Gamifying Compliance Learning
How I transformed mandatory compliance training for 500+ EMEA employees into an interactive, progression-based learning experience—combining gamification, assessment, and end-to-end project management.
Executive Summary
Barrick Gold needed mandatory compliance training for 500+ employees across EMEA without creating another passive, text-heavy learning experience. I designed and managed an interactive “Build Your Own Mine” learning journey, combining compliance content, assessments, and gamified progression to create a more engaging learner experience.
Audience
500+ employees across Barrick Gold's EMEA sites.
My Role
Instructional Designer
Deliverable
Interactive compliance learning experience featuring a regional learning journey, scenario-based content, assessments, and a “Build Your Own Mine” progression mechanic.
Key Result
95% project/client satisfaction, full mandatory completion, and successful deployment across 500+ employees.
Business Problem
Business Challenge
Barrick Gold needed to deliver mandatory compliance learning across a geographically distributed EMEA workforce.
The challenge was balancing compliance accuracy, learner engagement, global consistency, and operational delivery while working with Legal and Compliance SMEs.
Multiple Stakeholders
The project required coordination between SMEs, Developers, Designers, QA, and client stakeholders throughout design and deployment.
Global Delivery
The experience needed to provide a consistent learning journey across multiple EMEA locations.
Mandatory But Passive
Compliance training can easily become a “complete and move on” experience, limiting learner engagement.
The goal was to make mandatory compliance learning more engaging without compromising accuracy, governance, or delivery requirements.
Discovery and Analysis
I began with a discovery workshop involving Legal and Compliance SMEs to establish the critical requirements, learner needs, assessment expectations, and project constraints.
Key Design Insight
The global nature of the audience also presented an opportunity: Barrick's geographical footprint could become part of the learning experience itself.
Creating a Global Course
Rather than presenting disconnected compliance modules, I designed a journey through Barrick's regions, giving the programme a coherent narrative and sense of progression.
Discovery Workshop
From the Discovery Workshop, I translated the source material from: Compliance requirements → Learning objectives → Learner experience → Assessment
The instructional challenge was not simply delivering the compliance information—it was creating an experience that encouraged learners to actively work through and demonstrate their understanding.
Strategy & Rationale
I built the experience around a simple progression loop: Learn → Assess → Achieve 80%+ → Unlock → Build
The “Build Your Own Mine” Mechanic
Learners travelled through Barrick's regions, completing compliance learning and assessments along the way. Achieving the required 80%+ assessment score unlocked another component of their virtual mine.
If learners did not meet the threshold, they could revisit the relevant content and attempt the assessment again. The gamification therefore served an instructional purpose rather than functioning as a decorative layer.
Motivation & Reinforcement
Assessment became part of the learning journey rather than a separate compliance checkpoint. Each successful assessment produced a visible reward: another piece of the mine.
Retrieval & Re-engagement
Learners who did not meet the threshold were directed back to the relevant learning before progressing. The mechanic connected demonstrated understanding with visible progress, turning a conventional compliance sequence into an active learning loop.
Progress Visibility
Learners could see their advancement through the programme by viewing the progress of their 'mine' throughout the course. The emoji in the top left hand corner meant they could check this at any point.
Design Process
Learning Strategy
I facilitated the initial SME discovery process and translated complex compliance requirements into clear learning objectives, content structures, and assessment requirements.
I then structured the material into a regional learning journey, determining how each module would contribute to the overall narrative and progression.
Development Management
I developed wireframes and detailed storyboards to establish the learner flow before development.
These defined the content, interactions, scenarios, assessments, feedback, navigation, visual direction, and gamification mechanics, allowing stakeholders to review the experience before significant development resources were committed.
I managed the project through the full development lifecycle, coordinating Developers, Designers, QA, SMEs, and client stakeholders across design, development, review, sign-off, and deployment.
More specifically, I coordinated a team of 5 members across three main milestones.
Stakeholder Leadership
The Solution
The finalised solution was a gamified compliance learning experience deployed across Barrick Gold's EMEA workforce.
Build Your Own Mine
Successful assessment completion at 80%+ unlocked another component of the learner's virtual mine, creating a visible representation of progress throughout the course.
Regional Learning Journey
Learners progressed through a geographical journey beginning at Barrick's headquarters in Ontario and continuing through the relevant EMEA regions.
Assessment was integrated directly into the progression system. Learners who did not meet the required threshold could revisit the relevant learning content before attempting the assessment again.
Integrated Assessment & Re-engagement
End-to-End Project Delivery
I managed the project from discovery and needs analysis through wireframing, storyboarding, development, QA, SME review, stakeholder sign-off, and deployment.
The Outcomes
The project successfully delivered mandatory compliance learning at scale while introducing a more engaging, progression-based learner experience.
100%
87%
Average assessment score
Comlpetion within 6-months
95%
Client satisfaction
Employees trained across EMEA
500+
Here's What New Joiners Say...
"Compared to other onboarding programs I’ve experienced in the past, this was the most impactful training I’ve had: clear, relevant and genuinely helpful for getting up to speed quickly."
- Marie Saporte, Business Development Representative
”My experience with the e-learning modules has been very positive. The logical progression across the four weeks prevented information overload and gave me the feeling I was never completely lost, which has happened in previous companies and onboardings.”
- Tom Versteegh, Account Executive
Here's What Leadership Says...
Discover what our clients think about our service
"That capacity shift allowed us to focus on high-touch coaching during the Week 5 bootcamp rather than repeating basic presentations..."
Revenue Enablement Manager
"Before this redesign, onboarding felt like a continuous stream of unstructured meetings with no clear finish line... Now there is a clear start and end point, making things much clearer for all parties."
Regional Sales Director
★★★★★
★★★★★
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