Reach new heights

Welcome to the Creative Problem Solving workshop. In the past few decades, psychologists and business people alike have discovered that successful problem solvers tend to use the same type of process to identify and implement the solutions to their problems. This process works for any kind of problem, large or small.

This workshop will give participants an overview of the entire creative problem solving process, as well as key problem solving tools that they can use every day.

Workshop Objectives

Research has consistently demonstrated that when clear goals are associated with learning that the learning occurs more easily and rapidly. With that in mind, let’s review our goals for today. 

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

    • Understand problems and the creative problem solving process

    • Identify types of information to gather and key questions to ask in problem solving 

    • Identify the importance of defining a problem correctly

    • Identify and use four different problem definition tools

    • Write concrete problem statements

    • Use basic brainstorming tools to generate ideas for solutions

    • Use idea generating tools, such as affinity diagrams, word chaining, the box method, the six thinking hats, and the blink method

    • Evaluate potential solutions against criteria, including cost/benefit analysis and group voting

    • Perform a final analysis to select a solution

    • Understand the roles that fact and intuition play in selecting a solution

    • Understand the need to refine the shortlist and re-refine it

    • Understand how to identify the tasks and resources necessary to implement solutions

    • Evaluate and adapt solutions to reality

    • Follow up with solution implementation to celebrate successes and identify improvements

Change is a constant in our lives. All around us, technologies, processes, people, ideas, and methods often change, affecting the way we perform daily tasks and live our lives. This workshop will give any leader tools to implement changes more smoothly and to have those changes better accepted. This workshop will also give all participants an understanding of how change is implemented and some tools for managing their reactions to change. 

Workshop Objectives

 Research has consistently demonstrated that when clear goals are associated with learning, the learning occurs more easily and rapidly. With that in mind, let’s review our goals for today.

By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

• List the steps necessary for preparing a change strategy and building support for the change
• Describe the WIFM – the individual motivators for change
• Use needed components to develop a change management and communications plans, and to list implementation strategies
• Employ strategies for gathering data, addressing concerns and issues, evaluating options and adapting a change direction
• Utilize methods for leading change project status meetings, celebrating a successful change implementation, and sharing the results and benefits
• Describe the four states of Appreciative Inquiry and its purposes

Critical thinking is vital to any kind of success, including your career and beyond. Simply put, critical thinking is a questioning approach to form a judgment or conclusion. It encourages reflective and independent thinking to guide us through the hundreds of decisions that we make throughout a week. Having these skills provides you with the best chance of making an informed decision. Everything and anything can be a subject to question with critical thinking.

As problems are bound to come up in any organization, it’s important to know how to address these challenges with good reasoning and logic. Utilizing your critical thinking skills will lead you toward being a more rational and disciplined thinker. This workshop will provide you the skills to approach problems critically, as well as recognize the power of open-mindedness and altering your perspective, in order to make the best choices.

Workshop Objectives

Research has consistently demonstrated that when clear goals are associated with learning, it occurs more easily and rapidly. 

The objectives for this course are as follows:

    • Define critical thinking

    • Understand the critical thinking process

    • Identify the role of logic, and reasoning

    • Recognize benefits and barriers to critical thinking

    • Identify characteristics of a critical thinker

    • Evaluate information using critical thinking skills

    • Recognize ways to improve skills

    • Explore and revise perspective, when necessary

    • Comprehend problem solving abilities