Critical Thinking Worskshop 2 days Training Course

Module 1: Cultivating the Critical Thinking Mindset

• Defining critical thinking and its significance in the professional environment
• Distinguishing critical thinking from reactive behaviour, assumption-based reasoning, and intuitive reliance
• Identifying common obstacles to clear-mindedness
• Understanding how time constraints, prior experience, and organisational culture shape decision-making
• Overview of a structured critical thinking framework
• Key stages: observation, interpretation, analysis, exploration, and evaluation
• Shifting focus from seeking immediate answers to posing more effective questions

Practical Exercise: Deconstruct a recent workplace decision to uncover the cognitive processes that determined the final outcome.

Module 2: Accurately Defining the Problem

• Differentiating between surface symptoms and underlying issues
• Why organisations frequently address incorrect problems
• Techniques for effective problem framing and inquiry
• Uncovering embedded assumptions within problem statements
• Utilising the 5 Whys method
• Conducting root cause analysis
• Investigating alternative explanations

Practical Exercise: Utilise problem-framing and root cause analysis techniques to address a real or simulated workplace issue.

Module 3: Assessing Information, Evidence, and Assumptions

• Distinguishing facts from opinions and assumptions
• Differentiating interpretation from empirical evidence
• Detecting gaps or incomplete data
• Evalating the credibility and relevance of available information
• Differentiating strong evidence from weak evidence
• Identifying implicit assumptions
• Distinguishing correlation from causation
• Avoiding decisions based on partial information

Practical Exercise: Review a business scenario involving facts, opinions, assumptions, and incomplete evidence to determine what additional data is needed prior to making a decision.

Module 4: Cognitive Biases and Mental Traps

• The influence of cognitive biases on judgement and decision-making
• Confirmation bias
• Anchoring bias
• Authority bias
• Availability heuristic
• Escalation of commitment
• Groupthink phenomena
• Identifying logical fallacies in professional discussions
• Ad hominem attacks
• Straw man arguments
• Slippery slope reasoning
• False dichotomies
• Techniques for self-challenging one’s own thought processes

Practical Exercise: Detect biases, assumptions, and logical fallacies within a series of workplace scenarios and decision-making discussions.

Module 5: Analysing Business Challenges

• Applying the critical thinking framework to complex issues
• Clarifying the issue before proposing solutions
• Identifying both available and missing evidence
• Questioning initial assumptions
• Considering different interpretations
• Filtering relevant information from distractions
• Formulating an evidence-based analysis of the problem

Practical Exercise: In small groups, analyse a business case pertinent to the client’s industry and present findings along with the reasoning behind them.

Module 6: Challenging Perspectives and Exploring Alternatives

• Why considering diverse perspectives enhances decision quality
• The value of asking, "What if we are wrong?"
• Identifying alternative explanations
• Devil’s advocate methodologies
• Red Team analysis
• Fostering constructive dissent
• Questioning preferred solutions
• Using pre-mortems to spot potential failure points

Practical Exercise: Critically evaluate a proposed business decision by uncovering assumptions, risks, missing evidence, and alternative strategies.

Module 7: Creative Thinking for Enhanced Problem Solving

• The interplay between critical and creative thinking
• Divergent and convergent thought processes
• Moving past the first or most obvious solution
• Brainstorming and brainwriting methods
• Generating multiple alternatives
• Applying SCAMPER to explore new approaches
• Objectively evaluating creative ideas

Practical Exercise: Develop and refine multiple solutions to a workplace challenge before selecting the most suitable options.

Module 8: Structured Decision Making

• Transitioning from analysis to action
• Setting clear decision criteria
• Objectively comparing alternatives
• Conducting cost-benefit analysis
• Assessing risks and trade-offs
• Understanding stakeholder impacts
• Utilising decision matrices
• Identifying potential unintended consequences
• Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty

Practical Exercise: Evaluate several potential solutions using established decision criteria and present a well-substantiated recommendation.

Module 9: Critical Thinking in Leadership and Teams

• The role of critical thinking in leadership
• Why teams may make suboptimal decisions
• The effects of hierarchy, authority, and groupthink
• Encouraging constructive challenge
• Fostering an environment where assumptions can be questioned
• Posing better questions during meetings
• Distinguishing between disagreement and conflict
• Facilitating evidence-based discussions
• Communicating recommendations with clarity and conviction

Practical Exercise: Engage in a structured team decision-making exercise that involves competing priorities, incomplete information, and varied stakeholder perspectives.

Module 10: Final Business Simulation and Action Planning

• Applying the full critical thinking process
• Defining the core problem
• Anlysing evidence and assumptions
• Identifying biases and thinking traps
• Exploring alternative perspectives and solutions
• Establishing decision criteria
• Assessing risks and outcomes
• Developing and presenting an evidence-based recommendation

Practical Exercise: Teams collaborate on a comprehensive business scenario, or, where appropriate, tackle one of the client’s actual workplace challenges.