Gamification important in corporates, but is Game-based learning?

Gamification is one of the most hip, tech-based and popular methods used to induce a certain behaviour in employees nowadays. It's a way for employees to showcase their accomplishments, compete and participate in various company activities. All this clearly ties back to how engaged an employee is and talks about the employee's performance in the company.

The bigger question that comes to our minds is: "Has this method been implemented in an employee's daily projects and processes?" - Maybe, maybe not! But it can be! Every HR or leader wants their employees and team members to function and engage in a particular way to accomplish milestones which contribute to the larger projects/goals. And all this not just for specific instances like on-boarding but generally at all times. Here we find a missing link between the desire and the milestone to be accomplished. The missing link is the EDUCATION that must be provided to the employee to start thinking, acting and behaving in a manner that will help to achieve the larger company or project objective. Every employee's efforts in the Gamification process should add up to something that is useful and beneficial for the organisation and not just to distinguish between the different levels of performers. This is where Game-based learning comes into the picture!

Game based learning is slightly different from Gamification as Game-based learning culminates in defined learning objectives. It keeps the employee highly engaged in what could be otherwise a boring learning process and increases recall value and retention of the training material. All this in a simulated environment that enables easy transmission of the training /learning into his work. This is especially true of a noob employee that you're trying to latch onto the company work flow. It is more or less ensured that the employee won't fall asleep or zone out when the training module is being "meted" out on him. Much more efficient than traditional training modules?

Also, it is a way to set a company expectation through an experience that allows the employee to be in and learn from it before experiencing the situation in the real-world. It tracks not just completion but the behaviour of an employee, time taken to complete a task and the method used to complete the task. Now you're awarding a true badge to the real performer!

All in all, we believe the Gamification methods and technology coupled with Game-based learning reflects the true performer in the company!

0 to a 90 seconds video in 1 week!

This past one week has been supppperrr crazzyy!!! Just loved the adrenaline rush that came with it.

Without revealing the name of the customer and the intricacies of the project (not because we don't want to but because we can't :-)), we would like share our experience.

It all began with this really cool team brainstorming about how they can showcase the value of this new system being rolled out for everyone in the company and also promote it. The moment questions like, "How do we communicate?", "How can we educate our users?" and "What is the best way to do so?" pop up, this super natural force immediately transported us into that meeting and we soon became a part of it!

Once we heard the team's thoughts, we immediately got into action and after a week, voila, a crazy cool video launched into the company's blood stream! It was super exciting to see the feedback we got. Here are some comments:

- "Excellent way to let users know about the new system"

- "Very creative. The video is awesome!"

- "We need more of this here!"

We definitely painted the town red with this one!

This was just another experience where we "Engaged Employees" by simplifying Communication & Education

Nomination for Best Animated Ad Film (International) at the FICCI Best Animated Frames awards 2014

As a startup success always seems fleeting and elusive, but when it does arrive it is a rather calming and reassuring experience. It is simply an acknowledgement of the risk and effort involved and often serves as an encouraging reminder that bigger, better things await. At Last-Bench, despite our infancy, we've had many such moments and none bigger than getting nominated for a prestigious award - Best Animated Ad Film (International) at the FICCI BAF awards.

The FICCI Frames is a three day global convention covering the entire gamut of Media & Entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV & Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming, Visual Effects, etc. with nearly 2000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates encompassing the entire universe of media and entertainment attending the event in 2014. It is also Asia’s largest global convention on the business of media and entertainment. The highlight of the conference is the Best Animated Frames (BAF) awards that celebrate excellence in the digital entertainment and animation industry over the last year.

Last-Bench representatives at the FICCI BAF's

What's makes this recognition extra special is to see something we built from scratch, enthused with all our hard work, get recognized on an international stage. It's almost like a David vs Goliath story, where we were pitched against some industry heavyweights like Prime Focus, Cartoon Network, Hungama, Disney, Nickelodeon and still managed to get recognized. Of course winning the award would have sent us to cloud nine but getting nominated itself was far beyond our imagination.

Our entry was our in-house sales video for our content design services. Prior to development, our goal was simple: create video that would convince every viewer that they needed a video made by us. For that we'd have to truly create something special. And we did. In retrospect, we did accomplish our goal but it would be a lie to say we were supremely confident about getting there. It is through sheer effort, dedication and creative brilliance of the entire team that we even came close to achieving something this big.

Our Content Design Services video

What made the development process even more challenging were the many hurdles that we had to face as we lacked the size or muscle power of a bigger production house. Remember, when we developed the video we were a team of 5 and it would be impossible to dedicate people to the making of this video without negatively affecting other aspects of the business. The big question was: Can you develop a high quality video, inclusive of ideation, scripting, storyboard, animation, editing, etc., with a virtually zero budget, within a month and without a dedicated team? What turned the odds in our favor was the abundance of skill and creativity within the team. Discounting timelines and budgetary constraints we not even for a moment ever doubted if we could build something this special. We knew we could create something spectacular but the real challenge was developing a 3 min animated video with a minuscule budget and within a month! Suddenly we felt like we were our own clients! And like every other client of ours, didn't we end up satisfied :D

Into 2014 and beyond!

2013 has been a great learning year at Last-Bench! We’ve had our shares of ups and downs, successes and failures, good days and bad days and busy days to extremely busy days but with all this we fought all odds and are now moving into our third year of existence – 2014.

From a team perspective, we’ve had many interns coming in and continuing on with their journey but towards the end our team size increased by 1. Though it’s just one but the importance of adding that ONE right person in your team is probably one of the best things that could’ve happened that will help us towards achieving our goals.

As we move into 2014, the LB team will focus on two major areas, which we do with passion, possess the right skills to execute and can make substantial progress from a business perspective.

• Educational content production
• Learning platform

Our content production projects are already rolling and we’re looking to scale it big time. We’ve already got multiple projects ranging from Kindergarten content to K-12 and corporate skill development content production in the pipeline for execution and will be scaling our team by 200% to support development activities. Overall, we’re seeing this as a big potential this year and in the future too. All I can say for now is, content production is not easy and we’ve mastered the art to bring creativity and smooth execution to the madness in this method.

On the other front, we’re very close on getting our learning platform MVP ready and are planning a soft launch sometime in Jan 2014 itself. Our JV partners and us have put a lot of thought into planning the strategy, technology, content and sales and finally in the last quarter of 2013, we began the development from all angles. We’re very excited about this learning solution and will be competing against the biggies in this space but in a very niche area. To give you’ll a gist, we’re building an expert driven skill development community for working professionals and are already seeing interest from our potential target customers.

To reach to this point today, I can proudly say that we’ve done it without external funding and are able to sustain our operations ourselves without having to put in more money after the initial capital. Like I’ve always said, it’s the team that matters and the team that can execute matters even more and at Last-Bench! we’ve got the team that can execute.

Keep a lookout on all the exciting stuff that we’re going to showcase in 2014. It’s the year where you’ll be hearing a lot about our work and us!

Lastly, would like to thank all our stakeholders for helping us to get to where we are today! We need your continued support.

Signing off from Munich! See you in 2014. Happy New Year!

-Rajeev (#LifeOfAnEntrepreneur)

Halfway through the 'Startup Leadership Program': Thoughts & Learnings

It was a couple months back when I heard about the Startup Leadership Program (http://www.startupleadership.com). I read about it, found it interesting and started reading more about how I could enroll. To my surprise, there was a selection process. This in a way was a roadblock because I was in no mood to write essays. Anyway, I thought about it deeper and somewhere I felt like this program would help me take my startup to a very different level so I took a stab at the essays and the admission form. With the daily grind, somewhere I forgot that I had applied. Finally, out of the blue I got a call and coordinator told me I got selected! Yippiee!! :-) I was really excited about this community!

As I write this blog, I'm somewhere in the middle of the entire 6 month program. The program has been very enlightening, eye-opening and a great learning experience. I've met some amazing and enthusiastic budding entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs and investors. Every session has so much to take away. We've covered topics on business plans, pitches, financial modeling, customer development, valuations, products, investments, lean methods, sales, customer development and many more exciting topics to come as we move ahead.

I got to meet with some very exciting entrepreneurs, Nischal from JustUnfollow, Sampad from Instamojo, Pravin from Wishberg, Kunal from Freecharge, Vikram from MyDentist, Mohit from Carwale, Sameer from CouponDunia, Vikram from yavvy.com and Bijaei from Loyalty Rewardz.

But I'd like to share my learnings till date and how I have implemented it within Last-Bench! One of our biggest strengths as a startup is that we have a strong, dependable and multi-talented team. It might not be large but it is a team whose strengths are diverse and individually each member, using their unique talent,  contributes to the business goals in a unified manner. One of our biggest weaknesses is the constant pivoting and loss of focus when trying to experiment with too many things.

As part of our lean method, the first thing we did was clearly identify the areas (product and services) we want to work on. We chose 1 product and 1 service that we wanted to focus on. This is helping us to be more focused and also allowing us to channel our energies in the right direction. Second, we've decided that each one manages his own time but wherever dependencies, that person is responsible to coordinate with the other people so that a bigger weekly goal is achieved. Third, we've started weekly targets that sum up to the bigger targets and everyone needs to report whether it is completed or not. There is no room to say that it is partially completed or 50-60% completed. If remaining, simply means it is not done. Fourth, we kept clear goals in terms of revenue and product development. Fifth, experimentation is key to find out whether a feature or a sales method will work for us or not. Sixth, there is no room for assumptions. Seventh and the most important, keep having fun while working!

Before and after every session I share the learnings with my team and everybody is excited to learn more. I personally think, a program like this, is definitely good for entrepreneurs who are in the 1st two years or to-be entrepreneurs. The biggest advantage that this program brings is the discipline!

Here are some pics from the sessions:

I will write more on this once the program ends and share my learning on each topic as we progress.

You can follow Rajeev on Twitter or connect with him via LinkedIn

Last-Bench!: The journey so far and what lies ahead...

Every couple months I ask myself questions like - "How have we been doing as a startup? What is our progress? Are we focussing on the same vision or have we deviated? What should we be doing as we power into the future?". This is when I call for the "SPECIAL" meeting outside work with my partners in crime - Sajid and Venkat, just to discuss these things and ideate with them.

Very recently, instead of me asking this time, someone from the VC community asked me this question and I confidently replied:

"We've been executing projects in the skill development and educational content design areas which has helped us get in revenue and also allowed us to do research towards our larger goal of delivering personalized skill development online."

Having said that, I'm very proud to announce that we've come into an exclusive joint venture with Cognetics Corporation. Both Congetics and Last-Bench! share a common vision and launched The Center for Agile Thinking in India too. The mission is to help businesses achieve their goals by raising the level and quality of decision-making within their organizations. As a team, we hold great experience, subject matter expertise, technology expertise and a network to tap into. We've taken a first stab at our online platform and have began our development activities.

I do believe we're going in the right direction and with the help of my super team and great advisors we are getting closer to our larger goal!

Will keep ya'll updated! 

-Rajeev (@rajeevchhajer)

Last-Bench featured on CNBC Awaaz

In late september, when we signed up for an online 30 minute personal mentoring session with Gozoop's Ahmed Naqvi to help us align our Social Media strategy, little did we imagine we'd end up getting a WHOLE lot more. In fact we were geared up to just listen to what Ahmed had to say and try  and get as many of our questions answered within the duration of the hangout. Hence when we got a call from Ankita Gaba (of Social Samosa, who organized this amazing event) asking if we were willing to have our mentoring session covered by CNBC Awaaz, our response (quite understandably) was a resounding YES! It's not everyday that you (a) get picked by CNBC Awaaz as the startup they want to cover for a entrepreneurial feature (b) welcome the immensely knowledgable Ms. Gaba to your office (c) get your strategy fixed by Mr. Naqvi. A one-of-a-kind triple whammy! :D 

Of course our joy soon translated into a massive bout of nervousness by D-Day morning and it was a rush against time to ensure we got our message perfected for the viewing audience. But more than the TV feature, it was important that we didn't lose focus from the objective of this exercise - to learn, get ideas and tips from Ahmed himself and understand how we can leverage the massive opportunity that Social Media provides small companies like ours. A few cups of coffee, lots of notes and brainstorming were enough for us to feel confident about getting past this exciting yet important day.

In retrospect, the could not have gone any better. We really accomplished all the we had intended to. Ms. Gaba too was kind enough to build on Ahmed's invaluable, precise and thought-provoking advice and help us get some expert tips to start doing the right things to gain momentum on Social Media. The interview with CNBC, as expected, gave us much needed mileage and the opportunity to be discovered not just from a local, but from a national perspective as well. We've heard some great feedback and inputs from friends and family who saw us on TV (one even refusing to believe he was seeing us on TV and had to change the channel and go back to ensure it wasn't a 'lack-of-sleep induced hallucination' :D) and also happened to generate a lot of interest from students, professors and educational institutions curious as to how we can help them achieve their goals. 

We'd like to end by saying a big than you to Ankita Gaba for providing us with all the help, support and the opportunity, Ahmed Naqvi for his great insights, advice and incredible patience and CNBC Awaaz for choosing us amongst the many other startups to be featured on their show. Needless to say, we're over the moon :)

Here is the CNBC awaaz video and pics from the event:

Click here for pictures of the mentoring session & CNBC Awaaz

For all of our friends outside of India:
If you wish to view the CNBC video, kindly send us an email on chalktalk@last-bench.com with the subject as "CNBC VIDEO LINK" and we'll be glad to share with you the link for the video (with english subtitles).

Last-Bench visits Pune...

At Last-Bench, whenever we see a window of opportunity we strive to make the most of it and, more often than not, push ourselves to the limit - both, as a group and as individuals. It's probably the will to succeed or the passion we possess for our work or maybe it's just a 'startup thing'. Either ways, it ensures satisfaction and pleasure in our results and achievements :) Thus far, we've limited this drive to our 'work' mainly because we've never had the opportunity to extend it to 'play' as well! Hence, when a client meeting was scheduled in Pune we decided to capitalize on this chance and decided to make it into a company outing enthused with learning, adventure and, true to our ethos, lots of fun!

The day began rather early (even by startup terms!) at 6 am. Three quarters of the traveling troupe (Rajeev, Samir and Venkat) were being driven to Pune from Mumbai, with one member (Abhishek) already in Pune the previous day. [For all those concerned, we did not abandon Moushmi and Sajid :P They're currently taking some, much needed, time off :)]. The drive out of Mumbai and into Pune was fantastic. Such pleasure to encounter virtually no traffic as you cut through the city! Perks of early morning travel, we assume :) Then driving through the picturesque ghats on the expressway and stopping for the customary 'chai' couldn't have been a better way to start off, what would prove to be, a very important day for the company. 

The journey itself wasn't limited to refreshments and sightseeing, the objective was to use the travel time to discuss important issues like marketing strategy and plan, in the short term. This also was the cue for 'Mr. Creative' Samir to take a quick nap and dream about his next video masterpiece :D At this juncture, our focus is on social media and how we can leverage it to expand our reach, interact with potential customers, generate leads and eventually drive sales and revenue through it. We spent a good part of our journey reflecting on the learnings of our recently concluded Social Media mentoring session (look out for the blog post discussing it; coming soon!) and identifying areas of focus, goals, objectives and mediums. What remains is formulating a strategy (focused on identifying content areas, creating the content bank and defining roles & responsibilities) and, of course, actually executing the plan! 

We got into Pune around 10.30 am and straight away headed to our client's office for the meeting. After a set of preliminary talks in Mumbai, the purpose of this meeting in Pune was to finalize and, in principle, kick off the partner project. To sum up the discussion in a sentence (though we cannot to justice to the efforts put in from both sides), it was perfect! We were able to understand each others' strengths and how each one of us can contribute (and complement each other) to ensure overall success. Nothing like an association that is mutually beneficial! In retrospect, we feel that we (Last-Bench) got a little extra. We were able to observe, analyze and understand how a larger, education-focused company operates. We got good insights into their content creation and delivery standards, how they approach the entire process, where they separate their functions, where they intervene and collaborate, and how to really drive your product from being an idea to the complete, finished article. All this, while ensuring you never waver from the ultimate goal- solving the problem your customer faces and providing the best possible solution. 

It felt that we'd hit an experiential goldmine! We had come to Pune with the goal to leverage the opportunity in front of us and we did just that AND MORE. It would probably be safe to say we came, we LEARNT, we conquered! :)

Hey, but all work and no play is against the Last-Bench philosophy! So, we wrapped up our meeting and headed for a nice 'lunch + bonding session' at a popular eatery, called Tareef,  recommended to us by a local.  The food at the restaurant was absolutely wonderful and the ambience extraordinary. The calm soothing music allowed us to reflect on an excellent day and the delectable spread that was laid out provided us with the much-needed energy to discuss all things not related to work :D  The sumptuous meal and jovial conversation was followed up with a major highlight (and surprise)- a course of sweet paan [Betel leaf with coconut, fruit preserves, rose petal preserves and various spices]. Quite the perfect way to end an amazing experience in Pune.

Our journey back was more sombre and reflective. We imbibed all the learnings and thought about how we could benefit from all that we had discussed, seen and experienced. It was late evening by the time we headed back to our respective homes but all of us, individually and as a group, suddenly stood taller and more confident from the experience. And what could be better than the fact that we ourselves learned via the exact same methods we employ while teaching - Practicality and Fun! Touché!

Abode, Amiable Abode!

Please forgive us if the title sounds a little fancy. It simply means: Home, Sweet Home. And before you judge us for being condescending, ostentatious, arrogant or pompous, let us explain. We have this ailment called 'Vocabititis'. (Symptoms include: bouts of using fancy words, being the go-to dictionary in your friend circle and suddenly being able to read Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor minus the constant word searches on Google). Simply put, since the inception of Easy Vocab, our vocabulary has become ... err... supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (Darn, again!)

Last-Bench! turns ONE...

Message from Rajeev:

I am truly excited as our startup turns one. I’d like to use this opportunity to quickly let you know what has transpired over the last one year and what you can expect from us in the future...

EasyVocab : Learn and master the English Vocabulary

We're in the business to make education PRACTICAL and FUN! Now we're making it accessible too! Presenting EasyVocab! The new way to learn and master English vocabulary in a fun, interactive way. And guess what? It's absolutely free!...

Holiday Greetings from Last-Bench!

As 2012 draws to a close, the words that come to mind are “thank you.” This has been an amazing year. We flexed our...

Last-Bench! Festive Offers...

It's our first Diwali and true to the Last-Bench! style we really want to celebrate! So, we've decided to make LIGHT OF LEARNING shine brightest...

Last-Bench! - from an entrepreneurial perspective

How do recognise the potential in an idea? How do you convert your idea into a business? What is the entrepreneurial journey like? What are the challenges faced by most entrepreneurs? What do you need to 'learn' to be an entrepreneur?

Teach For India

Last-Bench! would like to introduce Teach For India- an excellent social initiative that aims to fulfill the 'Education for All' dream in India by educating underprivileged children from low-income backgrounds. 

Here is a short introduction into how you can contribute to the cause of educating our nation!

Please find more information below:

The Last Bench! Team Interview!

Startups Media: Exclusive Interview with Team LastBench! on their ...: Few days back, I covered an article on LastBench prior to their launch. So with the arrival of their first program Essentially Business , ...

E-Cell talk @ SPIT: The Entrepreneurial Experience via Last-Bench!

E-cell invited Last-Bench! to talk to students, faculty, alumni and budding entrepreneurs of SPIT about the initiative, the entrepreneurial experience and our solution to the 'education conundrum'. 

Behind the scenes @ LAST-BENCH! : Website update

Behind the scenes @ LAST-BENCH! is  an 'inside look' into the happenings at our start-up. Here you'll get to read about our brainstorming sessions, coffee breaks, 'whiteboard' drawings and most importantly connect with our team. It's almost as if you're right here with us! Feel free to comment, have a laugh and give us some useful feedback :)...

S.M. Parekh Memorial debate competition at Sardar Patel Institute of Technology : Sponsored by Last-Bench!

A debate competition allows for enterprising and intelligent minds to take stage and express their thoughts and views to an enthusiastic audience. This one was no different.  Last-Bench! had the privilege of sponsoring the annual S.M. Parekh Memorial debate competition at SPIT and, like everyone else present, we were left speechless by the quality of the competition and the array of talent at the event.

THOUGHTLESS NO MORE!

     

'The current business environment is extraordinarily challenging, competitive and dynamic. You must be over qualified, have multiple degrees, have years of experience and seize opportunities!'

At Last-Bench! we like to call this the 'Parrot line'. Why? Because everyone picks it up from someone else, will talk about it at length but won't do anything about it. In fact people don't know what the solution to the problem is and constantly worry about how success can become a guarantee? The solution is getting lucky at the right time and till then churn on, persist and hope for that special break. Right?  Wrong! Here at Last-Bench! we like to say- 'Today's world is highly competitive, YOU must carve a niche for yourself!' See how we played around with words? See how the emphasis is suddenly on YOU to make that next big leap? Whether at home, at college or at your workplace, people will constantly give you advice (c'mon we've all given and received it!) but in reality advice is just food for thought and action is what makes the difference!