Critical Thinking and Strategic Problem Solving Skills for Leaders

  • Tackle everyday business challenges, critically analyze problems and generate breakthrough solutions to the toughest organizational issues.

    This critical thinking training provides rapid, intuitive tools that enable executives to quickly cut to the heart of strategic and organizational decisions, focusing on areas that have the greatest impact on performance.

    With this problem solving training you will learn a step-by-step process for diagnosing business issues, generating options and implementing innovative solutions.

    About This Seminar

    The course addresses the three basic levels of business challenge:

    • Making strategic decisions

    The key to great decision-making is clarity in generating options and criteria under challenging conditions. You will learn how to master this process.

    • Solving problems that can be solved

    Effective problem solving begins with careful definition of the problem. Executives will learn a set of proven approaches for rational and creative problem solving.

    • Managing difficult dilemmas

    When a problem is highly complex, and resistant to multiple attempts at solution, it is a dilemma. Participants will use the 5-step Dialectical Solutions Method (DSM) to tackle their toughest strategic dilemmas.

    Who Should Attend

    Any senior manager, VP or director can immediately apply the strategic planning techniques, including:

    • Corporate-level managers and VPs from all departments
    • Operations and administrative officers
    • Project managers who lead complex projects
    • Sales and marketing team members who must respond to new competitive threats

    What You Will Learn

    • Learn a professional problem solving methodology which allows you to creatively manage strategic dilemmas and solve business problems
    • Prioritize problems and establish practical and achievable action plans
    • Apply new critical thinking approaches and overcome the three barriers to strategic problem solving
    • Train others – effectively direct project team members to think critically and deploy strategic solutions
    • Learn to clearly define and frame organizational problems requiring solutions
    • Use the Dialectical Solutions Method™ (DSM) to manage highly complex strategic challenges in your organization
    • Engage key stakeholders and team members
    • Understand how to analyze issues and identify the best possible solution

    Special Bonus Materials

    Receive a personal copy of Alex Lowy’s book “No Problem”, along with his best-selling strategy book “The Power of the 2×2 Matrix” (co-authored with Phil Hood).

    • “Great opportunity to come together with other professionals and share relatively similar decisions, problems or dilemmas. Also, the powerful part was innovative solutions or settlements.”

      D. T. ReidDirector, Security, Ontario Power Generation

  • Course content details

  • Additional delivery options

    Adapt this program to your organization with these additional delivery options.

    In-house programming

  • PMI, PMBOK, PMP, and PMI Registered Education Provider logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. The Schulich Executive Education Centre is a PMI Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.), as designated by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

    This program has been approved for CDP hours under Section A of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Log of the Human Resource Professionals Association (HRPA). Be sure to note the program ID number on your CPD log. For more information about certification or continuing professional development, visit the HRPA website at www.hrpa.ca/hrdesignations_/Pages/Continuing-Professional-Development.aspx