Pledges to Action: Tips for Gamifying Your ESG Training

Pledges to Action: Tips for Gamifying Your ESG Training

If you’re reading this, you’re someone who understands that for all the hype surrounding ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance measures), the term is more than just a passing fad.

ESG is a pledge, and with it, an increasing number of organisations around the world are committing to be more responsible, sustainable, and socially conscious. As many as 88% of publicly traded companies now have ESG initiatives in place.

But the journey from pledges to actions is never easy. And the first roadblock? Getting employees across the board to truly embrace ESG and understand how it will benefit themselves and other stakeholders.

However, ESG training is a uniquely complex challenge that the usual training methods are simply not designed to meet. We think it requires an equally unique and innovative solution: gamification.

In this post, we’ll dive into the ESG training challenge, understand how gamification helps tackle this unique beast, and offer some handy tips for gamifying ESG training at your organisation.

Understanding the ESG Training Challenge

Businesses everywhere are eager to dive into their ESG efforts, with many aiming for ESG performances that outshine the competition.

No surprises there. Firms with stronger ESG propositions consistently outperform those with poor performance on these measures. And the competitive advantage speaks for itself: higher customer and investor preference, significant cost reductions, and higher equity returns.

But achieving high ESG performance is no easy feat.

You must generate buy-in for your employees, embed ESG deep within your work culture and drive lasting behavior change company-wide. Therein lies the big ESG training challenge.

Let’s break it down:

ESG can be a puzzle

From carbon emissions to social impact, ESG covers a big buffet of complex, nuanced topics. All this breadth and depth of information means that employees can easily get overwhelmed. Traditional employee training, with its outdated and uninspiring approaches, do little to help.

Not the most exciting content

Let’s face it: traditional ESG training can lean a bit on the dry and uninteresting side. And while understanding the essence of ESG is crucial, the training itself might not be the most memorable part of your employees’ day. The result? Low engagement, waning motivation, and little to no lasting impact.

Resistance to change

Change is hard. Without a clear understanding of the why and how behind the ESG training, your employees might be apprehensive about adapting to new routines, tasks, or standards. Simply communicating a shift towards new ESG practices is usually not enough to inspire long-term change.

ESG Training: The Gamification Advantage

So how exactly does gamification swoop in and save the day?

Here’s how we see it: challenges in ESG training arise from two key culprits in traditional training methods:

• Low employee engagement and
• Poor knowledge retention

Both can undermine the effectiveness of any corporate training, but they become especially critical when it comes to ESG training.

Consider this: if your team isn’t fully engaged with ESG concepts or can’t remember them well enough to apply in their day-to-day tasks, what impact would your ESG training truly have down the line?

Gamification helps change this learning experience.

When you gamify ESG training, you do more than just inject some fun; you transform a one-way information street into an exciting, interactive experience. Considering the high stakes of ESG training, this small shift helps make all the difference.

Let’s look at how gamification addresses the unique needs of ESG training:

Engagement

Let’s consider diversity training for a second.

A standard lecture or presentation about diversity and its importance is the standard approach. But when your goal is to welcome employees into the initiative of creating a more diverse workplace, is that enough? Do they truly feel included? The general consensus seems to be a resounding no.

Gamified ESG training, however, doesn’t leave employees on the sidelines; it invites participants to take the wheel. Instead of passively receiving information, employees get involved, make crucial decisions, and see the direct impact of their decisions.

As they work through complex topics like diversity and sustainability in an interactive setting, employees realise their pivotal role in the narrative. This deep engagement creates a sense of ownership and responsibility, making the learning experience more meaningful.

It’s why our team at Seppo created the diversity training game “Discover DEI” to tackle this challenge head-on. The game helps players navigate crucial concepts in diversity while encouraging them to question their biases and make mindful choices.

Read more about “Discover DEI”, the diversity training game!

Information Retention

ESG training isn’t just a one-and-done experience. It’s not enough for employees to simply understand complex concepts like environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical governance; they must also retain and apply them to their daily responsibilities.

Gamification offers a continuous and reinforcing learning experience. Rather than being a one-time info dump, employees encounter ESG concepts repeatedly in various scenarios within the game. They also get hands-on experience applying the theoretical concepts they learn to real-world scenarios within the game.

For long-term ESG success, this is the key to ensuring that the information your employees receive is not just learned but also retained for future use.

Gamification Tips: How to Level Up Your ESG Training

Say you’re all in for gamifying your ESG training. Where should you start?

Is it as simple as turning that questionnaire into a game?

Not quite. But it doesn’t have to be too complicated either.

Here are some friendly tips on ‘leveling up’ or gamifying the ESG training at your organisation:

Set Clear Goals

As we mentioned before, ESG can be like a puzzle with a bunch of complex pieces. Which means figuring out what counts as progress can sometimes be like finding your way in the dark. Setting clear goals helps make your gamified training all the more precise and effective.

After all, it’s not just about building an effective ESG training game, but also about defining the ESG goals and standards your organisation wants to achieve. For your employees, this clarity offers a roadmap that allows them to track progress.

Spice things up with game elements such as points, badges, leaderboards, and challenges to suit your objectives and keep that motivation going.

Ground Them in Real-World Impact

ESG training aims to create a future workplace that is more sustainable, diverse, and ethical. While it’s a noble mission, this future can sometimes be hard to visualise.

Enter gamification. By weaving the real world into an interactive training experience, you make the outcomes of ESG measures tangible and unforgettable.

So when building an ESG training game, ground the training with plenty of real-life examples and scenarios. Explore complex choices, implications, and consequences based on your team’s everyday realities.

Balance Challenge and Fun

The magic of an engaging gamified ESG training lies in striking the right balance between challenge and fun.

The tasks and challenges you include in the game should be like a good brain teaser – thought-provoking and interesting. They should stimulate learning while nudging employees to expand their ESG knowledge and skills.

But it’s just as important to avoid frustration. Make sure the game isn’t overly complicated or difficult: You want to challenge employees while making sure their learning journey is fun and memorable.

Read more: how we balance challenge and fun when creating change management training games!

Pair Gamification with Dialogue

Diving into topics like diversity and ethics demands nuanced and complex discussions. A good conversation starter can help get things going, which is where gamification comes in.

Gamified ESG training is perfect for sparking that initial curiosity about ESG concepts while making space for deeper conversations.

To round out your ESG training, pair gamified experiences with open discussion sessions. Encourage your team to share what they learned from the various game challenges and how it applies to their work lives.

Create an environment where questions are welcomed and ESG-related conversations are fuelled by curiosity, not just compliance.

Seppo: Your ESG Gamification Partner

So there you have it—your roadmap to gamifying ESG training and its many possibilities! And as you set off on this new adventure, having a reliable companion by your side can make all the difference.

Here at Seppo, we help organisations tackle a variety of training challenges with gamification. And right now, we’ve set our sights on creating unique gamified ESG training solutions that organisations not only love but also find immensely valuable.

We get it better than most—the potential of gamification turning what could be dry-and-boring ESG training into experiences that employees genuinely enjoy and remember. Experiences that lead to lasting, company-wide impact.

How do we do it? By creating customised ESG training games that not only engage employees but also track progress, provide valuable feedback, and guide you towards achieving your ESG goals—with smiles along the way!

What next?

In the world of ESG training, gamification can be the ace up your sleeve. It’s the key to engaging employees, and making learning fun and memorable, all while fostering a culture of responsibility and sustainability in your company.

Here’s a recap of our top tips on gamifying ESG training:

• Set Clear Training Goals
• Ground Training in Real-World Impact
• Balance Challenge and Fun
• Pair Gamification with Dialogue

We hope these tips offer a peek into the endless possibilities you can explore with gamified ESG training at your organisation!

And if you’re ready to turn those pledges into action, get in touch with our team at Seppo! Let’s level up your ESG training and set your organisation on the path to ESG performance like never before.