Course Objectives
Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making - Virtual Learning
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Build and expand decision making, critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills
- Apply logical and creative approaches to solving problems and making decisions
- Use traditional and creative tools for identifying causes and generating solutions
- Employ creativity and lateral thinking as business tools
- Analyze and solve actual problems facing them at work
- Demonstrate and build credibility with upper management
- Develop strategic approaches to ?problem solving and decision making
Target Audience
Managers, supervisors and administrators who will benefit from better problem solving and decision-making skills, and business professionals who want to take their critical thinking to the next level by using both their experience and intuition to make the right moves and decisions
Target Competencies
- Attention to details
- Balanced decision making
- Creativity
- Evaluating options
- Intuitive decision making
- Practical and proactive thinking
- Situation analysis
- Problem solving ability and anticipating potential problems
Course Outline
- Problem solving and decision making
- Definition of ‘problem’
- Definition of ‘problem solving’
- Definition of ‘decision making’
- The helicopter view
- The link between causes and symptoms
- Problem deviation
- The rational approach to problem solving (Kepner & Tregoe)
- Defining the problem
- Techniques for recognizing problems
- Six important questions to clear out
- Kepner & Tregoe
- Problem analysis supplementary tools
- Root cause analysis
- The five-why process
- The cause and effect diagram
- The fishbone diagram
- Pareto analysis
- Decision making supplementary tools
- Why-Why and how-how analysis
- The how-how method
- Choice making
- The decision making matrix
- Definition of ‘consensus’
- Creativity and problem solving
- Mental structures of college students
- Stages in problem solving and decision making
- Understanding the two hemispheres of the brain
- Critical thinking
- Lateral thinking
- Mental blocks to creative thinking
- Brainstorming
- The six thinking hats