Staff retention is a common challenge within the healthcare sector. After extensive research with employees of one of Netherlands largest care organisations, ‘s Heeren Loo, we (the national Innovation Team) learned that staying or leaving the organisation is all about “connection”. And especially feeling connected with your team. Thus we designed a teambuilding game, which is currently available for 10.000+ employees.
The serious game ‘Expedition Island’ mimics the real world of care tasks by placing them in an adventurous storyline. Teams rebuild the island after a devastating storm and, in the process, rediscover the team values and their individual strengths. In a playful and lighthearted manner, the team rediscovers their own autonomy through gamification.
“Expeditie Eiland is a fun game that surfaces longstanding team dilemmas and centers them in constructive dialogue. Next to this it helped us identify the values that drive each individual team member. As a result, everyone in the team truly got to know each other and now works together in a more effective way.” – Team Manager Ine Gengler
As the project lead, I oversaw the entire process from start to finish, including stakeholder management and project planning. Together with a co-worker, I conducted all research and design activities. We worked closely with five care teams to identify the right solution and test the prototype. During the development phase, we sought guidance from a respectable gamification expert company called ‘Raccoon Serious Games’. We also collaborated with clients from care locations to manufacture the majority of the game components. I am extremely proud of the collaborative nature of this project and the succesful outcome it has achieved. Read more about the game here.
