Completion vs competition: what's a better motivator?

Complete or Compete?
What works better for
motivation? Completion or
competition?
Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_pixelsaway'>pixelsaway / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

If you were a
triathlete –
what would be
your motivation?
© 2014 GamEffective. all rights reserved to BizEffective. Confidential 2

Competition?
I want to finish first

Completion?
I want to do well for myself

Here’s some news: most
enterprise gamification
projects operate under a
core fallacy

Competition always
works

That’s not true.
Sometimes competition
doesn’t work

Badges and
leaderboards
don’t always
work!

Some people are better
driven by completion and
a sense of mastery than
by competition

In some situations
competition is 100%
discouraging

Would you like to be in
the 90% bottom
percentile in a
leaderboard?

“One source of frustration in the workplace is
the frequent mismatch between what people
must do and what people can do….

“… When what they must do exceeds their
capabilities, the result is anxiety….
I want to finish first. Can I?

When what they must do falls short of their
capabilities, the result is boredom.
I want to do well. But this is too
easy

“…but when the match is just right, the results can
be glorious. This is the essence of flow.”
Daniel H. Pink
A sense of completion and flow: bliss

“The monkeys solved the
puzzle simply because they
found it gratifying to solve
puzzles. They enjoyed it.
The joy of the task was its
own reward.”
Daniel H. Pink

Competition sometimes
makes us play dirty

“The problem with making an extrinsic reward the
only destination that matters is that some people
will choose the quickest route there, even if it
means taking the low road. Indeed, most of the
scandals and misbehavior that have seemed
endemic to modern life involve shortcuts.”
Daniel H. Pink

What is a sense of
completion?

Clean dishes?

A good run?

An organized office?
A solved puzzle?
A clean inbox?
A task it took time to master?
A creative solution to a problem?

LinkedIn’s Profile completion bar….

Onboarding a new employee – complete the
activities to learn and master new skills
I finished this. A job well done!

City building as a metaphor for learning

Sensing mastery and a sense of flow

An additional nuance in game design is the
difference between measurement and
completion.

Measurement measures how
well you’ve done – compared to
others. For instance, in Candy
Crash, you’re rewarded not just
for completing a level, but on
how well you did that compared
to others.

Completion is more
autonomous, focusing
on the completion of
the level and not on
how well it was done –
compared to others.

Sometimes measurement is best; sometimes
completion is better.

Completion isn’t the same for everyone and it
shouldn’t be

That’s why we advise managers to be able to
set different, individualized completion
indicators and benchmarks for different
employees.

Reward people for realistic targets of learning,
training and task completion

Completion lets employees experience the job
satisfaction that comes from the sense of a job
well done.
Use that satisfaction; your
employees deserve it.

Completion vs competition: what's a better motivator?

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