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Workplace mentoring programs aren't simply about career development.
They also foster professional growth to change company culture for the better.
Here’s the deal…
Successful mentoring programs lower retention rates and improve performance.
But, if you suffer from employee disengagement, you won't see the mentoring effects you hope for.
Gamification offers an excellent opportunity to create a healthy work culture where employees enjoy learning from their peers.
In this article, we’ll discuss gamification as a route to better engagement. We’ll explore how it helps, along with creative ways you can gamify your mentoring initiatives.
Curious to learn more?
Let’s get started.
Why is it so important to boost mentoring program engagement?
A recent global workforce survey showed that employee retention hinges on two things.
- Do you provide an environment for growth?
- Do you have the learning opportunities to support it?
As the report puts it, “People who aren’t learning will leave.”
Three of the top reasons workers leave their current positions is because they want to evolve and develop.
To drive down employee turnover, you must foster a learning culture steeped in growth opportunities.
But mentoring programs don’t just help workers reach their professional goals.
It goes beyond personal growth.
As our State of Coaching and Mentoring report revealed, effective mentorship programs drive growth throughout your entire organization.
More than 70% of organizations agree they see better organizational performance and improved personal growth thanks to their mentoring programs.
In fact, a strong focus on mentorship is what separates the cream from the crop.
Top-performing businesses put a much higher emphasis on the mentoring process.
But here’s the thing…
None of these statistics matter if your teams aren’t engaging with your mentoring initiatives.
When mentors and mentees aren’t motivated, they won’t get the most out of these sessions. You won’t see the same returns because your employees' learning experiences aren’t having an impact.
How does gamification help boost mentorship engagement?
When you're bored, you disengage.
The same goes for employee mentorship programs.
Gamification helps make mentoring programs more stimulating and interactive.
Instead of feeling like extra work on top of a day job, gamification tries to make mentoring fun.
And it works.
More than 85% of employees say gamification makes them feel more productive and happier at work.
83% say it makes them feel more motivated.
The concept is simple.
Rather than adding another “task” to your team’s workload, gamified mentoring makes these programs feel like a game.
It’s like a fun little break from the daily grind.
Gamified mentoring incorporates game-like elements, such as point scoring, friendly competition, and rules of play.
These things feel much more entertaining than structured one-on-ones or templated-based progress reports. So, you’re likely to see much higher engagement levels.
The company had a conventionally rigid mentoring program for years.
To improve accessibility, Randstad used Together to streamline and gamify the experience.
By creating a more engaging program, Randstad halved employee turnover and saved over $2.9K per participant.
And employees genuinely seem engaged.
As one employee put it…
“Every session feels so short for the amount of wealth and knowledge I can get from my mentor.”
8 creative ways to gamify your mentoring program
Breathe life into your mentoring sessions.
Try these innovative ways to gamify the mentor-mentee relationship so it's easier for everyone to reach their learning goals:
1. Transform mentor matches by relying on smart algorithms
Mentor relationships make or break the mentoring experience.
An intelligent algorithm can revolutionize the matching process and infuses an element of gamification.
Employees create profiles and a sophisticated matching algorithm pairs mentors and mentees on shared interests, skills, and career goals.
It’s like a sophisticated matchmaking game.
There’s a personalized, data-driven approach, but with a layer of excitement.
By transforming it into an intriguing, dynamic experience, participants are more likely to feel a sense of anticipation and curiosity.
But most importantly, the right mentoring software aligns matches better.
This speeds up the matching process, so employees are engaged more quickly.
And, since pairs are better aligned, they’re more likely to have a strong mentorship connection.
This helps to drive program engagement.
Take the law firm Cooley, for instance.
Using Together’s matching algorithm, it created a peer mentoring system to improve onboarding.
100% of participants agreed Together’s matches were a good fit.
The result?
New employees say they feel supported during the transition, and the onboarding process is much faster.
Plus, 95% of employees now say that Cooley is a great company to work for.
Find out more about Together’s employee mentoring platform.
2. Use virtual meeting software for more dynamic sessions
Virtual meeting software helps facilitate interactive mentor-mentee sessions.
Features like breakout rooms, screen sharing, and interactive whiteboards provide an engaging environment for mentors and mentees.
These tools offer a more dynamic experience with diversified learning.
This fosters higher engagement and motivation levels among participants within the mentoring program.
Plus, these tools make it easier to include remote workers in your virtual mentoring experience.
Worried your team suffers from Zoom fatigue? Try using Zoom alternatives with different interactive features.
For instance, Microsoft Teams offers virtual classroom functionality you won't find on Zoom.
By switching up the experience, workers feel there’s a difference between their regular work and their mentorship time.
3. Try virtual reality for fully immersive sessions
Virtual reality offers a fully immersive experience where mentors can offer training in truly dynamic settings.
Create virtual reality simulations where mentees can role-play particular work-based scenarios.
Or, create experiences where participants can shadow someone completing a particular task.
Alternatively, build virtual reality settings where remote workers can participate in team-building exercises together.
4. Score pair health to check it’s a good fit
It’s not just mentees that need motivation.
Mentors also need to feel engaged.
Together scores mentor-mentee pair health.
Mentors can check they’re on track with their mentors and identify any relationships that need attention.
The scores give a gamified feel that encourages mentors to stay on top of their programs.
5. Encourage active participation with interactive social media
Social media platforms offer a range of interactive post options.
Mentors looking to amplify their impact can strategically use various channels and platforms to enhance program visibility.
Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter offer dynamic features such as polls and surveys, which mentors can incorporate for interactive engagement on a regular basis.
Ask participants to:
- Offer ideas on particular concepts
- Provide honest feedback on activities
- Pinpoint issues they’d like to work on
- Vote on group activities
- Identify preferred learning styles
By consistently deploying polls, mentors create a participatory environment that captivates and cultivates a sense of community.
These posts also help you track engagement.
Mentors can create social media monthly reports to understand which content works well and which participants are failing to engage.
This analytical approach helps you target your focus so that your mentorship content resonates with the audience.
Ultimately, this drives increased interest and participation in the mentorship program.
6. Set monthly mentor-mentee video challenges
As our State of Coaching and Mentoring Report points out, businesses are increasingly turning to video to enhance their mentoring sessions.
Mentors can set monthly video challenges to encourage mentees to showcase what they’ve learned.
Consider creating a social media group or finding a common platform where everyone can share their videos.
This fosters a sense of community, encourages engagement, and increases accountability.
7. Teach strategic thinking through online games
Online strategy games, like Warhammer and Pathfinder on the YUPLAY platform, offer a unique way to gamify mentorship.
These games help mentors teach strategic thinking skills.
Players need to plan, make decisions, and anticipate outcomes. It’s easy to tie these lessons to real-world business strategy.
With these games, mentors can guide mentees through complex strategic scenarios in a fun, approachable, and engaging way.
8. Use interactive surveys to get constructive feedback
It’s a two-way street.
If you offer engaging ways to give feedback, employees will tell you what they need to engage better.
Interactive surveys gamify the feedback process.
Rather than filling in lengthy forms and reports, a mentoring platform like Together offers clickable online questionnaires.
The interactive interface and immediate results give you a little boost of instant gratification that you don’t get with traditional feedback sessions.
Plus, these survey tools make it easier to collect, analyze, and act on feedback to create more engaging programs.
Creating engaging mentorship experiences is an ongoing process
Don't waste your mentoring efforts on stuffy old boardroom-style learning.
Engaging mentorship programs create productive employees who are happier at work.
Gamification supercharges employee engagement by making the experience more entertaining. When mentorship is easy and enjoyable, it feels effortless to take part.
Together helps you build an environment of growth.
Our intelligent AI-powered mentor matching and an engaging, user-friendly interface, create a seamless experience for cross-organizational mentoring.
Book a free demo today and see how we transform every mentoring relationship into a successful learning experience.
Here’s to your success!
