problem solving and decision making course outline

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Price $795.00 USD

Duration 1 Day

Delivery Methods Virtual Instructor Led Private Group

Course Overview

Course objectives.

• Understand the similarities between problem solving and decision making
• Understand the differences between problem solving and decision making
• Learn a variety of leading frameworks used to inform decision making
• Conduct exercises to practice each of the seven-steps of the problem-solving process

Who Should Attend?

• Top-rated instructors: Our crew of subject matter experts have an average instructor rating of 4.8 out of 5 across thousands of reviews.
• Authorized content: We maintain more than 35 Authorized Training Partnerships with the top players in tech, ensuring your course materials contain the most relevant and up-to date information.
• Interactive classroom participation: Our virtual training includes live lectures, demonstrations and virtual labs that allow you to participate in discussions with your instructor and fellow classmates to get real-time feedback.
• Post Class Resources: Review your class content, catch up on any material you may have missed or perfect your new skills with access to resources after your course is complete.
• Private Group Training: Let our world-class instructors deliver exclusive training courses just for your employees. Our private group training is designed to promote your team’s shared growth and skill development.
• Tailored Training Solutions: Our subject matter experts can customize the class to specifically address the unique goals of your team.

Learning Credits: Learning Credits can be purchased well in advance of your training date to avoid having to commit to specific courses or dates. Learning Credits allow you to secure your training budget for an entire year while eliminating the administrative headache of paying for individual classes. They can also be redeemed for a full year from the date of purchase. If you have previously purchased a Learning Credit agreement with New Horizons, you may use a portion of your agreement to pay for this class.

If you have questions about Learning Credits, please contact your Account Manager.

Course Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

1- Defining decision making

• Understanding Decision-Making and How it Happens
• Why People Do or Don’t Make Decisions
• Ways to Make Decisions

2- Defining problem solving

• Understanding Problem Solving
• Divergent and Convergent Thinking
• Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving
• Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)

3- Learn the Seven-Step Problem Solving Process

• Problem Definition
• Decision to Act on a Problem
• Define Problem Solving Scope
• Finding Root Cause
• Prioritizing Root Cause Correction
• Select a Solution

Upcoming Class Dates and Times

Do You Have Additional Questions? Please Contact Us Below.

• Open training
• Team training

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving for Effective Decision-Making

Professional development and personal effectiveness.

An essential competency in today’s workplace

Mastering critical thinking and problem-solving skills can help you make better decisions or recommendations- an essential competency in today’s knowledge workplaces. Critical thinking helps you to examine and improve thought processes, ask the right questions, challenge assumptions and consider varying viewpoints. Effective problem-solving helps you to properly identify and systematically work through a problem in a comprehensive manner, ensuring clarity when it comes time to make decisions or recommendations.

This course will demonstrate how critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making work optimally together, and will provide hands-on practice with tools that you can apply to your everyday workday tasks, big or small.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this seminar, you will be able to:

• Define critical thinking and identify your critical thinking styles
• Work through the critical thinking process to build, analyze and evaluate varying viewpoints
• Improve key critical thinking skills, including active listening and questioning
• Analyze context and information to clearly understand and identify a problem
• Apply problem solving steps and tools
• Identify appropriate solutions using specific approaches
• Select the best technique for making decisions
• Avoid common decision-making mistakes

Workshop topics

Maximizing the Power of Your Brain

• Critical thinking and problem-solving the key to effective decision making
• The Iceberg Principle and the Understanding-Resolution Ration

Critical Thinking

• Definition of a Critical Thinker
• Critical thinking behaviours: active listening, probing, Empty Your Bucket
• Identify and evaluate issues and viewpoints
• The 3 C’s: context, credibility, and consistency
• Critical thinking worksheet- practice it!
• Problem Solving
• The problem-solving process- various models
• Obstacles and counterproductive approaches
• Problem-solving techniques for groups and individuals
• Applying a problem-solving model to a workplace scenario

Decision Making

• Individual and collective decision-making traps
• How to choose: criteria, goals and vision-based decision-making
• Individual and group decision-making tools and techniques
• Decision-making – practical application to a workplace scenario

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course

Who should attend this course?

Anyone who is required to problem solve on the job or make important project, department or organizational decisions or recommendations

Does this course address your competency development needs?

This workshop addresses:

• Achievement and Results Oriented
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Analytical Thinking
• Change Management and Leadership
• Creative Thinking
• Decision Making and Decisiveness
• Engagement and Motivation
• Impact and Influence
• Innovation and Initiative
• Self Confidence and Self Esteem
• Strategic Thinking
• Teamwork and Cooperation
• Working with Others

To learn more about core competencies, click here .

$ 595 plus tax

Choose my session

• Instructor: Barbara Odenwald

The advantages of team sessions

• Learn and grow together as a team
• Location and time of your choice
• Sessions can be customized to fit your objectives
• Surprisingly cost effective

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Decision Making and Problem Solving (MGMT8102)

Decision Making and Problem Solving

Description:.

This two-day course is designed for managers, supervisors, team leaders, members of any group, and individuals who engage in decision-making and problem solving processes. Learn how to make thorough, impactive decisions and resolve problems constructively using the strategies in this course.

This course is part of the  Master Certificate in Federal Financial Management .

Class Type:

This course is currently being offered in the following training modalities:

• Class Length:  This class is listed as a 2 day course.
• Contact our Business Development department for more information.

Environmental Considerations

The Process

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We're here to help. Send us an email or call us at 1 (888) 744-4723

Onsite Training Courses

• Business Etiquette
• Business Writing
• Change Management
• Communication Skills
• Creativity, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, and Problem Solving
• Cross-Cultural Communication
• Customer Service
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• Negotiation and Conflict Management
• Presentation Skills
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Virtual Classroom Training Courses

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Creative and Critical Thinking

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Corporate college solutions, interactive keynotes, meeting and retreat facilitation, one-on-one coaching.

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Ask an Expert

• Training and Development
• Workplace Communication

Media Inquiries

• Business Etiquette, Civility, and Professionalism
• Communication
• Sales and Negotiation

Assessments

• Job Needs Assessment
• Management Styles Assessment
• Stefanie Coleman
• Myla DeLoatch
• Shawn Doyle
• Thomas Farley
• Elizabeth George
• Shanna Kabatznick
• Charlie Long
• Mariana Marko
• Laurie McIntosh
• Darren Murphy
• Avish Parashar
• Pamela Sumner
• Phillip Tanzilo
• Eduardo Villavicencio
• Sandy Wilson
• Kate Zabriskie

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About Onsite Training What is onsite training?

The Full List See all onsite courses.

Locations Find out where we can deliver training.

Decision-making course, this, that, what is it: defining problems and making decisions, available formats: full-day training course, course outcomes.

This problem-solving and decision-making course will:

• Explore how problem solving and decision making interrelate.
• Introduce a range of problem-solving and decision-making tools.
• Offer techniques for methodically evaluating choices.
• Outline common decision-making traps and how to avoid them.

Course Overview

“I should have realized we were solving the wrong problem.”  “That was not a good choice.  We should have seen it coming.”  “We keep looking at the issues the same way, and we’re stagnant.  It’s so discouraging.”   Sound familiar?  In the workplace, solving problems and making decisions can be difficult, especially when one is faced with complex problems.  Luckily, navigating a challenging issue is considerably easier when you have some fundamental tools at your disposal.  This hands-on decision-making workshop covers essential skills needed to define problems, generate solutions, and evaluate alternatives.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

• Define a problem.
• Distinguish root causes from symptoms.
• Explain a problem-solving model.
• Outline various ways decisions can be made.
• Use several problem-solving and decision-making tools.
• Methodically evaluate options.
• Avoid common decision-making pitfalls.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

What’s your problem: defining decision making, what’s the path: a problem-solving model, who decides: available options, nice toolbox: a problem-solving kit, spin to win: the decision-making wheel, evaluating options: a methodical approach, sand traps and land mines: avoiding common mistakes.

This course concludes with an exploration of more than 25 common decision-making errors. Working in teams, participants will consider each mistake and craft an appropriate solution for addressing or avoiding the problem.  

At the program’s completion, participants will have an understanding of basic problem solving and the tools available to them for making better decisions.

Related Directories:

• Thinking, Planning, and Problem Solving

Didn't find what you were looking for?

The business training works difference.

When you team with us, you’ll get:

• A partner who will ask questions about your goals and objectives.
• An opportunity to have a tailoring call and to speak with the program facilitator prior to a workshop.
• Interactive facilitation conducted by someone who has a deep understanding of adult learning and the topic at hand.
• A post-training web-based skills check-in meeting if desired.
• People behind the scenes who will work to make our relationship a success.

You won’t get:

• A workshop leader who sells products during class time.
• A talking head with a PowerPoint presentation and not much else.
• Lecture-based training that’s too academic, not practical, and doesn’t connect to life in the workplace.
• The sense that you are a number, a transaction, or a cog in a machine.

Onsite Training Course Reminders

Our instructor-led training courses are available to private groups.  These workshops are not offered in a public seminar format.  Please  contact us  to speak with a facilitator about your needs and bringing training to your organization.

We also travel to Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Canada, Central America, Continental Europe, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom.

Please contact us about your location.

• For information about pricing, please see our fee schedule .
• For instructor-led webinars, take a look at our  virtual classroom programs .
• For information about self-paced courses available to anyone, visit our online courses catalog .
• For free resources, check out our resources pages .

Questions This Page Answers About Decision-Making Training

• Where can I find a course on decision-making?
• Who offers a workshop or seminar for improving decision-making skills?
• Where can I find a decision-making training program?

“Business Training Works made this project extremely easy for me. Not only did they customize content for us, but they delivered it well and provided a great train-the-trainer session. It was truly an effortless experience for us!”

“Yesterday’s workshop was both thoroughly enjoyable and tremendously beneficial. From all accounts, it was a productive, engaging, and substantive experience from which participants were able to glean significant professional insights and lessons for best practices in their field.”

“We had an amazing day today! Everyone I spoke to during the day today said they were really enjoying the session (as did I). Charlie did a fantastic job. Thank you both for a great experience!”

“We also appreciate how well prepared you (Phillip) are, and that the subject matter is addressed in substantive way that has real impact. Your style has that special something that really engages people.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect and found it to be awesome. I am in business development and while I consider myself to be somewhat refined/savvy, I walked away with so many things to up my game while with clients and the number one lesson and tie back point is that it is 100% about making the client feel comfortable and special. What we do, how we act, how we present ourselves all feeds into that and our ultimate success as sales professionals.”

“I LOVED Kate. She was an incredible speaker and her ability to educate is a show stopper. Learning about my own communication style was invaluable and I truly believe that I am going to use this information for the rest of my professional career.”

“Phillip was engaging and professional. I had many people who were in the session tell me that they enjoyed it.”

“Greg Jones was a DYNAMITE presenter! He was fun, knowledgeable, and engaging and had our large group of 50+ people laughing and participating right up until the 5:00 PM end time. I am always impressed when a facilitator can keep a group engaged and involved WITHOUT using PPT and Greg did just that with his handouts, flip charting, storytelling and mixing up activities at table groups, teams, and with partners. We would love to have him back!”

“Board presentation went well. ”Excellent” according to our chairman. Thanks for your training.”

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“Thank you for yet another great presentation. Myla was wonderful and our team really appreciated the opportunity to work with her.”

“Pamela was very engaging. The training was well presented and held the group’s attention. The feedback I got from my staff was that it was useful not only in work but in their personal lives as well.”

“I just wanted to send out an email to express our appreciation for the service that Greg provided. He was a very motivated and inspirational speaker. We really, and I seriously mean this, enjoyed him. We are going to adapt some of our training procedures to fit his suggestions.”

“Eduardo was an excellent facilitator. I took so much with me to apply to my job responsibilities that will enhance my thinking as I resolve difficult callers and issues. Eduardo was very interactive with the group and had excellent ideas to promote thinking and participation. He is the greatest facilitator I have ever worked with!”

“Our customer service manager of 21 years stated that this training was the best and the most relevant class she attended in her career.”

“Great performance by Shawn! Shawn Doyle is a great presenter, and teaches you just by presenting himself.”

“Thank you Kate, Chris, and Kathy! It was a pleasure working with you, and thank you for providing some valuable insights for our SES!”

“As I sit here listening to Laurie, I am thinking that we couldn’t have asked for a better facilitator!!! Wanted to say a quick thank you for your exceptional “customer service” in dealing with us.”

“I’m usually quiet in group discussions, but I enjoyed this course so much, I participated quite a bit.”

“The training was amazing! Everyone was enthusiastic and we learned so much. They’re already asking when you’re coming back. You are a true gem!!”

“We did enjoy the class and yes, I am excited to work with you to bring in more. Charles is a great teacher, I would like to have him teach them.”

“Phillip, you are the best! Loved every minute and the fun interactive aspect of our workshop exceeded my expectation. Looking forward to the LA workshop next month.”

“Thomas Farley’s facilitation of the storytelling module was very engaging and effective. He started the session telling his own story. He asked participants to share their stories, and he respectfully critiqued them using this technique as a teaching tool.”

“Thank you again for working with us last week. As always, the team loved the session, and I’ve been hearing great feedback. The change in the leadership team’s behavior, even since just last week, is noticeable. The executive team and I have literally had people coming up to us all week talking about how excited they are for the future, how they believe in where we are headed, and thanking us for what’s being done. As a business leader, this time period is truly a career highlight for me. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Shawn was an excellent facilitator. After our class he took the time to look over the questions we use during our interview and provided positive feedback. I highly recommend Shawn and this course, ‘How to Interview and Hire Well’.”

“The team was quite impressed with your materials and more importantly delivery style. I feel like we all took something positive away from the course which is all I can ever ask for.”

“We cannot thank Stefanie enough for the fabulous presentation she delivered to our reception staff and directors of housing. We had plenty of great feedback from fellow colleagues regarding the presentation, and we’ve already had individuals implementing information they learned from the presentation. We sincerely appreciated all of Stefanie’s hard work delivering a quality presentation to a diverse group of individuals.”

“Phillip was a great presenter. He kept the class moving forward and kept us all engaged and participating. We all got a lot out of the training and hope to have him back again for follow up.”

“Pamela Sumner is professional, warm, and highly educated. Her style translates to small groups as well as large formal settings. She is definitely an asset to BTW.”

“Pamela was amazing and extremely personable. She made the groups feel very comfortable during the training.”

“Laurie McIntosh brings her personal experience into the training which was invaluable.”

“Pamela and Business Training Works put together a wonderful training program for ACERTUS. Pamela was able to create a curriculum that completely met our needs on such a short timeline. I am looking forward to working with them again!”

“Stefanie was upbeat, engaging, and relatable. She even kept the momentum going through an unexpected room change towards the end of our session. My colleagues cannot stop commenting how amazing the training was, and we are energized to put our new skills to work. Rave reviews all around!”

“I wanted to reach out to you regarding Phillip and what wonderful experience it was for our teams to have him as our facilitator for the team building and cross-cultural communication course last Friday. He’s a very talented and engaging trainer, and he was able to get even our toughest employees to participate. Everyone really liked Phillip and enjoyed the course.”

“The course was high-quality, first-class, first-rate, superior, fine, excellent and hence forth.  Charles’ way of teaching was pleasant, exceptional, superb, and commendable. My department will speak well about this course for a while. Thank you so much for the quality of training and attention to detail. We are excited to use the tools created by zombies. However, in all seriousness the course was facio delicias and nuntiisque (fun and informative in Latin). I look forward to using your company in the future.”

“A pleasure doing business with Business Training Works on our seminar.”

“Both sessions went great. They were informative and very interactive and Myla was able to engage the participants throughout the entire presentation. She is a wonderful instructor!”

“Greg was awesome! Very informative and interactive. He got rave reviews from the participants.”

“I have been in several training sessions, and I have to say this has been the best one. We were all engaged in the topics. Regina’s materials were relevant to our jobs. She started on time, and the time flew by.”

“I would like to say that yesterday was simply amazing. Our team is very happy with the training and the content that was presented. Thomas was exactly who we needed to address our etiquette training needs. Our team was receptive and the activities were fun and engaging. I would definitely recommend Thomas to anyone looking to enhance their team with etiquette training.”

“Pamela did a great job of engaging our participants in the training. They all had very positive feedback about the day and Pamela specifically. She was approachable and easy to relate to and was able to illustrate the points in a way that the team understood.”

“Laurie, as always, was AMAZING!”

“It was a pleasure to work with Charlie last week. He was fantastic, and I have received great responses from the participants about the training!”

“I heard a lot of positive feedback and several people approached me about your contact info for following up. I know we had a short amount of time for the training but I know I found it valuable and I think the rest of the group did too.”

“Stefanie is knowledgeable, credible, fun and engaging as a facilitator.”

“The course has been tremendously helpful to my staff, and I am very grateful for Regina’s knowledge and generosity. She really shared her talents and experience freely, and provided what was needed to reset our team dynamics.”

“Kate rhymes with great, and that’s what she was.  This was a great class and Kate was the best. We recommend her every time. I took this class years ago with her and she makes the information stick.”

“Pamela was a gem! We really enjoyed it. The one main piece of feedback I got was they wanted more time.”

“It was a positive experience to have this training, very useful to understanding myself as a provider and patients. Laurie was engaging as a speaker. I learned to approach patient care differently seeing patients as different and not “difficult.” I took away key points and different strategies to use in my interactions with patients, just a matter of finding the time to make adjustments and implement these changes.”

“I liked that fact that we were kept busy – it never got boring.”

“The workshop was appreciated very much, and you (Stefanie) were indeed a big hit. Thank you for all your support and value you brought this team. I look forward to another opportunity to work with you, you were an absolute delight.”

“WOW – where do I begin!? Working with you both has been an outstanding experience throughout the entire process. Your flexibility from first contact was very valuable – we appreciate your willingness to participate in multiple teleconferences to align with KMG.

Your ability to link KMG’s message and philosophies to the lessons is what set you apart from your competitors.

Kate’s energy and willingness to meet as many of the attendees as possible and her ability to quickly build a rapport with folks established credibility and a safe environment. Everyone valued the ‘informalness’ of the key note.

The Tuesday workshop was phenomenal! I saw people taking notes that I never would have imagined would be engaged.

Fantastic result overall – thank you so very much!”

“Everyone really enjoyed it and came away with tools to help them be a stronger leader! Thank you, Greg!”

“Pamela is awesome. She has that perfect blend of knowledge, credibility, and personal skills to deliver very effective training across a wide variance of personalities.”

“In each of the sessions that ZMC has hired Business Training Works, I have learned something new — even with the same topic. This is the 10th session we have scheduled, and we always ask for Shawn.”

“Kate was a refreshing start to 2020! Very energetic and captivating the entire session. Moments of reflection, laughter, and engagement made this a great FLAG kickoff to the year!”

DECISION-MAKING TRAINING COURSE . CLASS . WORKSHOP . SEMINAR . PROGRAM

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Problem Solving and Decision Making Training Course

• Learning Outcomes
• Course Outline
• For your Team

In the workplace, you’ll need to make decisions and resolve problems frequently. And while many of your decisions are not so important, some are potentially life changing. So learning how to use effective strategies and tools will help you to make the right decisions at the right time.

The PD Training Problems Solving and Decision Making Training Course provides you with skills such as problem solving techniques and models, organising methods, ways to conduct research, identifying options to achieve accurate decision-making and problem solving.

This highly valuable and effective training course is now available Australia wide including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Parramatta, Canberra and Parramatta.

Please click on the Public Class tab below to view our Problems Solving and Decision Making Training course schedule by city or click the In-House Training tab to receive a free quote for courses delivered at your preferred location.

Your Learning Outcomes

• Apply problem-solving steps and tools
• Analyse information to clearly describe problems
• Identify appropriate solutions
• Think creatively and be a contributing member of a problem-solving team
• Select the best approach for making decisions
• Create plans for implementing, evaluating, and following up
• Avoid common decision-making mistakes
• Make correct and timely decisions
• Use problem-solving model and toolkit
• Use SWOT Analysis
• Make good group decisions

Problem Solving and Decision Making Training Reviews:

Derrick (trainer) was awesome, informative, witty, sharp and articulate. I would definitely attend another seminar that Derrick is presenting at.

Fantastic knowledge and enthusiasm. Had a really good day, was fun, informative and useful both for my professional and personal lives.

Download Course Outline (PDF)

Correct and timely decision-making can be done using specific techniques and enhanced knowledge of the self and situations. During this Decision Making Training Course, participants receive training in applying problem solving techniques to help decision making, identify appropriate solutions, use creativity, evaluate situations and people, predict outcomes and more.

Having a process to work through can take the anxiety out of problem-solving and make decision-making easier. By using best practice techniques you can learn to be more effective when problems arise and be more efficient when solving those issues.

Course Outline for Problem Solving and Decision Making Training

In-house training - we’ll focus on what matters most to you and tailor to your context, face-to-face, live online, or hybrid class tailored to your needs.

When you want a tailored learning experience targeting exactly what you want without bringing everyone physically together, the best choice is a Live Online Class run by PDT.

We tailor the content and activities to be specific to your current needs and the needs of the people and run the course in our usual activity-based workshop style training, however, the participants can all be offsite, or some can be in the room with others offsite.

Unless you have a preferred tools we use 'Zoom for Education' that includes enhanced collaboration features such as One-click content sharing, real-time co-annotation (people can work together in activity files), and digital whiteboarding, we also include things like live polls and group chats so you virtually have the same collaborative learning experience of attending a course in a room with other people.

We have delivered these 100's (if not 1000's) of times, and get great outcomes. We achieve great outcomes because we keep our learner centric approach - just because it’s delivered through a screen to some or all participants doesn’t mean it needs to be less tailored or less personalised.

You still have an expert trainer who talks to you prior to the session and tailors the delivery to use your terminology, ensure activities are relevant and directly applicable and ensures an engaging learning experience that provide people with skills and techniques they can apply the very next day.

A hybrid class is with some people connecting online, and some people physically together in the same room.

Live Online Participant Feedback:

90% overall trainer rating, 88% delivery was adapted to me personally, 75% i would recommend this course to someone else, face to face options with everyone in the same room.

We’ll make things easier so you can focus on adding more value

We provide the Training Management Centre which is an information hub before, during and after training. (Let us know if there’s parts you don’t want to use)

Invites people to training

(So you don’t have to)

Generates Sign in Sheet

Generates Branded Flyer

If you want to ‘promote’ internally

PDF’s of Certificates

(can be co-branded with your logo)

Collects and Reports feedback

Complete Results Dashboard

(including trainer insights)

What are people going to do differently?

At the completion of training participants are encouraged to create an action plan, and invite an accountability buddy via their Orgmenta App.

In your Training Management Centre you have transparency to the action plans so you can see what people are going to do differently.

Want to get clear on impacts and measure success? Our system and expert consultants support you.

Our systems and people make it easy to identify how you’ll be able to measure impacts, and then report on the success in the weeks or months after training.

Do you already have a training management system and wish they were automatically up to date?

It’s surprisingly easy to make it so that your system can automatically be up to date with all the training record details you need.

More than just a training provider - we are your Learning and Development Partner, we look forward to working with you, talk to one of our friendly expert consultants today.

Outstanding learning that people can do in the flow of work.

• Fresh targeted video-based microlearning content with interactive lessons and quizzes included.
• Rigourous review process
• Only $11.00 per course per person per year.
• Or get the $110.00 bundle and save.

GMU’s Continuing and Professional Education

Problem solving and decision making, course overview.

Understanding how to quickly address problems and bring your project team to a consensus is a crucial skill for Project Managers if they want to stay ahead of the curve. This course will help you unlock the key principles necessary to keep your projects moving forward. This course is part of the PMI Talent Triangle Fast Pass bundle and fulfills the Strategic and Business Management segment (8 PDUs) of the PMI Talent Triangle for PMP credential holders.

Who Should Attend

This course is for any project manager looking to grow in their career by developing leadership and business acumen competencies in addition to their core project management skills.

Course Objectives

• Understand the similarities between problem solving and decision making
• Understand the differences between problem solving and decision making
• Learn a variety of leading frameworks used to inform decision making
• Conduct exercises to practice each of the seven-steps of the problem-solving process

Course Outline

1- defining decision making.

• Understanding Decision-Making and How it Happens
• Why People Do or Don’t Make Decisions
• Ways to Make Decisions

2- Defining problem solving

• Understanding Problem Solving
• Divergent and Convergent Thinking
• Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving
• Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)

3- Learn the Seven-Step Problem Solving Process

• Problem Definition
• Decision to Act on a Problem
• Define Problem Solving Scope
• Finding Root Cause
• Prioritizing Root Cause Correction
• Select a Solution

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Class times are listed Eastern time

This is a 1-day class

Price : $795.00

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The Decision Making and Problem Solving Course

An onsite workshop designed to improve your decision-making skills., learn to apply proven decision making processes and strategies, evaluate problems - troubleshoot, perform root cause analysis, make the best decisions in any situation.

Because being able to make decisions and solve problems effectively is a necessary and vital part of the job, this workshop develops your decision-making skills and improves the decision-making process overall.

As an individual, facts and knowledge can only go so far. Solving tough problems requires the ability to define the true problem, analyze the possible causes, create options, select the most feasible option and then implement it. This 1-day workshop helps individuals enhance their efforts to find sustainable solutions and learn new ways to approach problem-solving to reach win-win decisions. 

Cut through the clutter and complexity to make the best decision in any situation.

Why is it that some people find it easy to solve tough problems with simple solutions while others find this feat nearly impossible?  You have no doubt looked at solutions to problems and said, “I should have thought of that.” But you didn’t. The answer is not just creativity, although that certainly helps. Rather, the power to find these creative solutions lies in our ability to search for and find facts that relate to the situation, and put them together in ways that work. As an individual, your facts and knowledge can only go so far. By tapping into the knowledge of others (staff, colleagues, family or friends), you can expand the range of solutions available to you.

If you are tired of applying dead-end solutions to recurring problems in your company, this workshop helps you reconstruct your efforts and learn new ways to approach problem solving, and develop practical ways to solve some of your most pressing problems and reach win-win decisions.

Who Should Attend

All Employees. From front line employees who want to show they have a lot to contribute to the success of the company to executives and entrepreneurs who have the vision to get outside of traditional methods of thinking and want to get the most out of their business. This helps anyone who wants to develop their ability to better serve their clients and customers and values a proactive team to find solutions to everyday problems and obstacles in a changing world.

Training Benefits

• Increase awareness of problem solving steps and problem solving tools
• Distinguish root causes from symptoms to identify the right solution for the right problem
• Improve problem solving and decision-making skills through identifying your own problem solving style
• Recognize the top ten rules of good decision-making

This course focuses on the decision making process and the overall impact individual choices have on the ability of organizations to meet the goals. Emphasis is placed on the proactive engagement of problem solving through the formulation of sound and calculated decisions.

Overview of Topics and Leaning Points Developed

• Explore the decision making process and how to make sound, well-informed and objective decisions (How thinking and reasoning processes operate)
• Develop an understanding of the decision making process through case study analysis and group activities
• Discover analytical techniques for comparing alternative solutions
• Learn how to reason effectively and consistently
• Formulate an understanding of proactive engagement in the decision making process
• Learn problem analysis best practices – using your decision time most effectively
• Calculate the impact and implications of decisions  
• Use decision making to commit to action, accomplish organizational goals and cause change
• Root cause analysis
• Creative problem analysis 
• Structured reasoning
• Planning 
• Accountability 
• Strategic Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Risk analysis
• Evaluate the decision
• Evaluate the decision making process
• Action Plan

In this highly interactive session, participants explore just what problem solving and decision making means. We look at different types of decisions, the difference between facts and information and common decision making traps. Participants discover their Problem Solving Style, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and how to use that knowledge to become better problem solvers.

Exercises and cases put participants in tough decision-making situations, give them experience in developing a solid framework to solve the problem and make decisions. Participants will learn to apply a proven decision-making model they can apply to most problems and practice its application in real- world situations.

Each workshop is tailored to your organization's industry and organizational issues. We want to fully engage the participants to create a meaningful and relevant training environment.

For more information call us at 1-877-385-5515 

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Zoe Talent Solutions

Creative problem solving and decision making training.

Course Overview

• Course Outline

Book Classes Now

Are you struggling to take prompt decisions? Do you get bogged down whenever you face an issue at workplace or personal life? Do you get stressed or nervous attack?  Do you regret that some of your past decisions were wrong?

Do you find that your colleagues end up making mistakes at work which could have avoided? Do you struggle convincing your ideas / decisions to others?

Wait, What if we tell you that all these are just symptoms of a problem that can be easily solved? Well,  the problem is that you are yet to understand the best practices, theories and the scientific methods for “Creative problem solving and decision making”. By learning this course, you will realise your potentials in faster and effective decision making – both individual and organisational.

Also Explore Other Courses

• Crisis Management and Contingency Plan Training Course
• Authentic Leadership Training Course
• Crisis Negotiation Training
• Leadership Effectiveness Training
• Management Development Training Program

Through this Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making Training Course offered by Zoe Talent Solutions, you will learn how to develop new ways to solving problems.  This program will help you to create a renewed and an unconventional perception towards your day to day tasks and work.

You will learn scientific and proven methods which are being used by thousands of successful organisations and management practitioners/ leaders in becoming better decision makers. This course not just gives the methods but also helps you in practicing the same and evolve as a creative problem solver.

Course Object ives  

Upon completing this creative problem solving and decision making course, you will be able to:

• Learn and apply appropriate problem solving and decision making processes and methods
• Identify common challenges / biases to effective problem solving and decision making
• Assess conceptual blocks and significant situational challenges which lead to bad decisions
• Apply these learnings to enhance leadership development and organizational performance
• Learn different types of thinking – Critical thinking / Divergent thinking / Convergent thinking and use it for effective problem solving

Training Methodology  

We at Zoe Talent Solutions offer to customize our training course to suit the requirements based on your professional background. Our trainers will ensure that the training is in line with your organisational and work objectives. The course will be interactive and participation is highly encouraged.

You will have group discussions, group activities, case studies, and other methods of course facilitation. Participants across different organisations will share their best practices during the training program. Zoe Talent Solutions’ courses follow the Do–Review–Learn–Apply Model of training.

Organisat ion Benefit

Organisations employees taking up this Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making Training course will benefit in the following ways:

• Tap the employee potential in making better and faster decisions
• Eliminate unconscious biases that could hamper organisational values
• Obtain creative ideas  that help in organisational development
• Increased productivity due to faster problem solving
• Solving the core issues / root issues than superficial fixes
• Develop a mind-set of continuous learning and development and looking at problems as a chance for intellectual stimulation.
• Employees with creative problem solving skills look at problems as opportunities
• Better Team building and morale due to effective problem solving

Personal Benefits

Individuals attending the Creative problem solving program will have the below advantages:

• Knowledge of creative problem solving methods helps in better interpersonal relations
• Ability to handle workplace stresses / issues more creatively/ objectively
• Develop better analytical skills in problem-solving
• Have better leadership capabilities by tapping the potentials of team member
• Learn faster decision making which is a key for future success
• Grow up in career ladder with better decision making skills – an important skillset for leadership
• Creative Problem Solving differentiates a good boss / bad boss
• Learn how to apply these techniques in personal / organisational problems

Who Should At t end

Individuals at all levels looking to become more efficient, confident, and productive in the corporate world and in their personal lives must attend this program.

Business intellectuals, policymakers, trend-setters, organisers, top management, managers, supervisors, project managers and executives would require these practical sessions to improve their problem solving skills.  This program is a must attend for those aspiring for any leadership role.

Course Out line

This training program will cover the following modules which are essential in understanding the key skills of Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making:

Training Modules  

Module 1  – Why is Creative Problem Solving needed?

• Changing Business Contexts – The VUCA world
•  Creative Problem Solving + Faster Decisions = Better Profits
• Examples of Ideas that disrupted the world
• Is Creative problem solving a Skill?
• Role of a Manager / Leader in Problem Solving

Module 2 – What is a Problem ?  

• Defining “The Problem”
• Are all “problems” really a “problem”?
• Is the problem a cause or symptom ?
• Defining “Decision Making”
• Are all “Decisions” really a “decision?”
• Do we “ need “to solve problem?
• Is your decision congruent to the personal / organisational values / ethics?

Module 3 – Block Busting Problems (James Adams)  

• The Perceptual Block
• The Emotional Block
• Cultural & Environmental Blocks
• Intellectual and Expressive Blocks
• Stereotyping and Unconscious Biases
• Blockbusting solutions

Module 4 : Creative Problem solving and Decision Making – The Process  

• Kepner Tregoe Rational Process
• Situation Appraisal
• Problem Analysis
• Decision Analysis
• Potential Problem / Opportunity Analysis

Module 5: Critical Thinking  

• Thinking Fast and slow – Eliminating Unconscious Bias (Daniel Kanhemann’s Book review)
• The 8 Elements of The Critical Thinking Process (Reflection, Analysis, Acquisition of information, Creativity, Structuring arguments, Decision making, Commitment, Debate.
• 6 Stages of Development in Critical thinking (Linda Paul & Richard Elder Model)
• The Unreflective Thinker
• The Challenged Thinker
• The Beginning Thinker
• The Practicing Thinker
• The Advanced Thinker
• The Accomplished Thinker

Module 6 : Convergent & Divergent Thinking  

• Characteristics of  Convergent and Divergent thinking
• Steps in Convergent Thinking
• Steps in Divergent thinking
• Examples and practice sessions in Convergent and Divergent Thinking
• Using Convergent and Divergent thinking in conjunction

Module 7 : Techniques for Problem Solving  

• The Five Why Technique
• Fish Bone Diagram Method
• Brainstorming
• Quality Circles
• The Root Cause Analysis
• Pareto Technique
• Six Thinking Hats

Module 8 – Implementing the Decisions  

• Action Plan & Preparing the details
• Ethical & Social Concerns
• Ownership of decisions
• Personal Decision Making
• Organisational Decision Making
• Democratic Decision Making
• Challenges in Decision Making

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Problem Solving & Decision Making Course

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You have experienced times when you looked at solutions to work problems and said to yourself, “I should have thought of that”. But you didn’t. Some people find it easy to solve problems or challenges in the workplace while others find it almost impossible. The real issue is not just about being creative but how to use clear processes to clarify problems and come up with effective solutions. This course aims to help you to improve your decision-making ability through critical thinking, problem analysis and the creative development of solutions.

Upon completion the participants should be able to:

• Identify the main obstacles that prevent problems from being solved in the organisation
• Understand the components required for successful problem solving
• Understand the importance of proper problem solving activity
• Use problem solving techniques to improve productivity and profitability
• Explain the benefits of having an effective and proactive approach to solving problems

The course will cover the following items below:

• What is a Problem?
• A Problem is a Deviation from Acceptable Performance
• There is a gap between what is actually happening and what is supposed to be happening
• Solving the problem will close the performance gap

Why Solve Problems?

• De-motivation of staff
• Loss of customers
• Waste of resources
• Reduction of profit
• Compromised growth / survival potential
• Increased productivity
• Increased enjoyment
• Less stress
• Improved quality
• Improved efficiency

The Problem Solving Process

• Suitable for the organization
• Robust enough to survive
• Simple enough to be understood
• Implementable
• Seen to be effective and transparent

Problem Solving Journey

• Problem Identification
• Cause Identification
• Remedy identification
• Remedy implementation

These can be further classified as:

• Diagnostic activities
• Remedial activities

Types of Problems:

• System problems
• People problems
• Process problems
• Each problem category has its own peculiarities which must be taken into consideration when tackling them

Problem solvers are People who are:

• Imaginative
• Disciplined

Problem solving processes are:

The nature and importance of self-awareness in problem solving

• Introduction to a holistic view of self -awareness
• Understand the role of self-awareness in pro-active identification of potential problems

Understanding how the human mind works

• How thinking and reasoning processes operate
• Barriers to sound reasoning
• How to control and evaluate your thought processes

Forming problem solving teams

• The characteristics of high performing teams
• Individuals versus teams

Problem solving approach

• Problem definition
• Causal analysis
• Alternative approaches
• Selection of solution
• Implementation plan

Creative Thinking

• What it is and what it’s not
• Lateral thinking
• De Bono’s six hats exercise
• Thinking outside the box

Problem Analysis tools and techniques

• Cost benefit analysis
• Pareto analysis
• Star-bursting
• Decision tree analysis
• McKinsey 7’s Framework

Decision Making tools Although the facilitator will provide input, the course is highly interactive and participants will be involved in practical problem solving activities.

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What is decision making?

Decisions, decisions. When was the last time you struggled with a choice? Maybe it was this morning, when you decided to hit the snooze button—again. Perhaps it was at a restaurant, with a miles-long menu and the server standing over you. Or maybe it was when you left your closet in a shambles after trying on seven different outfits before a big presentation. Often, making a decision—even a seemingly simple one—can be difficult. And people will go to great lengths—and pay serious sums of money—to avoid having to make a choice. The expensive tasting menu at the restaurant, for example. Or limiting your closet choices to black turtlenecks, à la Steve Jobs.

Get to know and directly engage with senior McKinsey experts on decision making

Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Eileen Kelly Rinaudo  is McKinsey’s global director of advancing women executives and is based in the New York office, Frithjof Lund is a senior partner in the Oslo office, and Leigh Weiss is a senior adviser in the Boston office.

If you’ve ever wrestled with a decision at work, you’re definitely not alone. According to McKinsey research, executives spend a significant portion of their time— nearly 40 percent , on average—making decisions. Worse, they believe most of that time is poorly used. People struggle with decisions so much so that we actually get exhausted from having to decide too much, a phenomenon called decision fatigue.

But decision fatigue isn’t the only cost of ineffective decision making. According to a McKinsey survey of more than 1,200 global business leaders, inefficient decision making costs a typical Fortune 500 company 530,000 days  of managers’ time each year, equivalent to about $250 million in annual wages. That’s a lot of turtlenecks.

How can business leaders ease the burden of decision making and put this time and money to better use? Read on to learn the ins and outs of smart decision making—and how to put it to work.

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

How can organizations untangle ineffective decision-making processes?

McKinsey research has shown that agile is the ultimate solution for many organizations looking to streamline their decision making . Agile organizations are more likely to put decision making in the right hands, are faster at reacting to (or anticipating) shifts in the business environment, and often attract top talent who prefer working at companies with greater empowerment and fewer layers of management.

For organizations looking to become more agile, it’s possible to quickly boost decision-making efficiency by categorizing the type of decision to be made and adjusting the approach accordingly. In the next section, we review three types of decision making and how to optimize the process for each.

What are three keys to faster, better decisions?

Business leaders today have access to more sophisticated data than ever before. But it hasn’t necessarily made decision making any easier. For one thing, organizational dynamics—such as unclear roles, overreliance on consensus, and death by committee—can get in the way of straightforward decision making. And more data often means more decisions to be taken, which can become too much for one person, team, or department. This can make it more difficult for leaders to cleanly delegate, which in turn can lead to a decline in productivity.

Leaders are growing increasingly frustrated with broken decision-making processes, slow deliberations, and uneven decision-making outcomes. Fewer than half  of the 1,200 respondents of a McKinsey survey report that decisions are timely, and 61 percent say that at least half the time they spend making decisions is ineffective.

What’s the solution? According to McKinsey research, effective solutions center around categorizing decision types and organizing different processes to support each type. Further, each decision category should be assigned its own practice—stimulating debate, for example, or empowering employees—to yield improvements in effectiveness.

Here are the three decision categories  that matter most to senior leaders, and the standout practice that makes the biggest difference for each type of decision.

• Big-bet decisions are infrequent but high risk, such as acquisitions. These decisions carry the potential to shape the future of the company, and as a result are generally made by top leaders and the board. Spurring productive debate by assigning someone to argue the case for and against a potential decision can improve big-bet decision making.
• Cross-cutting decisions, such as pricing, can be frequent and high risk. These are usually made by business unit heads, in cross-functional forums as part of a collaborative process. These types of decisions can be improved by doubling down on process refinement. The ideal process should be one that helps clarify objectives, measures, and targets.
• Delegated decisions are frequent but low risk and are handled by an individual or working team with some input from others. Delegated decision making can be improved by ensuring that the responsibility for the decision is firmly in the hands of those closest to the work. This approach also enhances engagement and accountability.

In addition, business leaders can take the following four actions to help sustain rapid decision making :

• Focus on the game-changing decisions, ones that will help an organization create value and serve its purpose.
• Convene only necessary meetings, and eliminate lengthy reports. Turn unnecessary meetings into emails, and watch productivity bloom. For necessary meetings, provide short, well-prepared prereads to aid in decision making.
• Clarify the roles of decision makers and other voices. Who has a vote, and who has a voice?
• Push decision-making authority to the front line—and tolerate mistakes.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

How can business leaders effectively delegate decision making.

Business is more complex and dynamic than ever, meaning business leaders are faced with needing to make more decisions in less time. Decision making takes up an inordinate amount of management’s time—up to 70 percent for some executives—which leads to inefficiencies and opportunity costs.

As discussed above, organizations should treat different types of decisions differently . Decisions should be classified  according to their frequency, risk, and importance. Delegated decisions are the most mysterious for many organizations: they are the most frequent, and yet the least understood. Only about a quarter of survey respondents  report that their organizations make high-quality and speedy delegated decisions. And yet delegated decisions, because they happen so often, can have a big impact on organizational culture.

The key to better delegated decisions is to empower employees by giving them the authority and confidence to act. That means not simply telling employees which decisions they can or can’t make; it means giving employees the tools they need to make high-quality decisions and the right level of guidance as they do so.

Here’s how to support delegation and employee empowerment:

• Ensure that your organization has a well-defined, universally understood strategy. When the strategic intent of an organization is clear, empowerment is much easier because it allows teams to pull in the same direction.
• Clearly define roles and responsibilities. At the foundation of all empowerment efforts is a clear understanding of who is responsible for what, including who has input and who doesn’t.
• Invest in capability building (and coaching) up front. To help managers spend meaningful coaching time, organizations should also invest in managers’ leadership skills.
• Build an empowerment-oriented culture. Leaders should role model mindsets that promote empowerment, and managers should build the coaching skills they want to see. Managers and employees, in particular, will need to get comfortable with failure as a necessary step to success.
• Decide when to get involved. Managers should spend effort up front to decide what is worth their focused attention. They should know when it’s appropriate to provide close guidance and when not to.

How can you guard against bias in decision making?

Cognitive bias is real. We all fall prey, no matter how we try to guard ourselves against it. And cognitive and organizational bias undermines good decision making, whether you’re choosing what to have for lunch or whether to put in a bid to acquire another company.

Here are some of the most common cognitive biases and strategies for how to avoid them:

• Confirmation bias. Often, when we already believe something, our minds seek out information to support that belief—whether or not it is actually true. Confirmation bias  involves overweighting evidence that supports our belief, underweighting evidence against our belief, or even failing to search impartially for evidence in the first place. Confirmation bias is one of the most common traps organizational decision makers fall into. One famous—and painful—example of confirmation bias is when Blockbuster passed up the opportunity  to buy a fledgling Netflix for $50 million in 2000. (Actually, that’s putting it politely. Netflix executives remember being “laughed out” of Blockbuster’s offices.) Fresh off the dot-com bubble burst of 2000, Blockbuster executives likely concluded that Netflix had approached them out of desperation—not that Netflix actually had a baby unicorn on its hands.
• Herd mentality. First observed by Charles Mackay in his 1841 study of crowd psychology, herd mentality happens when information that’s available to the group is determined to be more useful than privately held knowledge. Individuals buy into this bias because there’s safety in the herd. But ignoring competing viewpoints might ultimately be costly. To counter this, try a teardown exercise , wherein two teams use scenarios, advanced analytics, and role-playing to identify how a herd might react to a decision, and to ensure they can refute public perceptions.
• Sunk-cost fallacy. Executives frequently hold onto underperforming business units or projects because of emotional or legacy attachment . Equally, business leaders hate shutting projects down . This, researchers say, is due to the ingrained belief that if everyone works hard enough, anything can be turned into gold. McKinsey research indicates two techniques for understanding when to hold on and when to let go. First, change the burden of proof from why an asset should be cut to why it should be retained. Next, categorize business investments according to whether they should be grown, maintained, or disposed of—and follow clearly differentiated investment rules  for each group.
• Ignoring unpleasant information. Researchers call this the “ostrich effect”—when people figuratively bury their heads in the sand , ignoring information that will make their lives more difficult. One study, for example, found that investors were more likely to check the value of their portfolios when the markets overall were rising, and less likely to do so when the markets were flat or falling. One way to help get around this is to engage in a readout process, where individuals or teams summarize discussions as they happen. This increases the likelihood that everyone leaves a meeting with the same understanding of what was said.
• Halo effect. Important personal and professional choices are frequently affected by people’s tendency to make specific judgments based on general impressions . Humans are tempted to use simple mental frames to understand complicated ideas, which means we frequently draw conclusions faster than we should. The halo effect is particularly common in hiring decisions. To avoid this bias, structured interviews can help mitigate the essentializing tendency. When candidates are measured against indicators, intuition is less likely to play a role.

For more common biases and how to beat them, check out McKinsey’s Bias Busters Collection .

Learn more about Strategy & Corporate Finance consulting  at McKinsey—and check out job opportunities related to decision making if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Bias busters: When the crowd isn’t necessarily wise ,” McKinsey Quarterly , May 23, 2022, Eileen Kelly Rinaudo , Tim Koller , and Derek Schatz
• “ Boards and decision making ,” April 8, 2021, Aaron De Smet , Frithjof Lund , Suzanne Nimocks, and Leigh Weiss
• “ To unlock better decision making, plan better meetings ,” November 9, 2020, Aaron De Smet , Simon London, and Leigh Weiss
• “ Reimagine decision making to improve speed and quality ,” September 14, 2020, Julie Hughes , J. R. Maxwell , and Leigh Weiss
• “ For smarter decisions, empower your employees ,” September 9, 2020, Aaron De Smet , Caitlin Hewes, and Leigh Weiss
• “ Bias busters: Lifting your head from the sand ,” McKinsey Quarterly , August 18, 2020, Eileen Kelly Rinaudo
• “ Decision making in uncertain times ,” March 24, 2020, Andrea Alexander, Aaron De Smet , and Leigh Weiss
• “ Bias busters: Avoiding snap judgments ,” McKinsey Quarterly , November 6, 2019, Tim Koller , Dan Lovallo, and Phil Rosenzweig
• “ Three keys to faster, better decisions ,” McKinsey Quarterly , May 1, 2019, Aaron De Smet , Gregor Jost , and Leigh Weiss
• “ Decision making in the age of urgency ,” April 30, 2019, Iskandar Aminov, Aaron De Smet , Gregor Jost , and David Mendelsohn
• “ Bias busters: Pruning projects proactively ,” McKinsey Quarterly , February 6, 2019, Tim Koller , Dan Lovallo, and Zane Williams
• “ Decision making in your organization: Cutting through the clutter ,” McKinsey Quarterly , January 16, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Simon London, and Leigh Weiss
• “ Untangling your organization’s decision making ,” McKinsey Quarterly , June 21, 2017, Aaron De Smet , Gerald Lackey, and Leigh Weiss
• “ Are you ready to decide? ,” McKinsey Quarterly , April 1, 2015, Philip Meissner, Olivier Sibony, and Torsten Wulf.

Want to know more about decision making?

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A Better Framework for Solving Tough Problems

Start with trust and end with speed.

• Apple Podcasts

When it comes to solving complicated problems, the default for many organizational leaders is to take their time to work through the issues at hand. Unfortunately, that often leads to patchwork solutions or problems not truly getting resolved.

But Anne Morriss offers a different framework. In this episode, she outlines a five-step process for solving any problem and explains why starting with trust and ending with speed is so important for effective change leadership. As she says, “Let’s get into dialogue with the people who are also impacted by the problem before we start running down the path of solving it.”

Morriss is an entrepreneur and leadership coach. She’s also the coauthor of the book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems .

Key episode topics include: strategy, decision making and problem solving, strategy execution, managing people, collaboration and teams, trustworthiness, organizational culture, change leadership, problem solving, leadership.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: How to Solve Tough Problems Better and Faster (2023)
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org .

HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR On Strategy , case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock new ways of doing business.

When it comes to solving complicated problems, many leaders only focus on the most apparent issues. Unfortunately that often leads to patchwork or partial solutions. But Anne Morriss offers a different framework that aims to truly tackle big problems by first leaning into trust and then focusing on speed.

Morriss is an entrepreneur and leadership coach. She’s also the co-author of the book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems . In this episode, she outlines a five-step process for solving any problem. Some, she says, can be solved in a week, while others take much longer. She also explains why starting with trust and ending with speed is so important for effective change leadership.

This episode originally aired on HBR IdeaCast in October 2023. Here it is.

CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.

Problems can be intimidating. Sure, some problems are fun to dig into. You roll up your sleeves, you just take care of them; but others, well, they’re complicated. Sometimes it’s hard to wrap your brain around a problem, much less fix it.

And that’s especially true for leaders in organizations where problems are often layered and complex. They sometimes demand technical, financial, or interpersonal knowledge to fix. And whether it’s avoidance on the leaders’ part or just the perception that a problem is systemic or even intractable, problems find a way to endure, to keep going, to keep being a problem that everyone tries to work around or just puts up with.

But today’s guest says that just compounds it and makes the problem harder to fix. Instead, she says, speed and momentum are key to overcoming a problem.

Anne Morriss is an entrepreneur, leadership coach and founder of the Leadership Consortium and with Harvard Business School Professor Francis Frei, she wrote the new book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leaders Guide to Solving Hard Problems . Anne, welcome back to the show.

ANNE MORRISS: Curt, thank you so much for having me.

CURT NICKISCH: So, to generate momentum at an organization, you say that you really need speed and trust. We’ll get into those essential ingredients some more, but why are those two essential?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, the essential pattern that we observed was that the most effective change leaders out there were building trust and speed, and it didn’t seem to be a well-known observation. We all know the phrase, “Move fast and break things,” but the people who were really getting it right were moving fast and fixing things, and that was really our jumping off point. So when we dug into the pattern, what we observed was they were building trust first and then speed. This foundation of trust was what allowed them to fix more things and break fewer.

CURT NICKISCH: Trust sounds like a slow thing, right? If you talk about building trust, that is something that takes interactions, it takes communication, it takes experiences. Does that run counter to the speed idea?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, this issue of trust is something we’ve been looking at for over a decade. One of the headlines in our research is it’s actually something we’re building and rebuilding and breaking all the time. And so instead of being this precious, almost farbege egg, it’s this thing that is constantly in motion and this thing that we can really impact when we’re deliberate about our choices and have some self-awareness around where it’s breaking down and how it’s breaking down.

CURT NICKISCH: You said break trust in there, which is intriguing, right? That you may have to break trust to build trust. Can you explain that a little?

ANNE MORRISS:  Yeah, well, I’ll clarify. It’s not that you have to break it in order to build it. It’s just that we all do it some of the time. Most of us are trusted most of the time. Most of your listeners I imagine are trusted most of the time, but all of us have a pattern where we break trust or where we don’t build as much as could be possible.

CURT NICKISCH: I want to talk about speed, this other essential ingredient that’s so intriguing, right? Because you think about solving hard problems as something that just takes a lot of time and thinking and coordination and planning and designing. Explain what you mean by it? And also, just  how we maybe approach problems wrong by taking them on too slowly?

ANNE MORRISS: Well, Curt, no one has ever said to us, “I wish I had taken longer and done less.” We hear the opposite all the time, by the way. So what we really set out to do was to create a playbook that anyone can use to take less time to do more of the things that are going to make your teams and organizations stronger.

And the way we set up the book is okay, it’s really a five step process. Speed is the last step. It’s the payoff for the hard work you’re going to do to figure out your problem, build or rebuild trust, expand the team in thoughtful and strategic ways, and then tell a real and compelling story about the change you’re leading.

Only then do you get to go fast, but that’s an essential part of the process, and we find that either people under emphasize it or speed has gotten a bad name in this world of moving fast and breaking things. And part of our mission for sure was to rehabilitate speed’s reputation because it is an essential part of the change leader’s equation. It can be the difference between good intentions and getting anything done at all.

CURT NICKISCH: You know, the fact that nobody ever tells you, “I wish we had done less and taken more time.” I think we all feel that, right? Sometimes we do something and then realize, “Oh, that wasn’t that hard and why did it take me so long to do it? And I wish I’d done this a long time ago.” Is it ever possible to solve a problem too quickly?

ANNE MORRISS: Absolutely. And we see that all the time too. What we push people to do in those scenarios is really take a look at the underlying issue because in most cases, the solution is not to take your foot off the accelerator per se and slow down. The solution is to get into the underlying problem. So if it’s burnout or a strategic disconnect between what you’re building and the marketplace you’re serving, what we find is the anxiety that people attach to speed or the frustration people attach to speed is often misplaced.

CURT NICKISCH: What is a good timeline to think about solving a problem then? Because if we by default take too long or else jump ahead and we don’t fix it right, what’s a good target time to have in your mind for how long solving a problem should take?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, we’re playful in the book and talking about the idea that many problems can be solved in a week. We set the book up five chapters. They’re titled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and we’re definitely having fun with that. And yet, if you count the hours in a week, there are a lot of them. Many of our problems, if you were to spend a focused 40 hours of effort on a problem, you’re going to get pretty far.

But our main message is, listen, of course it’s going to depend on the nature of the problem, and you’re going to take weeks and maybe even some cases months to get to the other side. What we don’t want you to do is take years, which tends to be our default timeline for solving hard problems.

CURT NICKISCH: So you say to start with identifying the problem that’s holding you back, seems kind of obvious. But where do companies go right and wrong with this first step of just identifying the problem that’s holding you back?

ANNE MORRISS: And our goal is that all of these are going to feel obvious in retrospect. The problem is we skip over a lot of these steps and this is why we wanted to underline them. So this one is really rooted in our observation and I think the pattern of our species that we tend to be overconfident in the quality of our thoughts, particularly when it comes to diagnosing problems.

And so we want to invite you to start in a very humble and curious place, which tends not to be our default mode when we’re showing up for work. We convince ourselves that we’re being paid for our judgment. That’s exactly what gets reinforced everywhere. And so we tend to counterintuitively, given what we just talked about, we tend to move too quickly through the diagnostic phase.

CURT NICKISCH: “I know what to do, that’s why you hired me.”

ANNE MORRISS: Exactly. “I know what to do. That’s why you hired me. I’ve seen this before. I have a plan. Follow me.” We get rewarded for the expression of confidence and clarity. And so what we’re inviting people to do here is actually pause and really lean into what are the root causes of the problem you’re seeing? What are some alternative explanations? Let’s get into dialogue with the people who are also impacted by the problem before we start running down the path of solving it.

CURT NICKISCH: So what do you recommend for this step, for getting to the root of the problem? What are questions you should ask? What’s the right thought process? What do you do on Monday of the week?

ANNE MORRISS: In our experience of doing this work, people tend to undervalue the power of conversation, particularly with other people in the organization. So we will often advocate putting together a team of problem solvers, make it a temporary team, really pull in people who have a particular perspective on the problem and create the space, make it as psychologically safe as you can for people to really, as Chris Argyris so beautifully articulated, discuss the undiscussable.

And so the conditions for that are going to look different in every organization depending on the problem, but if you can get a space where smart people who have direct experience of a problem are in a room and talking honestly with each other, you can make an extraordinary amount of progress, certainly in a day.

CURT NICKISCH: Yeah, that gets back to the trust piece.

ANNE MORRISS: Definitely.

CURT NICKISCH: How do you like to start that meeting, or how do you like to talk about it? I’m just curious what somebody on that team might hear in that meeting, just to get the sense that it’s psychologically safe, you can discuss the undiscussable and you’re also focusing on the identification part. What’s key to communicate there?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, we sometimes encourage people to do a little bit of data gathering before those conversations. So the power of a quick anonymous survey around whatever problem you’re solving, but also be really thoughtful about the questions you’re going to ask in the moment. So a little bit of preparation can go a long way and a little bit of thoughtfulness about the power dynamic. So who’s going to walk in there with license to speak and who’s going to hold back? So being thoughtful about the agenda, about the questions you’re asking about the room, about the facilitation, and then courage is a very infectious emotion.

So if you can early on create the conditions for people to show up bravely in that conversation, then the chance that you’re going to get good information and that you’re going to walk out of that room with new insight in the problem that you didn’t have when you walked in is extraordinarily high.

CURT NICKISCH: Now, in those discussions, you may have people who have different perspectives on what the problem really is. They also bear different costs of addressing the problem or solving it. You talked about the power dynamic, but there’s also an unfairness dynamic of who’s going to actually have to do the work to take care of it, and I wonder how you create a culture in that meeting where it’s the most productive?

ANNE MORRISS: For sure, the burden of work is not going to be equitably distributed around the room. But I would say, Curt, the dynamic that we see most often is that people are deeply relieved that hard problems are being addressed. So it really can create, and more often than not in our experience, it does create this beautiful flywheel of action, creativity, optimism. Often when problems haven’t been addressed, there is a fair amount of anxiety in the organization, frustration, stagnation. And so credible movement towards action and progress is often the best antidote. So even if the plan isn’t super clear yet, if it’s credible, given who’s in the room and their decision rights and mandate, if there’s real momentum coming out of that to make progress, then that tends to be deeply energizing to people.

CURT NICKISCH: I wonder if there’s an organization that you’ve worked with that you could talk about how this rolled out and how this took shape?

ANNE MORRISS: When we started working with Uber, that was wrestling with some very public issues of culture and trust with a range of stakeholders internally, the organization, also external, that work really started with a campaign of listening and really trying to understand where trust was breaking down from the perspective of these stakeholders?

So whether it was female employees or regulators or riders who had safety concerns getting into the car with a stranger. This work, it starts with an honest internal dialogue, but often the problem has threads that go external. And so bringing that same commitment to curiosity and humility and dialogue to anyone who’s impacted by the problem is the fastest way to surface what’s really going on.

CURT NICKISCH: There’s a step in this process that you lay out and that’s communicating powerfully as a leader. So we’ve heard about listening and trust building, but now you’re talking about powerful communication. How do you do this and why is it maybe this step in the process rather than the first thing you do or the last thing you do?

ANNE MORRISS: So in our process, again, it’s the days of the week. On Monday you figured out the problem. Tuesday you really got into the sandbox in figuring out what a good enough plan is for building trust. Wednesday, step three, you made it better. You created an even better plan, bringing in new perspectives. Thursday, this fourth step is the day we’re saying you got to go get buy-in. You got to bring other people along. And again, this is a step where we see people often underinvest in the power and payoff of really executing it well.

CURT NICKISCH: How does that go wrong?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, people don’t know the why. Human behavior and the change in human behavior really depends on a strong why. It’s not just a selfish, “What’s in it for me?” Although that’s helpful, but where are we going? I may be invested in a status quo and I need to understand, okay, if you’re going to ask me to change, if you’re going to invite me into this uncomfortable place of doing things differently, why am I here? Help me understand it and articulate the way forward and language that not only I can understand, but also that’s going to be motivating to me.

CURT NICKISCH: And who on my team was part of this process and all that kind of stuff?

ANNE MORRISS: Oh, yeah. I may have some really important questions that may be in the way of my buy-in and commitment to this plan. So certainly creating a space where those questions can be addressed is essential. But what we found is that there is an architecture of a great change story, and it starts with honoring the past, honoring the starting place. Sometimes we’re so excited about the change and animated about the change that what has happened before or what is even happening in the present tense is low on our list of priorities.

Or we want to label it bad, because that’s the way we’ve thought about the change, but really pausing and honoring what came before you and all the reasonable decisions that led up to it, I think can be really helpful to getting people emotionally where you want them to be willing to be guided by you. Going back to Uber, when Dara Khosrowshahi came in.

CURT NICKISCH: This is the new CEO.

ANNE MORRISS: The new CEO.

CURT NICKISCH: Replaced Travis Kalanick, the founder and first CEO, yeah.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, and had his first all-hands meeting. One of his key messages, and this is a quote, was that he was going to retain the edge that had made Uber, “A force of nature.” And in that meeting, the crowd went wild because this is also a company that had been beaten up publicly for months and months and months, and it was a really powerful choice. And his predecessor, Travis was in the room, and he also honored Travis’ incredible work and investment in bringing the company to the place where it was.

And I would use words like grace to also describe those choices, but there’s also an incredible strategic value to naming the starting place for everybody in the room because in most cases, most people in that room played a role in getting to that starting place, and you’re acknowledging that.

CURT NICKISCH: You can call it grace. Somebody else might call it diplomatic or strategic. But yeah, I guess like it or not, it’s helpful to call out and honor the complexity of the way things have been done and also the change that’s happening.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, and the value. Sometimes honoring the past is also owning what didn’t work or what wasn’t working for stakeholders or segments of the employee team, and we see that around culture change. Sometimes you’ve got to acknowledge that it was not an equitable environment, but whatever the worker, everyone in that room is bringing that pass with them. So again, making it discussable and using it as the jumping off place is where we advise people to start.

Then you’ve earned the right to talk about the change mandate, which we suggest using clear and compelling language about the why. “This is what happened, this is where we are, this is the good and the bad of it, and here’s the case for change.”

And then the last part, which is to describe a rigorous and optimistic way forward. It’s a simple past, present, future arc, which will be familiar to human beings. We love stories as human beings. It’s among the most powerful currency we have to make sense of the world.

CURT NICKISCH: Yeah. Chronological is a pretty powerful order.

ANNE MORRISS: Right. But again, the change leaders we see really get it right, are investing an incredible amount of time into the storytelling part of their job. Ursula Burns, the Head of Xerox is famous for the months and years she spent on the road just telling the story of Xerox’s change, its pivot into services to everyone who would listen, and that was a huge part of her success.

CURT NICKISCH: So Friday or your fifth step, you end with empowering teams and removing roadblocks. That seems obvious, but it’s critical. Can you dig into that a little bit?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Friday is the fun day. Friday’s the release of energy into the system. Again, you’ve now earned the right to go fast. You have a plan, you’re pretty confident it’s going to work. You’ve told the story of change the organization, and now you get to sprint. So this is about really executing with urgency, and it’s about a lot of the tactics of speed is where we focus in the book. So the tactics of empowerment, making tough strategic trade-offs so that your priorities are clear and clearly communicated, creating mechanisms to fast-track progress. At Etsy, CEO Josh Silverman, he labeled these projects ambulances. It’s an unfortunate metaphor, but it’s super memorable. These are the products that get to speed out in front of the other ones because the stakes are high and the clock is sticking.

CURT NICKISCH: You pull over and let it go by.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, exactly. And so we have to agree as an organization on how to do something like that. And so we see lots of great examples both in young organizations and big complex biotech companies with lots of regulatory guardrails have still found ways to do this gracefully.

And I think we end with this idea of conflict debt, which is a term we really love. Leanne Davey, who’s a team scholar and researcher, and anyone in a tech company will recognize the idea of tech debt, which is this weight the organization drags around until they resolve it. Conflict debt is a beautiful metaphor because it is this weight that we drag around and slows us down until we decide to clean it up and fix it. The organizations that are really getting speed right have figured out either formally or informally, how to create an environment where conflict and disagreements can be gracefully resolved.

CURT NICKISCH: Well, let’s talk about this speed more, right? Because I think this is one of those places that maybe people go wrong or take too long, and then you lose the awareness of the problem, you lose that urgency. And then that also just makes it less effective, right? It’s not just about getting the problem solved as quickly as possible. It’s also just speed in some ways helps solve the problem.

ANNE MORRISS: Oh, yeah. It really is the difference between imagining the change you want to lead and really being able to bring it to life. Speed is the thing that unlocks your ability to lead change. It needs a foundation, and that’s what Monday through Thursday is all about, steps one through four, but the finish line is executing with urgency, and it’s that urgency that releases the system’s energy, that communicates your priorities, that creates the conditions for your team to make progress.

CURT NICKISCH: Moving fast is something that entrepreneurs and tech companies certainly understand, but there’s also this awareness that with big companies, the bigger the organization, the harder it is to turn the aircraft carrier around, right? Is speed relative when you get at those levels, or do you think this is something that any company should be able to apply equally?

ANNE MORRISS: We think this applies to any company. The culture really lives at the level of team. So we believe you can make a tremendous amount of progress even within your circle of control as a team leader. I want to bring some humility to this and careful of words like universal, but we do think there’s some universal truths here around the value of speed, and then some of the byproducts like keeping fantastic people. Your best people want to solve problems, they want to execute, they want to make progress and speed, and the ability to do that is going to be a variable in their own equation of whether they stay or they go somewhere else where they can have an impact.

CURT NICKISCH: Right. They want to accomplish something before they go or before they retire or finish something out. And if you’re able to just bring more things on the horizon and have it not feel like it’s going to be another two years to do something meaningful.

ANNE MORRISS: People – I mean, they want to make stuff happen and they want to be around the energy and the vitality of making things happen, which again, is also a super infectious phenomenon. One of the most important jobs of a leader, we believe, is to set the metabolic pace of their teams and organizations. And so what we really dig into on Friday is, well, what does that look like to speed something up? What are the tactics of that?

CURT NICKISCH: I wonder if that universal truth, that a body in motion stays in motion applies to organizations, right? If an organization in motion stays in motion, there is something to that.

ANNE MORRISS: Absolutely.

CURT NICKISCH: Do you have a favorite client story to share, just where you saw speed just become a bit of a flywheel or just a positive reinforcement loop for more positive change at the organization?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. We work with a fair number of organizations that are on fire. We do a fair amount of firefighting, but we also less dramatically do a lot of fire prevention. So we’re brought into organizations that are working well and want to get better, looking out on the horizon. That work is super gratifying, and there is always a component of, well, how do we speed this up?

What I love about that work is there’s often already a high foundation of trust, and so it’s, well, how do we maintain that foundation but move this flywheel, as you said, even faster? And it’s really energizing because often there’s a lot of pent-up energy that… There’s a lot of loyalty to the organization, but often it’s also frustration and pent-up energy. And so when that gets released, when good people get the opportunity to sprint for the first time in a little while, it’s incredibly energizing, not just for us, but for the whole organization.

CURT NICKISCH: Anne, this is great. I think finding a way to solve problems better but also faster is going to be really helpful. So thanks for coming on the show to talk about it.

ANNE MORRISS:  Oh, Curt, it was such a pleasure. This is my favorite conversation. I’m delighted to have it anytime.

HANNAH BATES: That was entrepreneur, leadership coach, and author Anne Morriss – in conversation with Curt Nickisch on HBR IdeaCast.

We’ll be back next Wednesday with another hand-picked conversation about business strategy from Harvard Business Review. If you found this episode helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues, and follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, be sure to leave us a review.

When you’re ready for more podcasts, articles, case studies, books, and videos with the world’s top business and management experts, you’ll find it all at HBR.org.

This episode was produced by Mary Dooe, Anne Saini, and me, Hannah Bates. Ian Fox is our editor. Special thanks to Rob Eckhardt, Maureen Hoch, Erica Truxler, Ramsey Khabbaz, Nicole Smith, Anne Bartholomew, and you – our listener. See you next week.

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General election latest: Minister hangs up on Sky's Sam Coates after being told poll has predicted he'll lose his seat

A YouGov poll has predicted an enormous majority for Labour - and several big names Tories to lose their seats. One of them, Grant Shapps, hung up on our deputy political editor Sam Coates after being told live on the phone.

Monday 3 June 2024 23:00, UK

• General Election 2024

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Election news

• Bulletin: Catch up on the main news from the campaign trail
• Labour set for biggest majority in 100 years - YouGov poll
• Minister predicted to be voted out hangs up live on Sky News
• The top Tories under threat | Why this poll is a big deal | '31 days to save Tory party'
• Farage to stand at general election | Taking over as Reform leader
• Be in the audience for our election leaders event
• Live reporting by Tim Baker

Expert analysis

• Jon Craig: Grim record aside, Farage has made a canny choice
• Rob Powell: Farage U-turn is a really significant development
• Adam Boulton: 'Starmtroopers' are purging Labour

Election essentials

• Trackers: Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
• Follow Sky's politics podcasts: Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Read more: Who is standing down? | Key seats to watch | How to register to vote | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency is changing | Your essential guide to election lingo | Sky's election night plans

We're pausing our live coverage for tonight.

Listen below to the latest Daily Podcast to catch up on the day's events.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

And a new episode of Politics at Jack and Sam's will be live at breakfast time tomorrow. 

👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack at Sam's wherever you get your podcasts 👈

By Jennifer Scott , political reporter

The Liberal Democrats will pledge free personal care to "all those who need it" as they make their social care offering on the campaign trail.

Making the announcement on Tuesday, the party will say it would help "end the hospital crisis" by enabling thousands of people ready to be discharged but stuck in hospital beds to get care, as well as help the elderly to "stay in their own homes longer".

The Lib Dems pointed to a report by Age UK that found an estimated 1.6 million people aged 65 and over had unmet care needs, and in April alone, an average of 12,772 hospital beds were being used by people who were ready to be discharged.

Leader Sir Ed Davey said: "As a carer for my disabled son, and after caring for my ill mother when I was young, care is deeply personal for me. That is why I am putting fixing the care crisis at the heart of the Liberal Democrat offer to the country at this election.

"Far too often, family carers are being left to pick up the pieces because the care system simply isn't there for them. Millions of people are going without the care they need, while thousands are stuck in hospital beds instead of being cared for in their own home or a care home.

"We cannot fix the crisis facing the NHS without fixing the crisis facing social care. The Liberal Democrats would bring in free personal care to help people live independently and with dignity, in their own homes wherever possible."

Read the full story below: 

 The front pages for tomorrow unsurprisingly focus on two things: The return of Nigel Farage as a Westminster candidate, and the polling which suggests a record defeat for the Tories.

Neither of these stories will be welcomed among Rishi Sunak's team.

Sir Keir Starmer could be heading to Downing Street with a majority of 194 seats, bigger than what Tony Blair achieved in 1997, according to the first polling projection by YouGov of the campaign.

The projection shows a historic Labour landslide, with the party getting the highest number of seats of any party at an election in history.

At the same time, the Tories are trying to boost ratings by talking about culture wars while Labour is talking about real wars in terms of what they would do for defence. And Nigel Farage has announced he's standing for Reform UK.

On the Sky News Daily, Niall Patterson talks to Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig about the poll and today's developments, and to Scarlett Maguire, director of the polling organisation JL Partners.

We're winding up here for the day - the clock has gone ten and we'll be off to bed soon.

Today felt like a day that could be an inflection point in the election for a number of reasons.

We had big announcements from numerous parties, and a megapoll predicting a historic result.

If you want a fuller rundown, here is today's main news:

• A YouGov poll predicted Labour will win a supermajority of 194 seats - with the Conservatives routed to just 140 MPs;
• Tory ministers are among those who could lose their seat - including the defence secretary, Grant Shapps, who hung up on our deputy political editor Sam Coates when he was told live on air ;
• As chief political correspondent Jon Craig writes, panic will be spread through Tory ranks ;
• Meanwhile, Sky election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher said Rishi Sunak has 31 days to save the Conservative Party ;
• Twelve big Conservative beasts face losing their seats - and  political correspondent  Tamara Cohen  has a despatch from one such constituency .
• Just before this poll was published, Nigel Farage announced he was standing to be an MP for Reform UK - U-turning on his previous stance of not contesting;
• As political correspondent Rob Powell says, Mr Farage doesn't just have his eye on this election but the years ahead ;
• And  political correspondent Gurpreet Narwan  says the news will send shivers down Tory spines;
• This morning, Labour  was pitching itself as the "party of defence"   as it pledged to build new nuclear submarines;
• And the Conservatives were campaigning on reforming the Equalities Act, including wanting to protect single sex toilets;
• Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch also said trans athletes may have to compete with their biological sex ;
• In slightly lighter news, the prime minister revealed his preferred Nando's order - with a surprise inclusion in the sides .
• Elsewhere, the SNP said there was no need for the UK to have a nuclear deterrent , in response to the Labour announcement;
• The Liberal Democrats sabotaged Rishi Sunak as he held a campaign event;
• Meanwhile, political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh outlined the difficulties facing Sir Keir Starmer over Jeremy Corbyn. 

Here are a couple of other stories that may interest you:

Our essential political podcast,  Politics At Jack And Sam's , is going out every week day through the election campaign to bring a short burst of everything you need to know about the day ahead as this election unfolds - here is today's edition .

Tap here to follow Politics At Jack At Sam's wherever you get your podcasts .

Today's poll suggests that in the Conservative heartlands, voters are about to turn on the governing party like never before, Tarama Cohen writes from Godalming, Surrey .

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is running in Godalming and Ash, one of the country's most affluent areas.

Conservative since its creation, Mr Hunt's majority - on different boundaries - was down to 8,817 at tzhe 2019 election, ahead of the Liberal Democrats. YouGov's seat by seat poll predicts it could be overturned altogether. 

It could be a significant moment of election night - compared with cabinet minister Michael Portillo losing his seat in 1997.

Mortgage rates are a key issue for many voters in this commuter town, and switchers were not hard to find. 

Sam and Fi Hayward, who have three children under five, previously voted Conservative but will now back the Lib Dems.

Finance worker Sam - who's natural home is with Conservatives - will be changing who he backs, saying "different issues on our radar now we have a young family".

He is also unimpressed with the government's performance, putting it down to "general incompetence, Brexit hasn't gone their way, COVID hasn't helped". 

Fi is also switching, saying "I think it would be better for our family".

At the Godalming Delights sweet shop, new mum Felicity is also switching away from the Tories. 

"We're living on savings to pay a massive mortgage", she said, and they've taken their older child out of nursery due to the costs.

Retired teacher Jean said the impact of COVID is still on her mind - including a friend who died "while [politicians] were partying".

She's also concerned about children's mental health, a subject the Lib Dems are campaigning on.

But there was still support for the Conservatives here - and lack of enthusiasm for the alternative. 

Retired railway worker Robert Jones said: "I like Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak. I like his apprenticeship scheme, my children's children need a job and all our heavy industries are going."

He was not impressed with the National Service idea - and does worry about Labour.

"Diane Abbott was in, and now she's out. The left always worry me, and the unions - although I was a union man for years - having their sway," he says.

Some voters felt Mr Hunt personally had worked hard as an MP. "He's moderate, and I'm a moderate", said Tory party member David Cooper.

But he was worried about a severe defeat. 

This corner of southwest Surrey, a constituency held by former cabinet minister Virginia Bottomley and now the chancellor, has never deserted the Tories, even at the height of New Labour. 

If the tide turns here on election night, it will be a sign the once unshakeable Blue Wall is really tumbling down.

The candidates for Godalming and Ash are:

• Graham Drage, Reform UK;
• Paul Follows, Liberal Democrats;
• Jeremy Hunt, Conservatives;
• James Walsh, Labour;
• Steve Williams, Greens.

By Jon Craig , chief political correspondent

The findings of the SkyNews/YouGov MRP poll are a disaster for the Conservatives, a worry for Labour and good news for the Lib Dems and Reform UK.

The forecast of a Tory near wipeout  will spread panic among Conservative candidates and potentially spark a fresh bout of mutiny against Rishi Sunak from the right of his party.

For Labour, the suggestion that Sir Keir Starmer is heading for a landslide even bigger than Tony Blair won in 1997 will alarm those in the party already fearing complacency.

But for the Lib Dems, the projection that Sir Ed Davey's party is heading for a result to match the heady days of Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy will be a massive confidence boost.

However, the party that will be really delighted is Reform UK - already newly energised with  Nigel Farage replacing Richard Tice as leader  - who will claim that with Labour on course to win, Tory supporters can vote for them.

There will also be consternation in the Tory high command at the forecast that so many of the party's big beasts - led by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt - are at risk of losing their seat.

Mr Hunt is fighting the new constituency of Godalming and Ash - in his favour it's in a part of the affluent Surrey stockbroker belt represented by Conservative MPs since 1910.

But the cabinet minsters who are vulnerable are in seats held by Labour in the Blair and Brown years or the Liberal Democrats in the Ashdown, Kennedy or Nick Clegg years.

Read Jon's full analysis below:

By Gurpreet Narwan , political correspondent

We've just witnessed what is probably the most dramatic moment of the general election campaign so far - Nigel Farage, a figure of fear for the Tories, is entering the fray ( read more here ).

All eyes will now turn to the polls, where Reform UK is performing at around 12%.

It hasn't made any major breakthroughs so far - and this vote share will not translate into a seat.

However, speaking to Sky News after the announcement, Mr Farage was adamant the party would now ascend and win more than the 3.9 million votes UKIP took in 2015.

It was at that election that Douglas Carswell - after defecting from the Tories - won a seat for UKIP. It is in this seat that Farage is now bidding to be an MP after seven failed attempts to enter the Commons.

Clacton will be viewed as a soft target for Reform. This was a strong Leave voting area and the Conservative candidate, Giles Watling, is a Remainer.

Reform UK is polling above the national average in this seaside town - YouGov and Sky News' MRP poll puts its share here at 19.5%. But the "Farage factor" cannot be underestimated. He could really win here.

All of this will send shivers down the spines of those in Tory HQ, but Sir Keir Starmer may be rubbing his hands with glee.

Polling already suggests that Reform could cost the Tories 100 seats by splitting the right wing vote across the Red Wall and Essex. It explains why the Tories were pushing the message hard that "a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour".

Farage has turned that on its head. The election is a foregone conclusion and the Tories are too divided to be serious in opposition, he says.

Instead, given the Tories have already lost, Farage argues that a vote for the Tories is the real wasted vote.

That's his pitch to voters who he is now inviting to join his "political takeover".

It was a week ago that the government was announcing its plans to reintroduce national service - after a fashion - if they won the election.

The idea is for all 18-year-olds to volunteer at least once a month, and some to join the military for the year.

Since then, pollsters at JL Partners have asked the country for their opinions on the policy.

As part of its survey, it asked 2,013 people to check boxes against answers for which statements they agreed with.

People could tick as many boxes as they want.

Some 32% of people - a total of 651 of the 2,013 - ticked the box saying it made them feel more negative about the Tories.

Meanwhile, 23% - 467 people of the 2,013 - said it made them feel better about the Conservatives.

To break that down, that's 184 more responses that thought badly of the Conservatives after the national service announcement than thought better of it - a nine point gap.

And then 24% of people - 479 - ticked the box saying it made no difference to their views.

Some 12% - 236 - said it made them feel better about Labour, while 3% - 51 - said it made them feel worse about Sir Keir Starmer's party.

And 12% - 243 - said they did not know.

Read more about the national service announcement below.

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