Leadership and ManagementProblem Solving and Decision Making
Organisations spend a great deal of effort solving the wrong problem well, because the first plausible explanation arrives quickly and everybody moves to action before anybody has tested it. This course slows that first step down. Delegates work through problem definition and separating a symptom from a cause, structured techniques for getting to a root cause rather than to the most convenient one, and generating options beyond the two that were obvious at the start. Decision criteria are set before options are scored, since deciding the criteria afterwards produces the answer somebody already wanted. Risk and unintended consequences are assessed. Group decision making and its failure modes are covered. The course closes on implementation and on reviewing whether the decision worked.
Course objectives
- Define a problem and separate a symptom from a cause
- Apply structured techniques to reach a genuine root cause
- Generate options beyond the obvious two
- Set decision criteria before scoring options
- Assess risk and unintended consequences of a preferred option
- Manage group decision making and its failure modes
- Implement a decision and review whether it worked
Who should attend
- Managers and supervisors at any level
- Technical and professional staff solving recurring problems
- Improvement and quality teams
- Project and operations personnel
- Anyone who chairs a decision making group
Course outline
- 01Solving the wrong problem well
- 02Problem definition
- 03Symptoms against causes
- 04Structured root cause techniques
- 05Generating real options
- 06Criteria before scoring
- 07Risk and unintended consequences
- 08Group decisions, implementation and review
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 20 November 2026 | Online | Online | R6,500 per delegate | Register Now |
| 23 to 25 November 2026 | Cape Town, South Africa | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 24 to 26 February 2027 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |