The Engagement Game

Effective workplaces and popular video games have a lot in common. The things that make employees happier, more motivated, and more productive leverage the same underlying psychology that makes video games engaging, but sometimes the lessons for work are easier to see when presented in the context of play. The Engagement Game is a leadership and management book that shows how organizational culture and leadership can be super-charged by applying the same principles that video game designers apply when creating a new game.

This quick, one-hour read will show you how to do this by blending industrial-organizational workplace psychology with insights on good video game design. This will help you become a better leader, manager, coach, and coworker. You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to benefit from this book. It is for anyone looking to create a positive work experience for their team.

This book covers topics including:

• How games lay out their tasks, goals, and challenges so that they motivate people to do amazing things
• The ways in which games encourage problem solving and growth mindset
• Why expanding skills, building self-confidence, and finding opportunities to innovate feel so natural to those who play a lot of games
• How social information is framed in games so as to engender fruitful competition and cooperation
• What multiplayer games can tell us about building cohesive, high-performing teams
• How to create shared experiences and values that can craft a great organizational culture and shared expectations for the right kinds of behaviors

Which is all to say that you could learn a lot from video games about how to be an effective leader and manager. Ready? Game on.