Strategic Thinking Course
How it works
in 2024 this website will host the resources to support the delivery of the Strategic Thinking workshop delivered by an authorised de Bono trainer in person or live virtually. The course is designed to be taken by teams.
Participation in the course can be purchased from our training partners, who will provide you with a pass key. The workshop is also available in person.
If you have the passkey then please press start. You may first be asked to sign up by creating a user name and password.
About the Strategic Thinking workshop
Strategy consists of three dimensions: strategic thinking, strategic planning, and strategic implementation. Each dimension requires a different type of thinking.
Strategic thinking is about designing a sustainable path for the future.
Strategic thinking requires you to suspend solutions and to challenge the current frame you are using. Strategic thinking is necessary for grappling with complex problems — problems that have no ready made solutions.
The Sloan Triad Model of Strategy
TM
Strategic thinkers demonstrate curiosity, agility, future focus, openness to new ideas, breadth of thinking and asking thought-provoking questions. Strategic thinking is a deliberate process and uses both rational and a-rational thinking. Lateral thinking is an a-rational process and set of techniques. It is the skill of changing our perception and reframing rather than trying to resolve the situation with better logic.
Frequently asked questions
What is Strategic Thinking? Why do we need it? Who is it for?
Strategic Thinking is not the same as Strategic Planning and Implementation. It requires an exploration and reframing of the problem and uses both rational and a-rational modes of thinking. Studies show that 90% of strategies never reach implementation. Often teams don’t know or can’t remember or don’t care what the strategy is. Perhaps they never knew, or they know but don’t agree it’s the real problem, so they drag their feet with implementation. Often, they weren’t involved in it and were just told to implement it. So they ignore it hoping it’ll disappear in a few months. This workshop provides a shared process for Thinking Strategically.
The workshop is designed for high potentials, new managers stepping into more strategic roles, and teams who are invited to participate in strategy conversations.
What is included in the Strategic Thinking Course and My Thoughts?
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A one day course on Strategic Thinking led by a live trainer in person or virtually, designed to help you:
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To use deep dive questioning
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Be more aware about how you frame a situation and how to reframe
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To identify and use Concepts to breed ideas
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To use Challenge to go beyond the status quo and satisfactory ideas
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To use Provocation and Movement for a radical shift in thinking
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To create Flowscapes to understand your perception of a situation
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You will be supported with:
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A participant's workbook (print or eBook)
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Reusable templates (print or PDF) for the thinking tools
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For those taking the virtual course - one year of access to this website, which includes:
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Video lessons ( in addition to the live trainer)
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An application "My Thoughts" that structures how you apply the thinking tools to topics that you want to think about. It records your thoughts so you can refer to them later and develop them further
- An application (hosted on this website that will draw and store your Flowscapes for you)
- The opportunity to assess your ability to reframe and receive a rating on your skill. Learn from hints and explanations of the solutions
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The course is available from our training providers, all provide corporate training and some also provide public courses. The trainers will provide instruction and facilitation to ensure you learn and apply the techniques effectively.
Tell me more about Dr Julia Sloan
Author of the definitive book, Learning to Think Strategically (5th ed., 2024), Dr. Julia Sloan is recognized for her pioneering work on the application of complex cognitive theory to everyday strategic thinking practice. With a focus on the learning aspect of strategic thinking, Dr. Sloan moves beyond strategic planning and implementation models to a more expansive notion of strategic thinking that includes innovation and perpetual change. She defines and presents strategic thinking as a core global leadership capability and delineates the term strategic thinking based on the underlying thinking that is required. Her work emphasises the role of informal learning and developing fluency of a-rational and rational thinking.
A Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Sloan teaches strategic thinking at her alma mater, Columbia University and has also taught at the Brookings Institute, the Mohammad bin Rashid School of Government (Dubai), and Central University of Finance and economics (China).
Her curiosity about learning and teaching strategic thinking has led to work on six continents where she has worked with corporate and policy leaders, start-ups, refugees, military leaders, and Olympic athletes. She has been the recipient of a Researcher-in Residence fellowship, Innovative Influencer Award, Faculty Excellence Award, and Ahead-of-the-Curve Teaching Award.
Tell me more about Dr Edward de Bono
He originated the term Lateral Thinking and dedicated his life to teaching thinking as a skill. He wrote more than 60 books on thinking with translations in 43 languages. His methods have been adopted by major corporations and governments in more than 50 countries over 50 years. He taught thinking skills to executives, educators, 4-year-olds and Nobel Prize laureates.
Dr de Bono’s background was in medicine and psychology. He was a Rhodes scholar and held faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard.
His medical background in biological information systems inspired and enabled him to design and teach revolutionary thinking methods. In his book The Mechanism of Mind, Dr de Bono first described how the nerve networks in the brain behave as a self-organizing system. It was from this base that Dr de Bono designed his thinking methodologies. In 1985, Dr de Bono wrote the book Six Thinking Hats, which was immediately embraced by corporations and educators worldwide. Now more than 700,000 people have been trained to use the de Bono methodology.
How long does access last and what are the conditions of use?
Each login is for a single user only. Please do not share logins or copy content to share with others.
If you purchase access via one of our training partners, then this will last for one year. The commercial terms are as per your agreement with them, all other Terms and Conditions of this website apply.
You may export your "My Thoughts" notes via the "Email me this" feature on the My Thoughts page. All notes will be deleted from our systems one month after your access lapses.
How do I gain access via a training partner?
You can see a list of training partners - please visit the website of the one closest to you.
"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."
Dr Edward de Bono
Via training partner
0£Valid for one year- 1 year of access to the Strategic Thinking Course and tools
- Expert teaching, coaching and facilitation from a trainer
- Templates to structure and record your thoughts