Welcome to HeadScratchers - Open Enrollment Workshops

Download Workshop Brochure (pdf) for a more detailed look

Critical Thinking For Problem Solving,
Decision Making and Creativity

Duration:1 Day, At customers location
Attendees are eligible for 8 CPE credits

Critical Thinking skills gained can be applied to:
• General problem solving and decision making
• New product ideas and creation
• Short and long term business strategies
• Improved development processes and quality
• Improved operational efficiency
• Crisis Management
• Revenue generation and cost reduction strategies
• Customer care improvement

• A 3 step Critical Thinking Process for solving problems and making decisions
• "Thinksheet" guides for getting clear about a situation, reaching a conclusion and making a decision.
• Numerous Critical Thinking Tools and Techniques with interactive and group exercises
• Customized examples and exercises from prior interviews with attendees
• Critical Thinking Practice and Role Playing with real time issues of the attendees

During the class, the attendees will be applying Critical Thinking to their own current business problem. In this way, when they return to their desk, they already know how to proceed.

What's unique about our workshop? This isn't your ordinary "academic" day. It's not just "theory", but pragmatic, proven techniques for solving real world business problems, strategies and challenges.

Who should attend?
This course is for you if you manage other people or have significant economic or business decision making responsibility. This includes senior level individuals, managers and directors, and small and medium business owners and leaders. In order to effectively implement the workshop among the variety of attendees, you must have at least 7 years of full time work experience.

What's the benefit of Critical Thinking and the workshop.
Attendees learn Pragmatic Critical Thinking Techniques resulting in;
• Faster and higher quality decisions that are more likely to be the correct ones.
• Superior solutions to problems, goals, and strategies.
• Better understanding of the dynamics between different aspects of a business or project
• Innovative ideas and solution
• Higher productivity
• Being better equipped to tackle problems and make decisions on a daily basis.

Read HeadScratchers our clients have used in the workshop.

Clarity

Conclusions

Decisions

Using concepts from our model we created a simple framework for Critical Thinking

We contrast your everyday automatic thinking with Critical Thinking.

Decisions

Conclusions

Clarity

Conclusions

Decisions

Critical Thinking

Automatic Thinking

Stronger foundation for decisions
More time on getting clear and less time and rework needed for decisions

Weaker foundation for decisions
Less time on getting clear and more time and rework needed for decisions

We train the attendees in the use of various techniques for Getting Clear, Reaching Conclusions and Making Decisions

Empty Bucket
Inspection
Need
Why? So What?
What's Next?
Socratic Questioning
Listening to the Answer
Broader / Subordinate
The Variables
Vision of the Future

Get Clear

Facts
Observations
Experiences
Beliefs
Assumptions
Abduction

Innovation &
Creativity

Reach
Conclusions

Need

Criteria

Decisions

This Results in ...

Focus
Everyone Aligned
Time and Money spent
on the right problem
People working on the right problem or decision

Clarity

Thoughtful,
Defendable and Clear Conclusions

New ideas

Solid Conclusions

Successful Decisions
Less iterations and redo's
Alignment

Faster and Quality Decision Making

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision making, individually and in work groups

Open-Enrollment
Critical Thinking Workshop
Course #201-OE

Overview (Download the Workshop Brochure for more details)
This one day workshop provides attendees with an excellent foundation and set of tools
and techniques for Critical Thinking in a variety of situations. The participants practice these tools in exercise sessions using a real individual business issue. The templates, called Thinksheets, are used as a guide for thinking, both in the class, and to aid future out of class use. The course includes:

Next Workshop - Denver Feb 9, 2012
Click HERE for Registration

Download Open Enrollment Workshop Brochure (pdf) for a more detailed look