Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Business professionals at all levels, including department managers and organizational leaders, project managers who lead complex projects, and sales and marketing team members who must respond to new competitive threats.

• Learn professional problem-solving methods to creatively manage strategic dilemmas and crack everyday business problems
• Clearly define and frame organizational problems
• Apply critical thinking approaches to analyze issues and identify the best possible avenues for action 
• Explore a design process for generating and implementing solutions 
• Involve stakeholders and team members in becoming part of the solution
• Embed critical thinking as an integral aspect of collaborative culture 

Individual Applications

• Re-framing issues into solutions-oriented problems
• Analyzing the problem space from a systems perspective
• Overcoming self-limiting thinking habits and adopting a critically constructive mindset
• Mental models that invite innovative approaches to problem solving 

Organizational and Collaborative Applications

• Building generative critique and problem-solving skills in teams 
• Using group critical thinking techniques to map a problem
• Avoiding “groupthink” and other barriers to effective team decision making
• Tools to use for time-bound problems

Critically Reflective Leadership

• Cultivating a critically reflective culture
• Engaging key stakeholders and team members
• Moving from stuck to unstuck, and bringing a team with you

Facilitated Problem-Solving Practice 

• Tackling a problem collaboratively in a group
• Advancing from problem to solution using the tools you are learning
• Debrief: making meaning of the experience 

Special features

This program features a practical, hands-on approach for solving problems in business contexts. Working in groups, you will learn how to re-frame issues as generative challenges, and move through a process for creating and implementing innovative solutions.