Customized Courses Tailored to Your Organization’s Needs
We are in living in a new era that demands innovative modes and methods of thinking if one is to survive and succeed in the global economy. But the precise content and nature of the “new skills” required of 21st-century workers are rarely taught.
One of the most essential skills in today’s world is critical thinking, or CT for short. These one-day workshops introduce participants to CT skills such as systems thinking, inquiry systems, and crisis management, and give participants the opportunity to apply them to practical problems.
Courses Offered
Systems Thinking and the Error of the Third Kind
This workshop introduces participants to the Myers-Briggs personality typology. The Myers-Briggs is an essential component in defining complex problems from multiple perspectives so that one can solve the “right” problems and thereby avoid solving the “wrong” ones. The Myers-Briggs also provides an important way to analyze the design and performance of organizations. The Myers-Briggs is crucial in understanding crisis management, risk management, and spirituality in the workplace.
This workshop introduces participants to different types of inquiry systems, or systems for producing different types of knowledge. Indeed, different inquiry systems not only produce different types of knowledge, but they differ fundamentally with regard to what they define as “knowledge.”
Not all systems are suited for the same kinds of problems. Thus, some systems are best for well-structured and less complex problems, while others are best for ill-structured, complex, and unbounded problems. Knowledge of the different types of systems is critical for crisis management.
This workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of crisis management. It presents a framework that shows clearly the critical activities and programs all organizations need to have in place before, during, and after major crises. It allows the participants to analyze their own organizations with regard to how well prepared they are for major crises, and features numerous experiential exercises so that participants can practice and develop the necessary skills to cope with complex problems and manage major crises.
Goals and Objectives
- To improve the ability to anticipate and plan for a wide variety of crises. No crisis is ever a single crisis. Typically, one crisis sets off a chain reaction of multiple crises, especially if an organization is not prepared for more than one type of crisis. Crisis plans must be prepared interdependently, not independently.
- To formulate actual plans for one or more key crises. Newly formulated plans will be compared with previous plans in order to assess their strengths and weakness. Special emphasis is placed on the development of the critical capabilities that are needed to execute plans. Without the corresponding capabilities to execute them, plans are not only useless, but even worse, they add to initial crises.
- To be better able to pick up the inevitable early warning signals that precede all crises. If this can be done, many crises can be headed off before they are full blown, the best possible form of Crisis Management. In other words, special emphasis is placed on Proactive Crisis Management. Without prior preparation, merely reacting to crises generally makes them worse.
- The design of appropriate Damage Containment Systems to keep crises from spreading.
- How to plan for worst-case scenarios.
- How to fold Crisis Management into other key programs such as Facilities Management and Campus Security and Safety so that the success of Crisis Management is thereby enhanced.
The workshop also covers the critical differences between a. Risk Management, b. Crisis Management, c. Emergency Management, d. Crisis Communications, and, e. Business Recovery.
Finally, the nature of accident and crisis-prone cultures are also emphasized so that one can build and sustain a safety culture.
Contact us to inquire about developing a customized workshop for your organization.
Ian Mitroff | Mitroff Crisis Management 