as a Game. It could be a business game, a career game, a health game, a relationship game or any other area where you want to accomplish results still to be recognized a such. In this Game, you assume the role as the Player. And as a Player, You are defining your objectives, your actions, your resources, your challenges and the skills you need to develop. As a Player, you will learn from your progress, your successes, your areas of improvement and you do this by involving other people. The Game starts now, not at any undecided point in the future, and you play until the Game is over. When the Game is over, you learn from your results and then you set up a new Game…
Sometimes I meet friends and clients who are very clear on what support they need for their Games and are able to mobilize their various environments to support their Game objectives. It happens that their Game even gets bigger because of the input and inspiration they get when involving others. More frequently though, people seem to be careful and reluctant in asking for support and sharing their ambitions with others as part of their belief system. So, how can the Concept of Play help?
When playing instead of pushing through, you want to improve, you want to become better at what you do, you want to go that extra mile and you want to experiment instead of just getting it done. You might even find it fun as you get expected and unexpected results along the way! You find it valuable to document your learning, and you want to open up to other ideas to see if your game can get even bigger. And, not at least, you may want to share your findings and insights with people around you. Suddenly you find yourself inspiring others to assume the role as a Player as well.
You may question the Concept of Play for many reasons. How likely is it that adults will see themselves as Players and define their challenges as Games? It sounds interesting, but may also be seen as very time consuming and difficult to put on top of everything that needs to happen on a daily basis. And, why should anyone else be interested in what my Game is? There are probably plenty of individual answers to these questions, but after having attended extensive coach training based on the Concept of Play as of 2010, I can refer to my personal experience as well as the feedback from my co-Players:
Playing is fun, but as adults, we need to get reminded of the reasons why it beats Doing. It is unfamiliar to describe a personal or a professional challenge as a Game, but when done, the focus is tremendous and the documentation of the Game strengthens the learning taking place. The Game becomes part of your every day life if you are playing big and involving others. I remain positively surprised by how often and warmly people around me want to support me in my Games. The main challenge seems to be my own ability in being bold on what I need and why.
Introducing the Professional Potential Gazette and launching YourVirtualArena were among the results from a Game I played earlier this year, the Global Reach Game, allowing me to interact with people no matter where they are located in the world. Are you ready to assume the role as a Player? If so, which Game are you up for?
If you found this topic interesting, stay tuned for the upcoming professional games on LifeVille, a web-based platform for people who want to challenge themselves as Players and play the real games of their lives supported by others. During 2011, I hosted 4 games supporting professionals looking to stand out and benefit from LinkedIn. Soon, there might be a new social media enabling game available in an arena near you…
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Becoming visible online, communicating clearly to the wider network and positioning the personal brand by establishing authority within an area of expertise takes courage and an initial investment in time.
Over the last 2 years, I’ve seen colleagues and clients get stuck in limiting thinking patterns when taking on LinkedIn.
This pattern is disabling some of them from expanding their number of contacts, asking for recommendations as well as moving into a more proactive, influential mode.
As a result, they are not in a position to leverage the great collaboration and business intelligence features within LinkedIn.
I’m currently facilitating a LifeVille group coaching game on the topic of effective use of LinkedIn to position the personal brand. 4 days into the game, I observe the majority of the players challenge themselves, share insights and inspire each other. As the coach, it’s my role to facilitate the game and encourage everyone to build skills, explore new territory and get the results they are playing for. A new community is emerging out of the team’s total effort.
Why they decided to join a game and not simply complete a long list of TO DOs when taking on LinkedIn? The gamification of real life challenges seems attractive to more and more people: We like getting inspired. We love getting insights. And we feel great when an opportunity is given to share our knowledge with others. So, instead of ticking off your TO DO list, think about what you can do to turn your current real life challenge into a game and involve your different environments to succeed.
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As a coach, my role is to ask powerful questions, to challenge and enable my clients to gain insights, learn and make vital decisions in their lives.
The answers might be easy at hand…or require a longer period to emerge as a result of our dialogue.
One of my most effective questions is: “How do You want to be perceived by others?”.
This question brings us to the key values and beliefs we live by in our daily lives, consciously and unconsciously. This provides tremendous insights on which alternatives and decisions You in fact have at hand upon ANY challenge in life.
To many of my clients, the pattern language , the “self-talk”, on what is possible and not has taken precedence unchallenged for a long time. One of my clients recently stated “…I didn’t realize that I had an option to decide differently”.
This week I’m kicking off my very first LifeVille coaching game coaching my players to leverage LinkedIn strategically. This has nothing to do with how to push which button in the tool. It has all to do with mobilizing their network, challenging their visibility comfort zone, building their professional reputation and making a bold decision on how they would like to be perceived, by potential employers, clients and business partners.
Which pattern language is limiting Your opportunities in life?
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The majority of my clients are using social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and some of them are starting to embrace Twitter and YouTube as well.
When asked about their strategy and plan for using the tools as part of their pursuit of a new career or getting new clients to their business, very few can provide a crisp reply.
My next question reveals the truth: Most of them are just keeping their profile above water, staying in touch with people they already know and there seems to be little effort put into a solid description of who they are, what they love doing and whom they would like to interact with in the future when looking for a new career or new clients.
In summary, there seems to be a huge potential for boosting their personal brand and positioning themselves as a unique candidate for a job…or why not as the obvious service provider to future clients.
Reflecting back on 2010, I was astonished to see that in fact 20 out of my first 25 coaching clients were the results of my LinkedIn efforts. I had the best selling force available there is: My connections! They know me, they know their own connections, and this resulted in the numbers above over a period of 3 months. My effort? I built my LinkedIn network based on my own criteria and then carefully selected among my connections. I sent 1 mail to all of them, and told them what I was offering. That’s it! In fact, some of my connections returned themselves and hired me as their coach after listening to the experience of their connections.
The power of relationship building when leveraging social media such as LinkedIn is incredible, but in order to succeed You need a strategy and a plan. When listening to my clients, I know that the real challenge has little to do with understanding LinkedIn functionality. The real challenges lie within the area of visibility and limiting beliefs. I found that my clients’ challenges were so similar, that I decided to turn my experiences into a LifeVille group coaching game. In LifeVille, all participants are playing their game, supported by me as a coach as well as by their co-players. From playing other coaching games in the past myself, I know there will be excitement, resistance, insights…and FUN. All the typcial requirements of any great game in life.
What would it mean to You, if You could boost Your personal brand in 28 days?
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