Friday Night At The ER. A Simulation Game on Systems Thinking, Team Work, Leadership, Change & Performance Improvement
An Introduction to Friday Night At The ER 7 Minute Movie
Simulation Game Overview
A powerful and engaging board based experience simulating the challenges of managing a hospital over a typical 24 hour period. This simulation game experience puts core principles of Systems Thinking into action. It draws upon players’ natural work styles and is relevant to managers in any field as it simulates common challenges they face in a complex system. It is a simulation that teaches Systems Thinking across all industries. Friday Night at the ER helps people learn to collaborate, to innovate and to drive decisions with data across functional boundaries.
Friday Night at the ER can be run as an engaging and stimulating half-day experience for groups of any size. It can be run from a half day event with a short yet valuable debriefing, or a powerful full day experience where the afternoon is specifically tailored to your teams medium term development goals.
Learning Outcomes of this Simulation Game
The Friday Night at the ER is a versatile simulation tool for team learning that can suit a variety of specific learning objectives and is equally powerful in small or large group settings. The game teaches people to:
- Consider the effects of their decisions on the larger system,
- To collaborate across functional boundaries with an openness to redesign - share accountability and coordiate action
- To develop sound data on which to base decisions.
It also;
- Improves integration of functions or collaboration across business units
- Prepares groups for a major change initiative
- Introduces principles or methods of Systems Thinking, Process Improvement, Organisation Design, Redesign or other specific disciplines
- Clarifies success factors or supports leadership development in areas such as self-directed teams, change management, customer satisfaction, conflict management etc.
- Stimulates people to consider the effects of their decisions on the system as a whole, to collaborate across functional boundaries with an openness to redesign, and to develop sound data on which to base decisions
- Puts core principles of Systems Thinking into action
- Draws upon players’ natural work styles and mental models - there is no false role playing required
- Is relevant to managers in any field as it simulates the common challenges they face in a complex system
- Simulates the real world of cross-functional management in a supportive learning environment
- Examines innovation, mental models and the openness to redesign
The simulation works equally well for business, government, non-profits and health-care groups. It has been used as a stand-alone activity, for team building, as a lead into a strategic planning session, to support quality management and re-engineering initiatives, and as part of a workshop on systems thinking and learning organisation principles.
How this Simulation Game Works
Friday Night at the ER is a simulation that uses a board game format, four players per table, with each participant playing the role of a department manager in a hospital. This is a simulation setting that most people find very engaging, whether or not they work in the health sector.
The simulation experience replicates the dynamics seen in any system when multiple goals drive people’s behaviour. The game simulates the challenges of managing a hospital over a typical 24 hour period. During successive rounds of the simulation, the managers make decisions regarding patient flow, operational policy and use of resources. They must also deal with a variety of events that impact on the system, people and resources at their disposal. The game play is followed by a highly interactive and well documented debriefing session. This can be easily adapted to accommodate a variety of initiatives clearly explained in the Facilitators Guide.
As the game progresses players soon come to realise just how much they depend on each other as they try to reconcile both individual and team interests.
After the first 12 rounds (12 simulated hours) they total their scores and learn how well they performed. Success is measured by both quality of service and financial performance. Then each team meets to discuss their performance and look for ways to innovate and improve. They then play a second set of 12 rounds, again total their scores, and debrief the exercise.
The great majority of teams do much better in the second session, as they learn that like most systems the hospital performs better when the people employ intelligent collaboration.
During the debriefing of the simulation game participants discuss what helped and hindered their efforts to think systemically (rather than adopt a silo mentality), to learn as a team, and to apply that learning during the game.
When is it used?
In team meetings, at leadership retreats, in educational courses:
- To orient a new team whose members must collaborate to accomplish a shared purpose;
- To introduce people to the principles of Systems Thinking in a way that enables them to internalise not just intellectualise the concepts;
- To train people in concepts or tools of Process Improvement, Re-engineering or cross-functional team performance;
- To examine the dynamics of team behaviour and learn how to improve team effectiveness—often when stakeholders represent diverse interests.
Where is it used?
In about 400 organisations representing all industries in more than a dozen countries. Thousands of people have played the game and found it relevant. The hospital situation is universal, and the lessons of the game are generic across industries and cultures.
Contents
A boxed set of complete materials for delivering learning programs with the Friday Night at the ER game includes:
- Game components
- The license
- 45-minute training film on CD
- Detailed 70-page facilitator Guide with step-by-step instructions for using the game. Includes how-to advice about everything from setting up the room to delivering game instructions to engaging participants in an interactive debrief after the game play
- Handouts, forms and facilitator slides
- Audio track for hearing the delivery of game-play instructions
Trainer Helpline
We know that games and simulations can bring fun, learning and challenge to the programmes you deliver. Therefore, we would welcome the opportunity to talk you through any of our wide range of activities to ensure that you obtain the maximum benefit from your purchase. Please
contact us or call us on +44 (0) 1202 729823.
Need Help Facilitating?
From as little as £500 we can send you an experienced consultant to help facilitate this simulation game.
Contact us to find out more.
Who is it for? Any group whose members must work together to improve performance
Duration: 3 - 4 hours
Group Size: 12 - 48 (More or less can be accommodated, please
contact us for more info)
Prices
The table below outlines the four main board versions avaliable. To purchase a 3 Board Pack go to the bottom of this page, for the other quantities click on the link in the table.
|
Boards |
Numbers |
Price |
|
3 Board Pack
|
12
|
£1,450.00+ Carriage + Vat
|
|
6 Board Pack
|
24
|
£2,100.00 + Carriage + Vat
|
|
9 Board Pack
|
36
|
£2,850.00 + Carriage + Vat
|
|
12 Board Pack
|
48
|
£3,600.00 + Carriage + Vat
|
If you require more or less boards, to accommodate more or less participants, please
contact us or call us on +44 (0) 1202 729823 to place your order.
