OTSCT001 - CRITICAL THINKING - Management

Critical Thinking

Workshop duration: 2 days

Workshop size: 15 participants

Target audience: All staff

Overview

Managers need to be able to identify optimal   solutions to problems based on weighing up the advantages and disadvantages   of alternative approaches. This   requires the ability to analyse information, make connections, and look   beyond the obvious.

This workshop will enhance your ability to analyse   and synthesise a diverse range of data and information in order to support   sound decision making through fully understanding issues, identifying options   to remedy issues, and selecting the most appropriate action based on   perceived costs and benefits of alternatives. By the end of this workshop you will be ready to analyse data and   information, drawing out key facts and figures to aid decision making.

Objectives

By the end of this course successful   participants will be able to:

• Identify connections, patterns,        relationships and links between data
• Draw conclusions from the        analysis
• Balance perspectives when        setting direction
• Use alternative ways to        interpret information

Training techniques

A variety of training techniques will be   used including:

• Experiential        learning
• Case        studies
• Group        learning and discussion
• Individual        challenges
• Collaborative        and competitive tasks

Resources

Participants will each receive the following materials:

• Course        workbook
• Recommended        resources
• Document        templates

Course content

Understanding Critical Thinking

· Functions of the brain

· Types of thinking

· Defining critical thinking

Components of Critical Thinking

· The critical thinking cycle

· Types of Data

· Divergent thinking vs Convergent thinking

· Fact vs opinion

· Skimming vs scanning

Critical Thinking Tools

· 6 thinking hats

· The 5 whys

· Pros and cons

· Checkerboards

· Criteria checkerboard

· Decision matrix