Business strategy. Plan and secure success.

With the rapid and continuous changes in market conditions, customers behaviour, and the technological landscape, it has become crucial for organisations to develop their decision-making capacity when operating in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA).

This short course is tailored for organisations that recognise the importance of staff development as a strategic investment in navigating the VUCA world, which is essential to remaining competitive.

How do you frame complex problems amidst ambiguous and incomplete information? What new type of thinking and operating is needed to navigate unknowns? How to manage the risks associated with the introduction of new technologies? What are the frameworks and strategies of the new ways of problem solving?

Aims

This course will teach you practical tools and hands-on techniques for solving problems and making effective decisions. Through interactive activities and real-world case studies, you will learn to address the specific challenges of each VUCA dimension, apply tools like Backcasting, Cross-Impact Analysis, and the OODA Loop, and explore frameworks including Cynefin and system mapping.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• use different types of thinking when you cannot predict the future, and understand when to apply these thinking approaches
• analyse complex situations using the Cynefin framework
• understand how to prepare for rapid changes and associated decision-making
• apply frameworks and tools for uncovering unknowns when analysing problems.

Content

Problem solving and decision-making in a VUCA world

• Understanding the VUCA world
• Challenges in making decisions in VUCA
• Making decisions by addressing each dimension of a VUCA world

Tools to frame decision-making and problem complexity

• Backcasting as a tool for scenario planning
• Cross impact analysis
• The OODA loop
• Cynefin framework
• System mapping using rich map
• Experiment interventions in the system
• Mapping assumptions and exploring ignorance

Case study

• Traditional planning and problem-solving methods
• Initial responses and quick fixes
• Transition to resilient solutions
• Practical and impractical solutions

Intended audience

Future leaders building their capacity to lead and make critical team-based decisions in the context of ambiguous and incomplete information for improved and safe operations.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery mode

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop
• Online workshop via the platform Zoom

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically using Dropbox. Printing services are not provided.

If you are attending a class taking place online, please ensure you have access to Miro.