On-Site Training Only  
 Length: 3 days 
 Number of Participants: Up to 20
 Materials: Notebooks and handouts provided
 

This interactive three-day seminar gives participants a working knowledge of basic critical thinking skills including the Socratic method to build individual and collective thinking strengths.  It combines classical critical thinking with applications from neuroscience for organizational effectiveness in problem-solving.  The complexity and fast pace of today’s business environment demands that every employee and manager be able to think fast on his or her feet to resolve increasingly challenging problems. This program trains thinkers to find out what they know and what they don’t know.

Part One: Understanding critical thinking

1. Objectives for program and individual goals
2. Introduction to Socratic method
3. Definitions of critical thinking
4. Brain teaser

Part Two: Challenging assumptions

1. Defining assumptions
2. Identifying assumptions
3. Dialoguing to challenge assumptions
4. Rapport-building strategies and listening skills
5. Integration exercise

Part Three: Developing reasoned judgment

1. Needs assessment
2. Socratic method team exercise
3. Reasoned judgment process
4. Handling ambiguity and complexity
5. Aiming for excellence
6. Customized problem or case study
7. “The Wheel”--a structured critical thinking process

Part Four: Building thinking teams

1. Neuroscience, multiple intelligences and the impact on organizational thinking
2. Thinking Style Map
3. Metaphor for team thinking
4. 5-step problem-solving model
5. Customized problem or case study using homogeneous (“thinkalike”) teams
6. Affinities and conflicts: Review and integration
7. Affinity diagram to close seminar