Feminine Gamification Viewpoint: Decision making differences between genders
Men and women work differently when it comes to decision making, especially when you are designing strategic process solutions such as gamification, it is important to allow both genders to fulfil their needs when it comes to decision making. Both sexes have vital steps that need to be fulfilled to come to a decision, when steps are omitted this may lead to conflict and frustration on both sides and possible a decision impasse, where everyone blocks progress.
Men like to rush to the decision finishing line, whereas women like to explore all the various aspects of the problem and then moving towards a plan of action slowly. When women face a decision they start by collecting data, by asking others for thoughts and ideas about their problem. When men hear these kinds of questions, they think they are being asked for a plan of action. If the lady then builds on this plan by taking other factors into account, a man may feel that his plan was rejected.
If this sounds like a recipe for project disaster, think again. In fact when both genders work to their strengths namely men generating solutions and women sharing and exploring relevant factors and a respectful dialogue is kept open, in fact the outcome will be even better than if only one gender was involved.
Co-creation and collaboration to achieve the best outcome for all involved and as a winning solution for businesses.
When you put this into the perspective of gamification design, we want to allow for questions, data sharing and explorations of factors which will appeal to the ladies. At the same time we also want to encourage solution generation, even when multiple revisions may be necessary based on new evidence.
When you look at Agile project management methodologies you may well find that scrums and sprints will benefit both genders, as long as everyone’s input is being heard and respected and appropriate action flows forward.
Where have you seen evidence of gender decision making differences and what way did you see it resolved?
If you enjoy learning more about this topic, you can listen to an interview I am doing with Monica Cornetti on her Gamification show on Blog talk radio. The interview will be taking place on Saturday 12th of July. You can listen to it on the following link: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/gamificationtalkradio/2014/07/12/gamification-to-engage-women
