[MUSIC] Are you a winner? Do you think like a winner? Winners love to solve problems, they see challenges as opportunities to improve and to change things for the better. The world needs more winners, people to stand up and say I accept that challenge. I'll be the change. I'll solve that problem. Well, you're a winner already and that's why you decided to take this course. You've got the attitude that can change the world, your glass is half full. [LAUGH] Now you just need some simple steps to help you consistently tackle problems, think critically and create lasting solutions. I'm Diane Davidson, and I'm excited to share with you a model for solving problems more effectively and with more consistency. Both individually and with others. This is the course overview for our three week program. This is the process we will use to accelerate your learning. I'll explain the skill concept your idea, it'll be very easy to understand. Then I'll provide practical examples for you including how to apply your skills individually, working with others and organizationally. Then you will be challenged with a real life problem of your own choosing that you'd like to use to practice your skills. By the end of this course, you will have viable solutions to some of your right now, existing problems. We all experienced problems on a daily basis both, personally and professionally. And most of us have had to solve enough of our own personal problems in our life to be problem solving wizards and in our professional lives. Whether it's inefficient processes, differing opinions, or rapid change, we need to be able to work with others to come up with long lasting solutions. In this first session, you will learn a seven step process for solving any problem large or small in a creative and collaborative way. You'll learn tactics that will help you solve problems more effectively, so you can reduce the recurrence of problems that seem to come up over and over again. In other words, instead of putting a bandage on the problem, only it hasn't happened again. We'll learn how to cure problems once and for all. Just to get us started, I'd like for you to think about something negative that happened in your life. It can be personal or work related memory, but it has to be true. Then think about some of the specific challenges and the subsequent consequences as a result of that problem in your life. So for example, early in my career, I worked for a really great organization who invested in me and my development, I learned a lot of leadership programs. I worked with great people, and I think I had the best boss I've ever had. And the problem or the negative thing that happened is that we all got notice that our company had been purchased by another company and part of the organization was going to be shut down. So we showed up at the front door one day and we looked at a list and if our name was on the list, that was it. We were terminated and my whole department had been laid off. So obviously that was a bad situation. No money, no job, don't know what to do. I was really going to miss the people I worked with and I thought where that development is cut off. So all right, so that's the bad thing that happened to me. Now, as you think about that same problem, think about the experience again and this time focus on only the positive aspects of it. In other words, take time to explore the silver lining of that bad experience. So if I think about my experience, wow, I learned so much. I developed my leadership skills, I got certifications and tons of experience and developed really great relationships that I still have today. And after the layoff, oddly enough, one of the division heads called me and asked me if I would consult back and continue to do some training. So that was really the launch of my consulting career and I've been training, and instructing, and coaching for the last 20 years. So if I think back on it, it could have been one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life.
