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Simplexity Thinking
Complex problems are rarely solved by instinct alone.
In this program, you will explore a systematic eight step process for moving from a fuzzy situation to a solution your team will act on, and you will practise it on a real problem over two days.
What to expect
There is a category of problem that resists the usual approach. It is messy, badly defined and often not even the problem everyone thinks it is. Meetings circle it. Good ideas get killed before they are properly heard. The team eventually settles on something workable rather than something right.
Problems like this do not respond to the methods that work in finance, marketing or sales. There is no existing playbook to follow. That does not make complex problem solving a talent some people happen to have. It is a capability, and it can be learned.
Simplexity Thinking is a systematic process for exactly these situations. Developed by Professor Min Basadur and delivered through CEMI by Emeritus Professor Tim Mazzarol, it breaks complex problem solving into eight clear steps that move a team from a fuzzy situation to a solution people will actually act on. Judgment is deferred at every step, so options are generated before they are narrowed and every voice is heard before the group commits. The process has been used by organisations across North America, and Professor Tim has applied it within the Alcoa Leadership Fundamentals Program on complex problems of real strategic importance.
Over two days you will run the full process on a real problem as part of a team. You will complete the Basadur Profile to identify your own Innovator Style, see how it fits alongside the very different styles that make a team work, and practise each step with hands on exercises, team problem solving and case discussion.
You will leave with a method you can use again next week.
Is this course for you
This program is ideal for professionals, managers, and team members from organisations of any size who want to apply a systematic approach to complex problem solving.
This program is suited to individuals who:
- work in environments where problems are complex, ill-defined, or difficult to resolve with existing approaches
- lead or contribute to teams responsible for generating and implementing new ideas or solutions
- want to understand their own problem-solving style and how it complements others in a team
- apply structured creative thinking processes to real organisational challenges
- support innovation, change, or strategic problem solving across for-profit or not-for-profit contexts
What you will explore
During this program, you will develop a systematic approach to solving complex, ill-defined problems in the workplace. The program focuses on problem finding, idea generation, solution evaluation and implementation planning, helping participants apply a repeatable process to challenges that resist conventional management approaches.
By the end of this program, you should be able to:
- Apply the eight-step Simplexity Thinking process to complex or "fuzzy" workplace problems
- Identify your individual Innovator Style and use it effectively within a team problem-solving context
- Gather and analyse information from multiple viewpoints to define problems with clarity
- Generate, evaluate and select solutions using structured divergent and convergent thinking techniques
- Develop and implement action plans that build team ownership and minimise resistance to change
- Work through a real, complex problem from problem finding through to action planning as part of a team
Where this course can take you
About the Facilitator
Emeritus Professor Tim Mazzarol
BA (Hons), BEd, MBA (Distinction), PHD, QPR, FAIM
Founder Director, CEMI
Senior Honorary Research Fellow, Business School, Department of Marketing, The University of Western Australia
Tim is a Qualified Professional Researcher (QPR) with the Australian Research Society and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (FAIM). He has more than twenty years of experience consulting to and collaborating with small entrepreneurial firms as well as large organisations and government agencies, designing and delivering university and executive education programs in entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, marketing, small business management and commercialisation.
He holds a PhD in Management and an MBA with distinction from Curtin University of Technology, and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Murdoch University, Western Australia.
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