Gamification: Motivator or Distractor?

You find a lost wallet in the back of a cab, full of cash. You contact the grateful owner and instruct the cabbie to drive to the owner’s location to return it. Greatly relieved, the wallet’s owner offers you a significant reward. Should you accept it? After all, isn't returning the wallet simply the right thing to do?

While some might argue that “having a job is reward enough,” many sales leaders and sales managers are always looking for ways to motivate their reps. Using gamification technology platforms to create competition is one way to do it. These applications create a point system that sales organizations can track within the sales force automation (SFA) system. Reps earn points for everything from setting up an appointment with a new prospect to closing the most number of deals in one month. Sales reps can then redeem the points at a later date through ecommerce sites for a variety of gifts.

I am a fan of adding fun and even a little competition into sales organizations to try to increase productivity. However, the question I still have goes back to my opening example of returning a lost wallet: Is gamification increasing productivity through motivation, or does it reward sales reps for doing what they are supposed to be doing anyway? And could it actually distract reps from focusing on their core selling activities?

What do you think?