🔄 How to play Reskill or Replace
You lead one department at Wahat Services Group and must get your 120 staff using AI without losing their trust.
Your goal
Win by building a large productivity gain over three quarters while keeping trust, skills and jobs intact. Adoption that spreads by word of mouth pays off; adoption pushed too hard reverses and costs money.
You run one department, such as Finance, HR or IT, inside a Dubai services firm of 2,000 staff. Every other team runs a department too, and you can form coalitions with them.
Join in 30 seconds
- Scan the QR code on the big screen with your phone camera, or open the game page and type the 4-letter code.
- Type your first name. No app, no account.
- Join a team or create one and name it. Your teammates get a role each. In individual mode you run your own department.
- If your phone locks or the page reloads, open it again: you return to the same seat.
Team roles
- Lead
- Chairs the team and submits the final decision. If the Lead's phone dies, any teammate can take over. In this game: Own the pace decision and agree a coalition partner with another team face to face.
- Analyst
- Owns the numbers and the team's prediction for the round. In this game: Read the adoption curve: is it still in the slow start, or ready to tip?
- Treasurer
- Watches the budget and costs before the team commits. In this game: Count the cost of layoffs and pledges against the weekly productivity gain.
- Risk and ethics officer
- Flags harms and pushes back before the team commits. In this game: Watch trust and training: aggressive pace with weak training triggers reversal.
- Voice
- Talks to other teams and presents the team's story at the debrief. In this game: Shape the communication plan and negotiate the coalition with other departments.
The three rounds
Each round you predict your own result, make your decisions within about 8 minutes, and then the model reveals what happened. An event card lands between rounds.
- 1
Quarter 1 · Launch
Nobody has adopted yet and readiness starts at 15%. Spend your tokens, choose a pace and secretly nominate a coalition partner. Each quarter runs 12 weeks of adoption.
Watch for: Look at p and q in your results. Low q means word of mouth has not started; low readiness caps how many can ever adopt.
- 2
Quarter 2 · Coalitions
Last quarter's coalitions and every department's adoption and trust are on your phone. Readiness carries over, so earlier training keeps paying.
Watch for: Compare your curve with other departments. Did a coalition lift q, and did anyone's adoption reverse?
- 3
Quarter 3 · Final push
You may now make a public job pledge. It raises trust and redeployment but costs money this quarter. Decide how hard to push.
Watch for: Check layoffs, trust and any reversal line. A big gain wiped out by layoff costs is a warning sign.
Your decisions
What each control on your phone does, and how to think about it.
| Change tokens | Every round | Spread 100 tokens (80 after a budget cut) in steps of 5 across Communication, Training and reskilling, Early wins (pilots) and Redeployment support. Each lever has diminishing returns. Unspent tokens are wasted, and over 30 unspent costs trust. Ask what limits you now: too few staff able to adopt, too few hearing about it, or too few seeing colleagues succeed. |
|---|---|---|
| Automation pace | Every round | Cautious runs at 0.7 times adoption speed, displaces few staff and adds a little trust. Steady is normal. Aggressive runs at 1.45 times speed but displaces many more staff and cuts trust by 8. Aggressive pace reverses adoption when readiness is below 55%, training spend is light this quarter, or trust is below 45. Check all three first. |
| Coalition partner | Every round | Nominate one other department in secret. Only mutual nominations form a coalition. It adds to both partners' imitation (q), more if your partner runs strong pilots, and adds 2 trust. Agree face to face before you submit. Nominations reset every quarter, so confirm again each time. |
| Public job pledge to staff | Round 3 only | Retrain everyone who wants it: plus 6 trust and more redeployment, at AED 0.8k per staff member. No layoffs for 12 months: plus 10 trust and far more redeployment, at AED 1.6k per staff member. Weigh the pledge's cost against the layoffs and lost trust it prevents at the pace you have chosen. |
What you see on your phone
- Your department
- Staff, how many have adopted AI, skill readiness, staff trust, change tokens this quarter and layoffs so far. Check readiness and trust before choosing a pace.
- Your adoption so far
- Your adoption curve week by week as a share of staff, with last quarter's p, q and gain. A slow start then a steep rise means imitation is working.
- Coalitions and adoption by department
- From Quarter 2: the mutual coalitions formed last quarter, and each department's adoption share and trust. Use it to choose a partner.
- This quarter
- Any event effects in force, such as a staff petition, pilots under review, regulator guidance or a rival's success.
How you are scored
Every game in the library uses the same scoreboard. Your round result is your Productivity gain (AED k); the leaderboard adds resilience and trust.
Performance is your total Productivity gain over the rounds, scaled from the lowest to the highest in the room. Before each round you also predict “Your productivity gain this quarter”: land close and earn up to 10 bonus points; miss by the whole amount and earn none. The facilitator may change the weights before the game starts.
Tips
- Training sets the ceiling. Without readiness, communication and pilots only reach a few people.
- Early adopters come from communication and pilots; most adopters follow colleagues. Build both.
- Redeployment support turns displaced staff into new roles instead of layoffs, which protects money and trust.
- Pace and trust are linked. Read your trust level before speeding up.
- Talk to other teams early. A coalition needs both sides to nominate each other.
- When an event card lands, ask which lever it makes stronger or weaker and rebalance.
Common mistakes
- Going aggressive in Quarter 1 with little training. Adoption reverses and you pay a disruption cost.
- Starving communication and redeployment. Trust falls, imitation slows and layoffs pile up.
- Nominating a partner without agreeing it. An unreturned nomination forms no coalition.
A worked example
In Quarter 1 you spend 35 tokens on communication, 30 on training, 20 on pilots and 15 on redeployment, at steady pace, with a mutual coalition. Readiness rises to 47%, so up to 73 of 120 staff can adopt; 37 do. That earns AED 100k, but 3 layoffs cost AED 73k, so the net gain is about AED 16k.
Shocks that can hit
The facilitator draws one event card before rounds 2 and 3. It changes the market from that round on.
- Staff petition against automation. Four hundred staff sign a petition asking for a pause. Word of mouth turns negative unless leaders communicate openly. Imitation drops for departments with weak communication.
- A public AI error. An AI tool sends wrong invoices to 300 clients and it reaches the press. Staff trust falls and all pilots run at half effect next quarter while they are reviewed.
- CEO cuts the training budget. Margins are tight. The CEO cuts change budgets by 20%. From now on you have 80 change tokens, not 100.
- Regulator issues AI guidance. A UAE regulator publishes clear guidance on responsible AI at work. Staff find honest communication more credible. Communication tokens now work 50% harder.
- A rival firm reports big AI gains. A rival services group reports 30% faster turnaround from AI. Staff talk about it everywhere. Imitation rises in every department.
The model behind the game
Bass diffusion of adoption with trust and resistance. Some staff adopt because you tell them (p, innovation). Most adopt because they see colleagues succeed (q, imitation). Training sets how many can adopt at all. Pushing too fast without training or trust triggers resistance and adoption reverses.
- Bass diffusion
- A model where adoption grows from innovators who act on information and imitators who copy colleagues.
- Innovation (p)
- The share of non-adopters who start because of communication and visible pilots.
- Imitation (q)
- Adoption driven by seeing colleagues succeed. It grows as more people adopt.
- Skill readiness
- How prepared staff are to use AI. It sets how many can adopt at all.
- Guiding coalition
- Kotter's idea of a group of leaders who drive change together.
- Short-term wins
- Visible early successes, like pilots, that persuade sceptics.
- Redeployment
- Moving staff whose tasks are automated into new roles instead of laying them off.
- Resistance
- Staff pushing back on change. Here it makes adopters revert to old ways.
For facilitators 3 rounds · about 50 minutes
Set-up
- Team mode suits groups of 3 to 5; individual mode works well for a large class.
- Allow 8 minutes per quarter, with time in Quarter 1 for teams to walk over and agree coalitions.
- Bots fill to 4 departments. Bots usually return a nomination they received last quarter.
- Before Quarter 1, show the adoption curve idea: slow start, tipping point, then slowing near the ceiling.
Modes
- Team
- Each team runs one department, assigned in order, and submits one decision. Use roles: Risk on pace, Voice on coalition talks, Treasurer on costs.
- Individual
- Each player runs a department alone, with bots added up to 4. Players can still walk around to negotiate coalitions.
- Hybrid
- Each player runs their own department, and team scores are the average of members. Teammates make natural coalition partners, but they must still nominate each other.
Run sheet
| Before class | Open the facilitator console on the projector laptop, choose the mode in Setup, and check the QR shows. |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Students scan and join. Read the situation aloud while teams form. Point out the roles on their phones. |
| 5–15 min | Round 1: 8 minutes to decide and predict, then Reveal. Read the headline and one surprising line from a team. |
| Between rounds | Draw or choose the event card. Give teams 30 seconds to read it before opening the next round. |
| 15–25 min | Round 2, then Reveal. |
| 27–37 min | Round 3, then Final results: podium, awards and the score chart. |
| Last 12 min | Debrief with the questions below, then open reflections (4 minutes). Download the CSV. |
What usually happens
- Teams that go aggressive early often see a reversal line. Ask what training and trust looked like that quarter.
- Unreturned nominations are common in Quarter 1. Use them to discuss what makes a coalition real.
- Some teams push adoption but lose the gain to layoff costs. Ask how redeployment would have changed it.
- A budget cut, petition or AI error tests whether teams rebalance or just repeat last quarter.
Debrief questions
- Which of Kotter's 8 steps did you skip? Where did it show up in your adoption curve or trust?
- What made adoption tip in your department: communication, early wins, a coalition or training? Point to the week it happened.
- Did any department push the aggressive pace and see adoption reverse? What would have prevented it?
Follow-up probes
- Where on your curve did adoption start to tip, and what caused it?
- Which lever did you underfund, and how did it show up in trust or readiness?
- How did you choose your coalition partner, and did it deliver?
- Was the pledge worth its cost for your department? Why or why not?
- If staff asked what happens to their job, what did your choices tell them?
Reflection and evidence
Write the change message you would send to your staff that answers 'what happens to my job?'. Use what you learned about trust, training and redeployment. 80–120 words.
Students write 80–120 words on their phones. The Data tab exports every decision, result, prediction and reflection as one CSV for grading.
Console controls
- Pause, extend or set the timer; step back a round
- Draw, choose or write the event card
- Move players, make a Lead, add computer players
- Award or fine with a reason that appears on phones
- Message every screen; hide names; spotlight a team
- Keys: P projector mode, Q join QR