Improve Your Analytical Skills: Making Information Work for You

Quickly synthesize data, determine implications and make informed decisionsAre you flooded with information and new knowledge on a daily basis? Unsure how to assess the credibility of new information? Not 100% confident you’re making valid decisions?

With interactive learning, combined with discussion, lecture, and case studies, this is your opportunity to make sense of the overwhelming amount of data you’re inundated with daily so you can make decisions to the best advantage of your business and career.

Also Available as:

• Live Online
• Onsite

How You Will Benefit

• Organize information from multiple sources in various formats
• Categorize data so you can analyze it
• Uncover relevant information
• See contradictory data in different perspectives
• Analyze the facts to identify the best opportunity
• Recognize patterns and determine what they mean for your business
• Clearly communicate your findings and suggestions

What You Will Cover

Analytical Skills and data analysis
• Identifying core analytical skills
• Exploring challenges in collecting, evaluating and presenting information
• Describing the steps in the analytical process: plan, analyze, conclude

The Planning Phase
• Defining the purpose of the analysis
• Clarifying relevant issues and questions: why, who, issues, options, benefits and risks
• Identifying issues that are essential for a comprehensive understanding
• Deciding on an approach for an analysis project
• Creating a data collection plan for obtaining information

The Analyze Phase
• Organizing, collecting and evaluating data via graphic tools
• Affinity grouping: aggregating unstructured data into segments
• Using a 2x2 grid and SWOT analysis to evaluate ideas and analyze strategies
• Determining risks and performing cost-benefit analysis
• Evaluating data and dealing with information gaps

The Conclusion and Reporting Process
• Characteristics of valid conclusions
• Getting from conclusions to recommendations
• Developing your conclusion graphically

Telling Your Story
• Tools, tips and techniques for presenting your story to multiple audiences
• Creating and delivering a brief presentation that gets buy-in

Extended Seminar Outline

Print this page Extended Seminar Outline Seminar #2162 Analytical Skills for the Business Professional
• Identify core analytical skills commonly used by business professionals
• Explain the importance of analytical skills to problem solving and decision making
• Explore some of the challenges business professionals face in collecting, evaluating, and presenting information and recommendations
• Describe the basic steps in the analytical process

The Planning Process
• Use a tool for clarifying questions
• Identify underlying issues and related issues that are essential for a comprehensive understanding
• Evaluate the importance of the question in terms of risk, urgency, and impact to you and/or your organization
• Decide on an approach for an analysis project
• Create a data collection plan for obtaining information
• Relate how to use these techniques in your own work

Analytic Techniques I
• Describe and use the following analytic techniques and relate their application to your own work situation: content analysis and comparison tables

Analytic Techniques II:
• Describe and use the following analytic techniques and relate their application to your own work situation: decision matrix; affinity grouping; cost-benefit-risk analysis; SWOT and other 2x2 charts

Putting It All Together
• Describe the characteristics of valid conclusions
• Explain how to get from conclusions to recommendations
• Explain how to order information in a PowerPoint® presentation to make a recommendation
• Demonstrate the ability to present the key analytic techniques taught in the course in a presentation format
• Explain the difference between slides used to illustrate a talk and materials provided for subsequent review

Who Should Attend

All business professionals who want to learn basic analytical skills that they can apply to their jobs to make more informed and successful business decisions.