Help Teams Solve Problems and Make Better Decisions
Critical thinking and problem-solving training teaches how a person works out what is actually wrong and what to do about it: stating the problem, testing a cause, separating fact from assumption, comparing options and turning a decision into a plan with an owner. GullyHR designs it around problems your business actually has, collecting two or three real ones and working them through in the room.
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Share your requirementsCritical Thinking and Problem-Solving in brief
Critical thinking and problem-solving training is training in how a person works out what is actually wrong and what to do about it. It covers defining a problem separately from its symptoms and from whoever is being blamed for it, working back to a cause and testing it, generating more than one option, weighing risk, and turning the decision into an action plan.
- GullyHR is an HR consulting, HR services, training and software company based in Bengaluru, working with Indian startups and small and medium businesses.
- This page covers one training programme: critical thinking and problem-solving, for employees and managers who have to diagnose and decide, not only execute.
- The programme is built on two or three real, recurring problems from your business, which participants work through during the session instead of a case study from an industry nobody in the room has seen.
- Participants leave with a root-cause method, a decision framework, and a written analysis and action plan against a real problem.
- Duration and cohort size are scoped at the needs discussion, because structured analysis takes as long as it takes to do properly.
The starting point
Does the Same Problem Keep Coming Back?
Many businesses fix symptoms well. The equipment is repaired, the complaint is answered, the handover is chased. Without a method for finding the cause, the same problem returns, and every discussion about it begins again from the opinions people already hold.
We teach a method and apply it, in the room, to problems you actually have.
You may be experiencing:
- The same equipment failure, customer complaint or missed handover returning, fixed afresh each time.
- A meeting called to solve a problem turning into a discussion of whose fault it is, ending without a decision.
- The first idea raised in the room becoming the decision, because nobody asked what else could be done.
- A decision reversed a month later because a risk obvious to one person on the floor was never raised.
- Analysis taking longer than the problem deserves, so the recommendation arrives after the moment has passed.
- Junior employees escalating problems they could have solved, because nobody showed them a method.
- A fix agreed in a meeting with nobody recording who does what by when, so the discussion repeats.
- Reports reviewed every week, with nobody asking what the numbers mean for a decision.
- Investigations that stop at the first person to blame, so the process behind the error is never examined.
- Proposals brought to you with one option and no account of what was ruled out.
- A project that stalls because nobody can say which decision is waiting or who owns it.
What we can help with
What the Programme Covers
Stating the Problem
Separating the problem from its symptoms and from the solution someone has already decided on, because half of problem-solving is stating what is actually wrong.
Root-Cause Analysis
Working back from a symptom to a cause using a structured method, and testing the cause before acting on it, since a cause is not a cause until it has been tested.
Analytical Thinking
Reading data and evidence without leaping to a conclusion, and separating fact from assumption, so a conclusion rests on what is known.
Decision-Making
Choosing a method that fits the size and stakes of the decision, so a decision is made rather than merely arrived at.
Creative Problem-Solving
Generating more than the first idea and widening the options before narrowing them, so a better alternative is not discarded unseen.
Comparing Alternatives
Setting the criteria before comparing options, so the choice is made on the same terms for every alternative and the reason for it can be stated.
Risk-Based Thinking
Identifying what could fail in the chosen option and what would be done about it, asking what could go wrong before it does.
Action Planning
Turning a decision into a plan with an owner, a date and a check, because a decision is only as good as the plan that follows it.
The scope
Topics in Detail
These are the topics a problem-solving programme can work on. The needs discussion and the problems you share decide which are used and how much time each gets.
Writing a Problem Statement
Describing what is wrong, where, since when and with what effect, in a form others can read and agree before any solution is discussed.
Fact, Inference and Assumption
Separating what is known, what has been concluded from it and what is simply assumed, and saying which is which.
Asking Questions of Data
What a figure measures, what it leaves out and what to ask before relying on it for a decision.
Root-Cause Methods
Repeated why-questions and cause-and-effect maps, applied in plain terms to recurring problems from your business.
Testing a Cause Before Acting
Small, quick checks that show whether a suspected cause holds up before money or effort is committed to it.
Common Traps in Judgement
Settling on the first idea, favouring evidence that agrees with you, and the pull towards agreement in a group.
Generating and Widening Options
Producing more than one answer before choosing, and building on half-formed suggestions instead of dismissing them.
Setting Criteria and Comparing Options
Agreeing what a good answer looks like first, then comparing each option on the same terms.
Weighing Risk and Reversibility
What could go wrong, how serious it would be, and which decisions can be undone cheaply and which cannot.
Making a Recommendation
Stating the conclusion, the evidence, the alternatives set aside and the decision needed, in a form a senior person can act on.
Group Decisions and Dissent
Inviting objections, being clear about who decides, and recording the reasons so the decision can be revisited.
Action Plans and Review Points
Turning a decision into owners, dates and a check, with a point to look back at what happened.
Working together
Ways to Work With Us
Single Workshop
One cohort, built around two or three real problems, suited to a team sitting on a specific recurring issue.
Facilitated Problem-Solving Session
A shorter session applying the method to one live problem, closer to facilitation than to training.
Company-Wide Programme in Cohorts
The same core method delivered to several teams or departments, so problems are discussed in one shared way.
Module Within a Management Programme
Critical thinking delivered alongside leadership and people management as part of a wider programme.
You share the real problems with enough background for us to use them. They are used to teach the method, and nothing is circulated beyond the cohort.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the scope of your engagement, deliverables can include:
- A participant workbook covering problem identification, root-cause analysis, analytical thinking, decisions, options, risk and action planning.
- Root-cause and decision-making templates participants can reuse on the next problem without waiting for us.
- A written analysis of at least one real business problem, produced by participants during the session.
- Action plans against real problems, each with a named owner and a date.
- A facilitator's summary of the recurring problems examined and the causes the groups identified.
- A manager briefing note on the methods practised and how to reinforce them in ordinary work.
- A pre- and post-programme comparison and a participant feedback summary.
- A certificate of participation for each attendee, where you want one.
- A one-page problem statement format for use in meetings before any solution is discussed.
- A decision record template capturing the options considered, the criteria, the choice, the owner and the review date.
Step by step
How We Work
Collect Real Problems
You share two or three real, recurring or recent problems with enough background for us to build exercises around them, and we choose which modules the cohort needs most from where decisions are going wrong.
Run a Baseline Exercise
Before the session participants individually attempt a short structured analysis of a problem, so each person's starting approach is visible and can be compared afterwards.
Design and Sign Off
Modules are sequenced and the real problems are built into structured exercises. You approve the design before anything is scheduled.
Work the Problems Through
Short input on a method, then small groups take the real problems through it. Groups run a full cycle — define, analyse, generate options, decide — on at least one real problem.
Plan, Reinforce and Report
Each group converts its analysis into a written action plan with an owner. A follow-up session looks at how the plans played out, and management receives a written summary. Where it is included in the engagement, a follow-up session returns to the action plans produced during the programme, reviews what was tried and works through the problems that remain.
The difference
What a Shared Method Gives You
A problem-solving programme helps your people:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering the problems currently recurring and participants' starting analysis, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Work recurring problems back to a cause instead of patching the symptom, so fewer of them return.
- End a meeting called to solve something with a decision and an owner rather than a longer list of opinions.
- Put more than one option on the table before a choice is made, with a statable reason for the choice.
- Settle more of what reaches them instead of escalating problems inside their own competence.
- Attach a named risk and a mitigation to decisions, so fewer are quietly reversed later.
- Keep problem discussions on the issue rather than drifting into who is responsible.
- Write a problem statement that others can read and agree on before solutions are discussed.
- Say which parts of a conclusion are fact and which are assumption.
- Bring a recommendation that shows the options considered and the reasons others were set aside.
- Record a decision with its owner and review date, so it can be revisited when circumstances change.
Find your fit
Who This Programme Is For
Managers Diagnosing Recurring Problems
Managers and team leads handling repeated issues in production, service, delivery or quality.
Employees Newly Owning Decisions
People being asked to own decisions that used to be escalated upward automatically.
Cross-Functional Groups
Teams that meet to solve a shared problem and currently each bring a different method.
Technical and Analytical Staff
People strong on the data who need a structured way to get from analysis to a recommendation.
Growing Businesses
Companies where problems that used to reach the founder now have to be settled at the level where they arise.
Teams With a Recurring Problem
Groups sitting on a specific issue, such as repeated defects, repeated escalations or a stalled project.
Project and Programme Leads
People who keep a stalled piece of work moving by getting a decision made, owned and recorded.
Teams Preparing Proposals for Management
People who put recommendations to senior management and want them to stand up to questions.
Good to know
How the Programme Runs
Before the sessions
- Needs analysis: we talk with you and the managers concerned about which decisions and recurring problems matter most.
- Design around your roles: two or three real problems, shared with enough background to be useful, become the working material for the roles in the room.
During and after
- Delivery: short input on each method, then group work, facilitated at your workplace or online.
- Practice: groups work their own problems through the method, present their analysis and take challenge from the facilitator.
- Follow-up: owned action plans, a manager briefing and, where included, a review of what the plans produced.
The order and weight of each stage are agreed with you before anything is scheduled.
Good to know
How We Check It Is Working
Before and during the programme
- Starting exercise: how each participant structures a problem before the programme.
- Analysis quality: whether problem statements separate fact from assumption.
- Participant feedback: how relevant and usable the methods felt.
- Attendance and completion: who took part in which sessions.
After the programme
- Action plan follow-through: which planned steps were taken and by whom.
- Manager observations: whether meetings end with a decision and an owner.
- Recurring problems: whether the problems brought to the programme are returning.
- Comparable exercise: how later analysis compares with the starting one.
Measures use agreed definitions. They describe the quality of analysis and follow-through, and are not treated as proof that a problem has been solved.
Good to know
Format and Boundaries
Each programme defines
- The participants and roles included.
- The size of each group.
- The format: at your workplace, online or a mix.
- The duration and number of sessions.
- The modules, materials and follow-up included.
These are agreed with you in writing before anything is scheduled.
Requires a separate agreement
- Solving a specific business problem on your behalf, which is facilitation or consulting rather than training.
- Individual coaching for managers or participants.
- Formal assessments of individual reasoning or aptitude.
- Certification or accreditation through an external body.
- Licences for your own trainers to reuse GullyHR content, and travel outside the agreed location.
Decisions on the problems examined remain with your authorised management. Technical, financial or legal conclusions should receive appropriate specialist review.
Good to know
What We Need From You
Participants and examples
- The participants, grouped by role, with their reporting managers.
- Two or three real problems, recurring or recent, with enough background to analyse, generalised where sensitive.
- Any data or reports that the groups can use, cleared for sharing in the room.
Sponsor and managers
- A sponsor who can approve the design and release people for the full session.
- Participants close enough to the problems to analyse them meaningfully.
- Managers who follow up on action plans through normal management review.
If the problems are not yet documented, we can collect them in short conversations with the managers concerned.
Good to know
Participant Information
Handled by agreement
The problems brought to the programme can involve sensitive business information. Before the programme begins we agree what is shared, who sees it, how it is handled and how long it is kept. Where a problem is sensitive, it can be generalised for the exercise.
Feedback and assessments
We agree in advance who sees individual feedback and any assessment results, such as the participant, their manager or HR. Group-level findings are reported for the cohort as a whole. Analyses and action plans produced in the session are used within the cohort and shared with your management as agreed. Practice sessions are not recorded or shared beyond the cohort unless you and the participants have agreed.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Stating the problem, root-cause analysis, analytical thinking, decision-making, creative problem-solving, comparing alternatives, risk-based thinking and action planning. The modules chosen depend on where decisions in your business are actually going wrong, which we establish from the real problems you share.
Yes, and the real problems are the customisation. Groups work two or three recurring or recent problems from your business through a structured method, so the session produces actual analyses and plans rather than only exercises.
Yes. Problems are shared with enough background to be useful and are used only within the cohort. Where a problem is sensitive, it can be generalised for the exercise. Nothing is circulated beyond the cohort without your agreement.
No. The method applies to a recurring customer complaint or a stalled handover as much as to a machine fault. Technical and analytical staff often gain from the decision and action-planning modules, since many are strong on analysis and weaker on getting to a recommendation.
A shorter facilitated session applies the method to one live problem and is closer to facilitation than training. It also teaches the participants the method as they use it, which is why many businesses begin there.
Yes. Structured group work translates well to online sessions, though it needs good facilitation. Many businesses run the core session at the workplace and the follow-up online, which keeps the cost of getting people together down.
By comparing the baseline exercise with later work, reviewing the action plans produced and how they played out, and collecting participant and manager feedback. We report what moved and what did not. We do not promise outcomes, and a method shows in the next real problem.
Yes, where you want one. Each attendee who completes the problem-solving programme receives a certificate of participation. It records that the person took part and finished, which is all it can honestly say, and it does not certify analytical ability or sound judgement.
After you share the real problems. The proposal then states the modules, the cohorts and the follow-up, and it is agreed in writing before anything is scheduled, so you can see exactly what you are committing to and what is deliberately left out.
They are the habits of defining a problem clearly, separating fact from assumption, weighing options and risks, and reaching a decision others can follow. The programme practises them on problems from your business.
Start from a clear problem statement, ask structured questions back through the chain of causes, and test the likely cause with evidence before acting. The programme practises this on recurring problems you supply.
No. It covers how to question and read data and evidence, not specific software. Digital tool skills are covered in a separate programme.
Both can attend. Groups are usually composed by role so that people can question assumptions freely, and examples are chosen to match the decisions each group actually makes.
Yes, as one module, used to widen the options before they are compared. The programme as a whole aims at a sound decision that can be explained to others.
Participants bring a problem they know first-hand. A short pre-work exercise, agreed with you, helps the facilitator see how each person starts.
Pricing depends on the number of participants and cohorts, the modules chosen, the format and the follow-up included. Share your requirements and we will send a tailored proposal.
Fix the Cause, Not the Symptom, Every Time
Learn a method for stating a problem, testing a cause, comparing options and agreeing an owned plan, by using it on problems you actually have.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
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