Interactive Incentives - Rewarding Work and Learning

Recently I got to chat to Tom Harte of imcreative.co.uk. Tom is an Interactive Incentive and Performance Management solutions provider.

A what?

Tom designs interactive games that enable employers to drive productivity in a creative and competitive way. These games enable workers to compete against each other at work.

Tom demo'd some of his solutions for me. By rewarding productivity with real-life rewards - anything from extra holidays to cash bonuses - his games increase motivation levels. Workers can view their performance on their PC, or on a big screen on the operational floor. They can even compete individually or as a team against co-workers across the globe. And it turns out that harnessing the basic human urge to win is very good news for productivity and profits.

From the instant Tom showed me his solutions, I knew they work. Because one summer I worked in a shirt factory. We did a 10 hour day with one half hour break for dinner. I was at the end of the factory line - ironing shirts before they were packaged for delivery. I had to iron a minimum of 80 shirts an hour to earn my basic wage.

Everyone had their minimum number of pockets to sew, sleeves to cut out, or collars to fit. And all we did all day long was mentally compute whether or not we'd done enough work to make a bonus. And if we had made our bonus, how much it was. And whether we'd earned more than the person sitting nearest you.

If only Tom's games had been around then! Providing workers with incentives makes them perform better. And providing learners with incentives makes them learn better.

It's long been known that a Hogwart's style 'house' system helps children in schools achieve more. In a house system, pupils belong to one of a number of houses, and these houses compete over the year to win points.

But we only have Performance League tables, pored over retrospectively by anxious parents and governors. These tables report on how pupils have performed - they don't actually help the pupils perform.

So is it about time that our Government perhaps invests in an Interactive Incentive solution for our schools? Perhaps a nationwide performance board that reflects who's doing what well, when and where?

Imagine a system where the houses in each school compete internally for points, then the highest performing house goes on to compete locally, then nationally. Couldn't this really motivate all types of learning performance - from sport and academia through to social action?

Incentives like education-related trips or scholarships could be awarded. Top houses could be profiled. And instead of an empty facebook-style chattering space, we could have an educational space that rewards, connects and motivates learners.