Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Master the five types of critical thinking needed for success in the business environment.

Course Overview

Become adept at all aspects of decision-making and problem solving in the workplace, whether you are implementing innovation, managing crises or planning future strategy. Through this course you will address the five types of critical thinking required in business environments; strategic, tactical, analytical and implicative. You will also learn a five-step problem response process, covering; identifying and analysing problems and opportunities, analysing the environment, exploring potential responses and selecting and implementing the optimal response. Participants will have the opportunity to apply the concepts to a specific problem or opportunities from within their own business environments.

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Course Topics

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1. ESI’s Critical Thinking Model
   1. Analytical thinking
   2. Strategic thinking
   3. Tactical thinking
   4. Innovative thinking
   5. Implicative thinking
2. Problem/Opportunity Identification and Analysis
   1. ESI’s Problem/Opportunity Response Process
   2. Identification and analysis
   3. Environmental scan
   4. Response exploration
   5. Response selection
   6. Response implementation
   7. Active vs. passive problem/opportunity identification
   8. “As is” vs. “To be”
   9. Tools and techniques for problem/opportunity identification
   10. Process flowcharting
   11. Root cause analysis
3. Environmental Scan
   1. What is an environmental scan?
   2. Internal scan
   3. External scan
   4. Stakeholder scan
   5. Business architecture
   6. Your business processes/business rules
4. Response Exploration
   1. Tools and techniques for exploring new and unique responses
   2. Other innovative thinking approaches
5. Response Selection
   1. Filtering
   2. Clustering
   3. Voting
   4. Capability and value analysis
   5. Response prioritisation matrix
   6. Decision trees
   7. Implications analysis
6. Response Implementation
   1. Communicating the optimal response
   2. Gaining acceptance by stakeholders
   3. Managing expectations
   4. Saying “no” to high profile stakeholders
   5. Building an action plan
   6. Ensuring ownership and commitment