Black Belt in Thinking

Five modules. Five weeks.

This management and leadership course develops practical skills that enable you to think critically yet quickly — allowing you to rapidly develop innovative solutions to even the most intractable problems.

Modules

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Course. Five Modules. Five Weeks.

MODULE 1:

Clouds

Make faster decisions

Understand the true drivers of your problems, clarifying the situation and clearing the way for fast and effective decisions.

MODULE 2:

Druids

Understand problems effectively

Discover how to identify and challenge the validity of your assumptions on how a situation must be.

MODULE 3:

Assumptions

Challenge self-limiting assumptions

Discover how to identify and challenge the validity of your assumptions on how a situation must be.

MODULE 4:

Injections

Solve problems creatively

Learn a repeatable method to leverage your knowledge of the biases that are perpetuating a problem and identify a case where the problem is solved in a lasting way.

MODULE 5:

Prerequisite Analysis

Overcome obstacles to goals

Learn a system to structure a “master change plan” and “pre-verify” that proposed solutions will work before moving ahead.

Course Structure

Each week of the course will cover a single module and follow the same repeating structure:

  • Video content about the tool
  • Simple exercise to get you started
  • Video content covering how to use the tool
  • Example exercises with sample answers provided
  • Application exercises using your own content. These are reviewed by an instructor and feedback is provided.

Timeline & Course Requirements

The course is designed to have some work completed every business day. Time required each day will vary but on average you can expect to spend approximately an hour per day.

Additionally, there are live online sessions to attend:

• Initial kick off meeting – Monday week one – 45 minutes long
• Worked examples and Q&A – Each Tuesday – 45 minutes long
• Group activities and Q&A – Each Thursday – 45 minutes long
• Final group application – Thursday week six - 2 hours long

The ‘worked examples and Q&A live session times will be shared at the commencement of the course. The live Q&A sessions will be in Sydney time. The live sessions will be recorded and made available for those who cannot attend.

The group activity live session (Sydney time) is not recorded for confidentiality reasons and is run in several smaller groups to allow more discussion and collaboration.

Outside of the live sessions, the coursework is flexible, allowing you to complete it at a time which suits you. However, you will be expected to progress at a certain pace, hitting specific completion milestones prior to each of the live sessions. This ensures that the sessions are relevant, and you get the most out of them.

Weekly completion milestones:

• Prior to Worked examples and Q&A session – Complete exercise 2
• Prior to Group activities and Q&A session – Complete first attempt of exercise 4
• Prior to start of a new week – Complete all exercises from the previous week

Course Facilitation

While BBIT is designed primarily to be a self-led and remote course, you will have two instructors guiding you along the way. They will facilitate the group sessions, review your work, and be available for any questions or problems you come up with along the way.

They are reachable by email and during the weekly group sessions. Please don’t hesitate to contact them if you are unsure of anything.

Tech Requirements

Black Belt in Thinking is an online course. You will need access to a computer with audio and video and a reliable internet connection. We recommend a quiet space without distraction and a headset with microphone if your computer audio is of poor quality.

More Questions?

Please visit the FAQ page on the Black Belt in Thinking website (blackbeltinthinking.com/faq) or email your question to [email protected]

Investment and Payment Options

Investment: AUD$2,000 (Australian dollars)

Foreign currency payments will be converted and charged in Australian dollars at the
current exchange rate (fx) charged by the payment processing service at that time.

Payment method

Our preferred payment of method is credit card via the online registration form. We accept Visa and Mastercard. Payment will be processed by Stripe (a secure, online payment gateway).

Group or company registrations

Please contact ViAGO (the course organiser) at [email protected] if you would like to register multiple course attendees or pay by company invoice. Payments must be paid in full prior to course commencement.

Refunds and guarantee

You can request a refund up to 7 days prior to course commencement. If, within the first two weeks, you find the course isn’t for you we will happily refund your investment, provided you have kept up with the coursework.

Online Registration Process

The Black Belt in Thinking Program is facilitated by an online Learning Management System (LMS) called Fluency Portal.
To register:

  • Go to this link and select BBIT Foundations Course

  • Click on the ‘Get this course’ button.

  • Choose sign-up if you are registering for the first time.

  • Complete the registration form including country/region

  • Complete payment method. You are now enrolled!

  • You will be sent an email with further instructions.