Three weeks into my new role at UKG, I'm already thinking about how to shake things up. After years of building enablement programs at companies like Procore and Autodesk, I've learned that the traditional approach to sales training just doesn't cut it anymore.

You know what I'm talking about. The massive binders dropped on your desk. The endless PowerPoint decks. The "here you go, now you're trained" mentality that we've all experienced at some point in our careers.

But here's the thing: people don't want to just receive information anymore. They want to interact with it, experience it, and actually remember what they've learned. That's where gamification and experiential learning come into play.

The evolution from information to experience

I've been in the enablement space for over twenty years, and I've watched this fascinating shift happen. Once upon a time, entertainment meant going to see a movie. Advertising meant clipping coupons from the Sunday paper. And training? Well, that meant someone handed you a company handbook and wished you luck.

All of these were about one thing: receiving information.

But something changed. We started carrying screens in our pockets. We started expecting more from our interactions with content. Training, advertising, and entertainment all had to evolve to meet this new expectation for engagement and interaction.

The sales teams I work with don't want to sit through another lecture. They want experiences that stick. They want to be part of the learning process, not just passive recipients of it.

Why gamification works: The science behind the fun