Day One:
Introduction to Critical Thinking, Business Analysis, and Decision Making
- What is critical thinking and why is it important?
- What is business analysis and why is it important?
- What is decision making and why is it important?
- How are critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making related?
- What are the benefits of critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making for professionals?
- What are the challenges of critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making in today’s business environment?
- What are the common pitfalls and biases that affect critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making?
- How can we overcome them?
Day Two:
Critical Thinking Techniques
- What are the elements of critical thinking?
- How can we use logic, arguments, evidence, and assumptions to analyse information?
- How can we use creative thinking to generate new ideas and perspectives?
- How can we use systems thinking to understand the big picture and the interrelationships among components?
- How can we use root cause analysis to identify the underlying causes of problems?
- What are the stages of business analysis?
- How can we define the problem or opportunity clearly and accurately?
- How can we identify the stakeholders and their needs, expectations, and perspectives?
- How can we elicit, analyse, validate, and document the requirements?
- How can we generate, compare, select, and recommend the best solution?
- How can we plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate the solution implementation?
Day Three:
Decision Making Techniques
- What are the stages of decision making?
- How can we generate alternatives for solving problems or achieving goals?
- How can we evaluate alternatives using criteria such as feasibility, effectiveness, efficiency, ethics, and sustainability?
- How can we select the best option using methods such as ranking, scoring, voting, or consensus?
- How can we implement the chosen solution using tools such as action plans, Gantt charts, or SMART goals?
- How can we monitor and evaluate the results using tools such as feedback loops, key performance indicators, or balanced scorecards?
Day Four:
Tools and Frameworks for Critical Thinking, Business Analysis, and Decision Making
- What are some of the tools and frameworks that can help us with critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making?
- How can we use SWOT analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a situation or solution?
- How can we use PESTLE analysis to examine the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors that affect a situation or solution?
- How can we use Porter’s five forces analysis to evaluate the competitive forces in an industry or market?
- How can we use SMART criteria to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives or goals?
Day Five:
Communication and Collaboration for Critical Thinking, Business Analysis, and Decision Making
- Why is communication important for critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making?
- What are the principles of effective communication for critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making?
- How can we communicate clearly, concisely, confidently, convincingly, and courteously with different audiences?
- How can we use various communication methods (e.g., written reports, oral presentations) to convey our findings or proposals?
- How can we use feedback to improve our communication skills?
- Why is collaboration important for critical thinking, business analysis, and decision making?
- How can we work with others to solve complex problems effectively?
