Critical Thinking Making evidence-based decisions

Critical thinking is essential in today’s fast changing business environment, enabling professionals to move beyond assumptions and make sound, evidence-based decisions. This workshop explores key areas such as identifying reliable information, evaluating data objectively, and applying structured reasoning to solve problems. Participants will learn practical tools to distinguish facts from opinions, reduce bias, and strengthen decision-making processes. For small businesses and individual practitioners, these skills are particularly valuable helping them allocate resources wisely, respond to challenges with confidence, and build credibility with clients. The session emphasizes practical application, ensuring participants leave with strategies they can immediately implement. This session will cover: - Importance of critical thinking in decision-making objective analysis, reducing errors, and improving outcomes. - Understanding evidence-based decision-making and its four sources (scientific research, organizational data, professional expertise, stakeholder values) - Exploring the four pillars of evidence and how they strengthen decisions. - Developing core cognitive skills reasoning, reflection, skepticism, and open-mindedness. - Real-world applications in public health and workplace policies - Common barriers to effective decision-making (biases, anecdotal evidence, information overload) and strategies to overcome them. - Step-by-step process for evidence-based critical thinking define, gather, appraise, integrate, decide, monitor, reflect, adjust - Visualizing the decision making cycle for continuous improvement - Building a culture of transparency, accountability, and trust through evidence-based practices