The Art and Science of Knowing Why

Understanding why things happen is a fundamental management skill. For anyone who is challenged to manage data quality, business processes, or people and organizations, finding root causes is an essential skill. Understanding why is the key to knowing what to do – the core of sound decision making. But cause-and-effect relationships are elusive. Real causes are often difficult to find so we settle for easy answers. This leads to fixing symptoms rather than to solving problems, and to little or no gain where opportunity is abundant.

Root cause analysis is the alternative to easy answers. Looking beyond the apparent and obvious to find real causes brings insight and sows the seeds of foresight. Through this online training course you will discover the art and science of knowing why. Learn to apply linear thinking, lateral thinking, systems thinking, and critical thinking – independently and in combination – to get to the core of even the most vexing problems.

• recognize and avoid logical fallacies
• identify and distinguish between correlation, coincidence, and cause
• perform fast and light causal analysis using the “5 whys” technique
• explore linear cause-and-effect chains with fishbone diagramming
• describe complex cause-effect networks with causal loop models
• challenge and refine linear and loop models with lateral and critical thinking techniques
• apply root cause analysis to effectively manage quality, processes, and organizations

• Data quality professionals and practitioners
• Quality management and quality improvement professionals
• Business analysts and business analytics professionals
• Managers and problem-solvers seeking insight and confidence in decision making
• Anyone responsible to manage data, information, people, process, or technology