More about training in…

Critical thinking and argumentation:

  • Develop greater self-awareness when making judgments
  • Learn about common pitfalls such as cognitive biases
  • Get a deeper appreciation of different kinds of thought processes
  • Sharpen skills in:
    • analysing and evaluating evidence and arguments
    • identifying assumptions
    • extracting the gist of information
    • making careful inferences from available information
    • developing your own arguments and anticipating objections
    • communicating arguments effectively.


Strategic thinking and problem solving:  

  • Focus on what it takes to ‘see the Big Picture’
  • Analyse complex situations to understand their dynamics and to see connections to other  issues
  • Identify opportunities for action and anticipate challenges
  • See the possibilities – generate ideas or hypotheses
  • Assess different options to support sound decisions.

Structured analytic techniques:  

Learn ways to think more systematically, thoroughly and rigorously when issues are complex and the stakes are high; e.g.:

  • Scope The Range (STR)  enables us to thoroughly explore the entire ‘solution space’ to uncover all possible hypotheses or potential solutions to a problem
  • Argument Mapping  enables us to marshal all arguments for and against before making a judgment, or to scrutinise reasoning in detail, bringing out important assumptions
  • Analysis of Competing Hypotheses  helps us evaluate information against different hypotheses simultaneously, avoiding premature over-commitment to one viewpoint
  • Choice Matrices  help us evaluate different options against set criteria
  • Consequence Diagrams  prompt us to consider far-reaching consequences of prospective actions or events
  • Multiple Cause Diagrams and Influence Diagrams  help us understand how situations come about and identify key features, including possible points of intervention
  • A Stasis Matrix helps us find effective solutions to problems involving stakeholders with conflicting viewpoints
  • Adversarial Collaboration  helps break stalemates when there are competing viewpoints by identifying what information can resolve a disputed issue.


Client Testimonials 
‘Well presented, informative. Many things I haven’t learnt in similar courses. Enjoyable because of lots of activities.’
Intelligence analyst Australian government agency
‘I really enjoyed the course. In fact I would go further and say it is one of the best training courses I’ve done!’
Analyst Department of Defence