Problem Solving & Decision Making Workshops
Focused Thinking™ provides individuals and teams with the ability to analyze and share large amounts of information in order to solve complex problems, make objective decisions and take corrective action. The following series of problem solving workshops will help you and your team be more focused in analyzing, sharing and managing your important information in order to solve a wide range of business problems.
Workshop Summaries
Focused Problem-Solving Skills Workshop (FPS) is a highly interactive one, two, or three-day workshop. It provides managers, team leaders, project managers and technical contributors, at all levels, with logical and practical critical thinking skills. As a result of this session, participants will be able to quickly find the root cause of a problem, make objective decisions/recommendations and formulate workable implementation plans.
The workshop uses instructor-led discussions, case-study practice, step-by-step workbooks, meeting simulations and application worksheets. All participants have the opportunity to address their actual on-job problems during the training session.
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Focused Decision Making is an intensive one-day session that is designed for anyone who must make complex team decisions, and/or "sell" recommendations to management, customers, or internal stakeholders. Participants will learn team collaboration and group management techniques in order to keep all stakeholders focused on the decision to be made. This session will teach techniques for sorting team priorities, comparing multiple decision options and objectively weighing the benefits and risks of each decision option. Participants will also learn and practice techniques for making persuasive and compelling presentations that motivate others into action.
This workshop includes instructor-led presentations, case-study practice, presentation simulations and on-job decision-making application.
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Advanced Problem Solving (APS) is a one-day workshop (or individualized series of coaching sessions) designed for middle to senior management. This session compliments the current FPS session by providing the higher-level problem solving and decision making techniques needed by middle and senior managers, engagement leaders and team leaders. APS will help them address the more strategic problems and complex decisions both within their teams and with external client organizations.
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Focused Problem Solving for Teams is a customized workshop that helps both new and existing teams develop the essential skills and a common framework for solving difficult problems, generating consensus on decisions, and formulating workable implementation plans.
Throughout the session, the workshop leader models problem-solving and meeting-management skills. Participants build critical thinking skills by working through problem solving case studies during simulated team meetings. Participants then have the opportunity to tackle their actual team-specific problems.
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Focused Troubleshooting for Production Personnel provides line-level supervisors, technicians, engineers, machine operators and team leaders with a straightforward, step-by-step critical thinking framework for quickly troubleshooting equipment, quality and production problems. This workshop trains production personnel to cut through the symptoms and "smoke" of problems. It enables them to focus quickly on finding the true cause of the situation so that the problem does not reoccur. Participants also learn how to anticipate potential future problems and take concrete steps to prevent the potential problems from occurring.
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Creative Problem Solving (CPS) helps teams and individuals unlock their creative problem solving potential. This highly interactive one or two-day workshop provides managers, team leaders, project managers and technical specialists, at all levels, with an approach to creative thinking and problem solving that is usable for groups, small teams and individuals. If an individual or team is stuck for an idea or is getting bogged-down on re-run ideas, this workshop is for them.
The workshop uses instructor-led discussions, practice sessions on actual on-the-job challenges, skill building exercises, and techniques to generate ideas when you're coming up dry.
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