Critical Thinking and Decision Making
Enhance your critical thinking -make better decisions, reduce bias, and improve strategic outcomes.




































Critical Thinking and Decision Making
How do you make decisions? Some people make decisions quickly without examining all the information, others make decisions slowly and can sometimes get trapped in the information gathering process.
Whatever your preferences, the art of critical thinking and effective decision-making is something all organisations rely on. Knowing when decisions must be made quickly or when you should hold off until more information can be gathered is a skill worth mastering to help avoid extreme tilts. Stronger decision-making skills can reduce stress, avoid re-do’s, and generally make life easier for everyone.
Outcomes
At the end of this course the participants will be able to:
- Identify how we take in information
- Practice better ways to learn from mistakes and develop better future responses
- Examine the consequences/implications of your decisions on yourself, others, and the organisation
- Explain the concept of cognitive bias
- Develop strategies to minimise the impact of the top four cognitive biases
- Improve your current strategic thinking skills
- Use critical thinking to improve the decision-making process and make better decisions
What to expect
In this course, you’ll explore the core principles of critical thinking and effective decision-making, helping you strike the right balance between speed and thoroughness. You’ll learn how to focus your attention, recognise cognitive biases, and conduct root cause analyses to make more informed decisions. Through practical exercises, you’ll develop strategies for responding to mistakes, improving strategic thinking, and avoiding common decision-making pitfalls. By the end of the course, you’ll have the tools to enhance your judgment, think more critically, and make decisions with confidence and clarity.
Who is this Critical Thinking and Decision Making Course for?
This course is designed for professionals, leaders, and decision-makers who want to strengthen their critical thinking and decision-making abilities. It is ideal for individuals seeking to make more informed, strategic, and effective decisions while minimising stress and avoiding common pitfalls.
How will this Critical Thinking and Decision Making Course help me?
By completing this course, you will:
- Gain confidence in making strategic and well-informed decisions
- Reduce stress and avoid decision-making traps, such as analysis paralysis or rushed judgments
- Improve your ability to identify and mitigate the impact of unconscious biases
- Enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills, enabling you to address challenges effectively
- Create a positive impact on your organisation by improving decision outcomes and fostering trust
This course equips you with the tools and mindset to make smarter decisions that drive success for yourself and your team.


"As a school Principal, I greatly value practical training that delivers immediate and measurable improvements in productivity. The "Working Sm@rt with Microsoft Outlook" workshop facilitated by Priority Management exceeded all expectations."


“I recently had the privilege of taking a refresher course on Microsoft Outlook, and it was nothing short of transformative. It was a wake-up call for me, realizing that I had been using Outlook for years, yet there was so much more to learn and exploit.”


“It changed my life really. I felt like I’d been baptized at the end- I really felt so much lighter and freer! I’m in control of my life, actually I can, I can work the way I want to work.”


“Enjoyed the session and got a few great tips and better ideas on managing emails and tasks thanks so much.”


“Working with Priority Management as an organisation, [I’ve learned] that it’s not actually about the computer programs. It’s about the way in which you use those to work together.”


“Went into the course thinking I would learn a few tips on using MO more efficiently, came out with a breakthrough on how I could be the high performer I want to be and still have a life.”


“They’re always there to support you and they’ve even made the Most staunchly paper driven people challenge what they do and find a way to be paper light, if not paper gone.”



“Outlook to me was just a repository for emails, but now it is transformed into a powerful automated planning tool. Thank you Mary! I also like how you consider typography when setting up the layout and solution.”


“Such a great course. Thoroughly enjoyed the training and learned so many new things that I know will benefit both myself and the organisation.”


“I had no idea of how much I didn’t know. This is a game changer for efficiency and organisation.”


“The Australian Chamber Orchestra has engaged Priority for 15 years to conduct Outlook training, which is considered an important component of our induction process to assist with productivity. It’s always a pleasure to liaise with Priority Management. As a participant, I found the online workshop to be informative, educational, fun, and engaging.”


“Thanks for putting on such amazing training sessions for our employees over the past 2 weeks, we have had incredible feedback about how valuable they found the Outlook training and how great a facilitator Dani is. One employee reached out saying it was the best training she has ever done, which is a testament to how good the content and facilitators are!”



“Mary was very knowledgeable on the material and able to answer any queries quickly and effectively, there are many strategies that I took from the training that will allow me to build on previous knowledge and be more effective working within Outlook.”


“A HUGE thank you for the OneNote training that I completed. Having completed courses previously, I was expecting similar basic content and a struggle to say engaged. I was pleasantly surprised by Marys knowledge and ability to engage all attendees from beginners through to more advanced users, covering a range of skills, including more advanced use scenarios. I learnt a lot and have already applied many of the skills that I learnt.”


"But also the programs were fabulous because they are really practical. It’s not just here’s how you use it. It’s really about how you embed it into your everyday work life which is what I like about it."


"Thank you Jackie so much again for putting together such an insightful presentation. As I mentioned, the feedback so far has been really positive and a few people I have spoken to in the office today have already made some tweaks to their default settings. Your presentation skills were some of the best I’ve seen, and I was impressed with how you were able to navigate between screens despite the technical challenges. Thank you again!"


Learn more about Critical Thinking and Decision Making


Overview


Audience


Format


What's Included
Focusing Your Attention
Examine the advantages and disadvantages across three different types of attention:
- Sustained attention
- Selective attention
- Divided attention
You will begin to identify ways to develop skills to focus your attention when required.
Responding To Mistakes
Even highly skilled decision makers are going to get it wrong occasionally. No matter how good you are at making decisions you are also human, and humans make mistakes.
Rather than defending bad decisions the important thing is to acknowledge when decisions are wrong, do what is necessary to rectify the situation and create strategies to ensure those mistakes aren’t repeated.
Conducing A Root Cause Analysis
Look at different ways to conduct a root cause analysis so that you can make more informed decisions that address the true cause of issues rather than just the symptoms.
Wilful Blindness And Cognitive Bias
Everyone is susceptible to what is referred to as willful blindness – when the brain creates what feels like legitimate reasons for us to ignore something we don’t want to deal with. But this generally doesn’t make for good decisions.
Examine ways to manage this and a range of other unconscious biases so you are better placed to make informed decisions.
Improving Critical Thinking
Look at the guidelines and techniques for improving critical thinking skills including identifying and focusing on important issues, understanding the consequences/implications of your decisions, applying the stop rule and creative brainstorming.
Acting Quickly Without Sacrificing Critical Thinking
Being too quick to respond can lead to bad decisions, but so can taking too long. Using techniques like reflective urgency can allow you to:
- Identify your urgency trap
- Focus on the right priorities
- Avoid extreme tilts
This course is designed for professionals, leaders, and decision-makers who want to strengthen their critical thinking and decision-making abilities. It is ideal for individuals seeking to make more informed, strategic, and effective decisions while minimising stress and avoiding common pitfalls.
- This is a 1-day program that can be delivered face-to-face or virtually (MS Teams)
- Comprehensive Learning Guide
- Interactive Sessions
- Expert Guidance
- Certificate of Completion
Dont have your own laptop?
We have modern HP laptops available for hire!
HP EliteBook Touchscreen Tablet laptops (with mouse) (11 available)
- Rental cost to client $95+GST per laptop + transport
- Running Windows 11
- Running Office 365
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- OneNote
- Added only if required - MS Project, MS Visio


Organise with one of our team when making your booking or get in touch with us here
Submit an Enquiry



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