Conquering Complexity

Workshop Brochure

In this complex, global business world today, leaders are continually challenged by two essential questions: what should we be doing, and how should we do it? Virtually every problem an executive in any organization faces boils down to answering these two questions.

Of the two questions, the more critical is the “what” question. Senior managers get to be executives because they execute the “how” part well. But once you become the captain of the ship, your subordinates usually answer the “how” questions. As an executive, you’re charged with deciding what the organization should be doing. In other words, setting the direction of the company.

As far back as 1954, Peter Drucker defined efficiency as doing things right, and effectiveness as doing the right things. If you’re a leader or decision-maker of any kind, wouldn’t it be comforting to have a way to know what the right thing to do is at any given moment?

And even if you understand what your system should be doing, you’re still faced with the challenge of figuring out why the system isn’t performing as it should—why it’s not achieving what you expect it to. Wouldn’t it be reassuring to know that you could find the hidden, underlying causes behind underperformance?

That opportunity is here.

Agenda

Day 1

Day-1 of the two-day session will reinforce your understanding of the criticality and usefulness of the Logical Thinking Process. Bill will share advice about how to use the tools, especially the Goal Tree, in aligning and focusing teams toward the ultimate success of your system, whether that is your personal life or your organization.

Bill will lead you through the process of constructing your own Goal Tree. You can expect to end the first day with a clear strategic roadmap to your goal:

• What that goal is
• What the crucial terminal outcomes are for achieving it
• A completely defined network of all component tasks required to accomplish those terminal outcomes.

Day 2

On Day-2, Bill will introduce the Current Reality Tree, a problem definition tool specifically designed to expose the cause-and-effect relationships in complex systems and the critical root causes of undesirable system performance.

The capstone of the second day will be a hands-on exercise in revealing the complex cause-and-effect relationship behind the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Bill will lead you through the construction of a Current Reality Tree using the information summarized in a Harvard Business School case study (provided in advance).

At the conclusion of the exercise, you will understand:

• What really caused the Space Shuttle Challenger to explode
• How it could have been anticipated and prevented
• The value of a Current Reality Tree in analyzing and solving complex system problems

What You Will Learn?

By attending the course, by the end of the second day, you will:

• Understand the value of the Logical Thinking Process as a tool to work out durable solutions based on a systemic view of an organization.
• Learn how to clearly state your goal and use strict necessity logic to identify what has to be done to achieve it.
• Understand how the Logical Thinking Process helps you identify hidden, faulty paradigms and conflicts that stand in the way of improvement.
• Learn how to map the way to the future with robust long-term solutions that deal with root causes instead of temporal symptoms.

Workshop Brochure

Testimonials

Here's what previous attendees have said about Bill's training of the Logical Thinking Process:

“Bill Dettmer and the Logical Thinking Process gave us invaluable clarity on what we were trying to achieve. We were able to create a clear strategy for the company... Fifteen of our management team learned first-hand from Bill in South Africa.” —Johan Steyn, Managing Director, Aerosud SA

“With the Logical Thinking Process, I was able to identify and overcome obstacles in improving capital construction projects around the world. It ensures a structured approach to evaluating projects and reduces risk. The most valuable aspect of it is that it helps one take an organization through the problem-solving process, step-by-step, while ensuring participation. .. you could ‘wander forty years through the wilderness’ without it.” —Ian Heptinstall (Great Britain)

“The Logical Thinking Process showed me, in detail, how to define the goal of my organization, how to verbalize the problems that keep me from attaining that goal, how to model and design the future, and how to implement solutions. I recommend this course to anyone.” —Spyros Bonatsos (Cyprus)

"I have watched Bill Dettmer give his 6-Day "Logical Thinking Process" course several times over the past 5 years. 8 out of 10 of the 50 attendees rated his course as the best in their life. It sounds far fetched; you have to see it to believe it. I was initially sceptical about this "how to think better" service offering because I am a down to earth, results oriented businessman. But now I have seem dozens of CEO's and senior managers "reformatted" in to much more powerful leaders. I guess I never realized that we are not very logical even though we might be engineers, doctors, CEOs or whatever. And being more logical makes you better at defining strategy and tactics and taking decisions among other things. Bill Dettmer is the creator and master of the Logical Thinking Process. No one else comes close." —Philip Marris, CEO, Marris Consulting

"I was fortunate enough to participate in one of Bill's rare Logical Thinking Process workshops in Linz, Austria. The workshop changed my attitude towards life in general, opened my mind, and improved my ability to understand the reasons behind other's actions. Everything is understandable and theoretically possible if you apply rigid logic and test it thoroughly with the categories of legitimate reservations. Bill is a great presenter who was always ready to share real life examples from his own vast experience to illustrate the theory. It was time and money were very well spent. I would love to take the whole workshop again." — Hannah Nowak, Implementation Expert and Clear Thinking Coach, VISTEM GmbH (Austria)