Getting Innovative Solutions: Problem Solving And Decision Making (Online Training)

Course Objectives

Problem solving is a major challenge for any organization. This programme has been specially designed to teach participants to appraise, examine and diagnose systematically a problem situation and to generate actions utilizing analytical tools – we call it the conventional approach. On top of that, it zooms in on an array of creative problem solving techniques leading to decision making choice – in case the participants are great at finding root causes but may run out of ideas to solve the problems. We call this latter approach – creative & innovative approach in guiding decision making

Participants will learn how to:

• Use a systematic approach to recognize a problem, find true cause, select a fix, avoid future problems and handle complex issues
• Identify the highest priority problems and focus on them
• Describe a problem in specific terms and find the true cause
• Verify hunches by checking the facts to avoid unnecessary fixes
• Choose a fix or other actions which best solve the problem
• Avoid recurring problems by finding the root cause
• Maximizing creative efforts by looking for “out of box” solutions, thereby enhancing  decision making capability
• Learn and Compare approaches to problem solving: both conventional and creative
• Recognize that a fix is a change which may cause future problems and consider what might go wrong with any fix before implementing it.

Target Audience

Managers, Engineers, Executives, Officers, Supervisors and staff from all functional areas and departments.

Methodology

This Live Online / Virtual Training session will be conducted via a Live Streaming Platform in which the trainer will use interactive lecture and slide presentation to cover the modules stated below.

Course Modules

• Module 1: Conventional Approach: Overview of 7-Step Problem Solving Tools
  Step 1: Define the Problem – Identify the problem and the importance of working on it + case
  Step 2 : Current situation – Clarify the problem area(s) as the situation exists today + case
  Step 3 : Cause Analysis & Fish Bone – Identify & verify the root causes of the problem + case
  Step 4 : Solution – Develop plan to eliminate the root cause of the problem / situation + case
  Step 5 : Check Results – Implement plans, confirm they have impacted the root causes and the goals for improvement have been met.
  Step 6 : Standardization – Modify process/system to ensure that the improvements are sustained over time + case
  Step 7 : Future Plans – Evaluate where we have been and where we need to go + case
• Module 2: Creative and Innovative Approach – Dead end Street: Running out of ideas – What is creative thinking in problem solving & innovative solutions?
  – case exercise
  – discussion on thinking out of the box
• Module 3: Creative Techniques for idea generation: how to use each technique in your environment
  – reversal + case
  – reframing matrix + case
  – concept fan + case
  – random approach + case
  – provocation + case
• Module 4: Human: how to handle and overcome “non-technical” obstacles?
  – culture, leadership, attitude
  – open case