“Friday Night at the ER”– a business simulation experience is played by more than 1,000 organizations and corporates across the globe and in more than 30 countries by diverse organizations, sectors and cultures. Organizations like Sony Entertainment Television to Mayo clinic to Walt Disney to the US Navy have experienced this amazing and ‘frighteningly real’ board game.
 

How does Friday Night at the ER help organizations?

As a matter of routine at workplaces, leaders and managers are constantly taking decisions and solving problems. Few questions that need be considered at critical stages of decision making: “Are we solving problems from local perspective or the bigger perspective?” and ” Are we taking decisions and actions from silo mentality or systemically?” Before any of these bigger decisions are taken, the management needs to visualize the impact of their decisions systemically and at the larger level, else things worsen with the resultant impact, against the (noble) intent.  In a normal scenario, we see a problem in a particular department, so we start fixing it randomly. However the very act of fixing it, might actually worsen the problem, because we are just optimizing one part and not the complete system. In the best cases, if we really want to optimize the part, as per systems thinking, we not only have to optimize that part, but also the system as a whole. 

What do you learn in Friday Night at the ER?

During the game play, people realize that they are interdependent on each of the departments to function optimistically. So instead of taking decisions locally or departmentally, they should collaborate and share responsibility, to achieve organizational systems and goals.

Participants measure the level of collaboration they have within the team. Are they are at level one? that is “speak only when needed” or at level 5 where they actually “plan jointly and share responsibilities”.

In the game the teams’ performance is measured on quality and financial parameters. The quality of decisions made by the team impacts the results. Some teams take decisions based only on their experience and perceptions. Very few teams take decisions based on the data, which is already available in the organization. And very rarely teams maintain the dashboard of key performance parameters to take decisions.

In the debrief session, participants experience ‘aha’ moments, especially when they realize the opportunities they missed for creativity and innovation. The opportunities were lying just under their nose, but they couldn’t see it because their thinking was obscured by their mental boundaries. They accepted the things at face value without challenging their assumptions, and organizational rules. Learning to challenge the mental boundaries, and organizational structure, is the beginning of innovation.

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What are the business settings that Friday Night at the ER fits in?

  • Team building program
  • Trigger for team off-site
  • Off-site strategic and leadership meets
  • First cross functional meeting of managers
  • Creativity and effective problem solving training
  • Making a group ready for a major change initiative
  • Fostering the skill of creativity and innovation at workplace
  • Enhancing collaboration among units, departments or divisions
  • Developing leadership areas like – conflict management, customer satisfaction, change management and communication skills
  • Learning the basic principles of lean management, 5S, Kaizen, 6 Sigma, TPM, Agile and other process improvement initiatives

Testimonials

“Before the program, I had a fear of ‘over promise by NuTurns on the program deliverables, and under delivery’. However, after the program I felt accomplished that we delivered over and above, what got promised to participants. The specific feature I liked about this program was the program debrief, which was indeed excellent! The game experience was simulated close to our real life challenges. I would really like to recommend this business simulation, because of its wide applicability in management, delivery type and it triggers new thinking. The program was well managed and was powerfully facilitated. “
Sr. HR Manager
“I had neither personally, nor collectively as a group ever experienced or heard about Friday Night at the ER. We had less time to explore other L&D vendors, and had to decide on a short notice, as we had already announced the date of our HR meet. At the back of mind personally I also had concerns, on how to convince my team and participants to join this new type of intervention. It was the trust we had on NuTurns which was the topmost thing which made us decide eventually in favour of Friday Night at the ER. [read more] However it turned out as one of the best decision, as post the intervention, we met the objectives of the meet, and that too much above our expectations. This was for the first time, we experienced this experiential learning, in a real sense. Participants are still talking of the program even after weeks. Our team got aware of some of the limiting behaviors, like that of working in silos. This simulation gave us great tools to solve our business problems. One of the most important feature, that I personally like about this business simulation, is that simulation creates real time triggers. I believe Friday Night at the ER can also be used in the variety of functional areas across our organization. It can also be used in simulating design thinking, and in various OD interventions. I would hence like to recommend Friday Night at the ER internally to all our business units and functions, for its relatedness and overall business growth. Last but not the least, Friday Night at the ER is a highly useful intervention, and one of the best formats of learning available.
ParticipantHR Team
Participant
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Our clients who have played Diamonds of Amazonia

  • Sony Pictures Network
  • GMR Group
  • Mitsui Prime Advanced Composites India.
  • Maflow India Pvt. Ltd.
  • Bharat Forge Ltd.
  • Piaggio Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.
  • Kalyani TechnoForge Ltd.
  • Lanxess India Pvt. Ltd.
  • Konecranes India Private Limited
  • Keihin Fie Pvt. Ltd.
  • Oerlikon Balzers Coating India Pvt. Ltd.

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