Critical Thinking
- Traditional Classroom: 1-day
- Virtual Instructor-led: Two 3-3.5 hour sessions; Three 2-hour sessions
This course will address the quest for better decisions, thinking/reasoning differently, responsibility management and decision making, and risk and other challenges to critical thinking. Participants will learn to apply broad knowledge and seasoned experience to address complex and critical issues.
Target Audience
Individuals who will benefit from this course include mid-level managers and those who are managers of managers with at least four years of experience managing others.
Learning Objectives
- Define issues clearly, despite incomplete or ambiguous information.
- Link problems and systems to identify and improve underlying strategic issues.
- Analyze the available alternatives for other, more effective solutions.
- Make difficult decisions with more confidence.
Key Takeaways
- Enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills.
- Make better decisions.
- Think and reason differently.
- Apply broad knowledge and seasoned experience to address complex and critical issues.
Course Outline
Module 1: Let’s Get Started
- Exercise: Bad Decisions
- Root Causes and Costs of Bad or Delayed Decisions
Module 2: Critical Thinking
- Critical Thinking Defined
- Setting the Stage: Mindset and Skills
- Exercise: Devil’s Advocate
- Critical Thinking Toolbox
- Edward de Bono’s Six Hats
- Richard Paul’s Four Types of Questions
- Drill-Down
- Systems Diagram/Argument Map
- Cause and Effect Diagram
- Exercise: Raid the Toolbox
- Exercise: Critical Kaizen
Module 3: Decision Making
- Decision Making Process
- Exercise: Process Drill-Down
- Decision Making Roles and Tools
- Exercise: Take the Wheel for a Spin (Futures Wheel)
Module 4: Risk and Other Challenges
- Challenges to Critical Thinking and Decision Making
- Risk
- Ethics
- Personal Filters
- Interpersonal Dynamics
Personal Action Plan
- Create Your Personal Action Plan
- Appendix: Toolkit
Post-Course Work
- Meet with your manager to review what was learned in the course and your action plan
- OPTIONAL: Group Coaching Sessions
MDI1350-2 Course Code
For more information on this topic, as well as how Corporate Education Group can help power your organization’s performance, contact us via email or call 1.800.288.7246 (US only) or +1.978.649.8200. You can also use the Info Request Form below!