Friday Night at the ER is an all-industry tabletop simulation game that moves people from silo thinking to systems thinking.

This highly-engaging and memorable learning experience is used with groups at all levels for diverse learning objectives such as team building, leadership development, quality and process improvement, strategic planning and culture change.

At each table, teams of four play the role of department managers in a busy community hospital for a simulated 24 hours (one actual hour). Players perform distinct functions, yet they come to realize they also depend on each other. They discover that in order to optimize the organization’s quality and financial performance they must rise above their silos and apply systems thinking.

During the debrief, participants reflect on the game experience and learn three core strategies – collaboration, innovation and data-driven decision making – which can be applied in any context to improve team or organization performance.