Judgment and Decision Making

AI is increasingly shaping how work gets done on teams, often through informal or uneven use, without shared expectations to rely on. When that happens, teams begin developing “shadow standards”: unspoken assumptions about what’s acceptable, what’s smart, and what’s risky. Over time, this can create team-level strain through misaligned quality, uneven behaviour, reduced visibility, and the quiet erosion of professional trust and confidence. This workshop helps people leaders replace that uncertainty with team-level leadership judgment. You will learn how to notice when expectations have become blurred, diagnose whether leadership clarity is actually required, and make consistent, defensible calls using PMC’s LENS decision lens. Rather than waiting for perfect organizational guidance, you will clarify how existing expectations apply to your team’s AI use. You will draft 2-3 practical team guardrails you can reasonably stand behind as a leader, and you will choose a defensible leadership position for how visible that clarity needs to be right now—whether it should be held, reinforced informally, or supported through a focused conversation. By the end of the session, you will leave with a repeatable method to reduce team-level uncertainty and strengthen trust, fairness, and consistency in how AI is used—without relying on policy work, technical expertise, or escalation.

The costliest policy mistakes usually happen early. Teams over-analyze low-risk issues or rush early analysis that misses the real decision point, leading to stalled files, rework, and frustration for decision-makers who need clarity early, not volume later. Calibrating Policy Analysis focuses on these critical initial stages, before options harden and momentum is lost. Participants leave able to frame a decision-relevant policy question, make key assumptions explicit, and justify how much evidence is “enough” for the decision at hand when discussing their work with colleagues or supervisors. The emphasis is on proportionate, decision-support analysis so work moves forward with less rework and clearer direction. The workshop is anchored in PMC’s Q-CASE Decision Support Lens (Question, Context, Assumptions, Sufficiency, and Early Options). It is used throughout the day to help participants calibrate scope, analytical depth, and the role of provisional options in a defensible and consistent way. This one-day workshop is designed for policy and policy-adjacent professionals who contribute to early analysis and influence direction without owning the final decision.

Managers often step in because it feels faster, safer, and more reliable than waiting for someone else to think it through. But when the same questions, errors, and follow-through issues keep coming back, quick fixes start creating more work. This course helps managers and supervisors use coaching conversations to build stronger employee ownership, judgment, and follow-through. Participants learn when to coach, when to give direction, how to guide thinking without taking over, and how to turn conversations into clear next steps. With better coaching habits, employees become more confident in handling real work situations, while managers spend less time solving the same problems again.

Mastering critical thinking and problem-solving skills can help you make better decisions or recommendations- an essential competency in today’s knowledge workplaces. Critical thinking helps you to examine and improve thought processes, ask the right questions, challenge assumptions and consider varying viewpoints. Effective problem-solving helps you to properly identify and systematically work through a problem in a comprehensive manner, ensuring clarity when it comes time to make decisions or recommendations. This course will demonstrate how critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making work optimally together, and will provide hands-on practice with tools that you can apply to your everyday workday tasks, big or small.

The ability to succinctly brief others is a highly valued competency in today’s fast-paced workplace. This expertise requires the speaker to clearly understand the issue, structure the briefing in a way that is easy to transmit and deliver the message effectively. Participants will leave this experiential workshop with techniques, strategies, and tips for delivering a structured and influential oral briefing to senior management.

Risk is something we face every day. We deal with most day-to-day risk at a subconscious level; however, many risks require a little more consideration. Some risk takes us well out of our comfort zone and so we avoid it – sometimes at all costs. But risk is something that can and should be embraced; risk management is actually a very useful toolset for thought in everyday decision making and often the risk of not doing something can be greater than the risk of doing something. IRM is a systematic and holistic approach to understand, communicate and manage risk across the organization allowing more timely, appropriate and effective responses. It is about the right people having the right information to guide strategic and tactical decisions that contribute to the achievement of an organization’s overall objectives. This course is intended to provide an initial overview of integrated risk management – sometimes known as ‘joined-up thinking’ about risk. The story builds by firstly developing an understanding of risk itself and our attitudes to it, next we look at how we bring risk under our control by means of risk management, and finally we look at how we can take a more strategic view of risk and develop a consistent pan-organizational approach. All the way through, we will build the concepts into practical examples so that attendees can take away real experience of having ‘managed’ risk. While not specifically a course on the Government of Canada’s Framework for the Management of Risk, this workshop will cover many of the same principles using the same terminology. And so, this course will be eminently suitable for anyone wishing to understand and apply the Framework.

This advanced level, one-day course is intended to help everyday users of Excel present their data in more effective ways using PivotTables and PivotCharts. Users will also learn advanced analysis tools like the Scenario Manager, Goal Seek, Data Tables, and advanced functions. Basic macros will also be covered in this course.

If you’ve ever had occasion to facilitate or lead a meeting, you probably understand how challenging it can be. Not only do you need to stick to the agenda, you need to manage group dynamics, and often, get everyone to agree on a decision. That is no easy task, especially when opinions and personalities conflict. Facilitation is part art and part science, and luckily, it is a skill that can be learned. Leading a group through the facilitation process- rather than controlling the meeting- will result in participants fully supporting and taking ownership of the outcomes. Ensuring that all have been heard and have an opportunity to voice their opinions reduces negative feedback and backlash afterwards. After all, most people will accept not getting their way, but will resent not having their say. Facilitation skills is one of the most important competencies professionals can develop for their career today. Meetings are unavoidable, and if you can manage them effectively and efficiently, you’ll be an asset to any organization. In this dynamic and practical facilitation course, participants will learn how to gather information from a group, clarify and present ideas, remain neutral when appropriate, and gain consensus. They will learn strategies to manage group dynamics, how to deal with a group that is “stuck”, and techniques to keep energy high. Participants will practice their new skills in a safe and supportive environment.

This two-day workshop will provide you with an overview of how to understand financial information without requiring an in-depth knowledge of math, bookkeeping, or accounting practices. In addition to providing the basics of financial statements, you will also learn how financial information can support financial management objectives and decision-making. You will receive practical tips on how to analyze reports and data to identify key elements to provide a clearer picture of your business to highlight your financial position and identify financial areas requiring your attention. You will gain insight to better evaluate the information you are receiving from your financial data.

Tired of feeling overwhelmed, behind, or like your calendar is running you? This isn’t just another time management workshop—it’s a bold, practical reset. This energizing, hands-on workshop will show you how to take back control of your schedule—with a system that actually works for you. You’ll learn simple, powerful strategies to plan smarter, protect your focus, and communicate your priorities with confidence. Whether you’re managing a team, a full inbox, or just too many tabs open in your brain, this course offers real-world tools you can start using immediately. You’ll walk away with: A personalized time management system that fits your workflow A strategy to get your inbox down to zero by the end of each day Practical tools to reduce overwhelm and increase clarity A complete 21-point self-assessment to help you understand your personal style of time management and how to make that style work for you and in working with others

Decision-makers rely on reports to understand issues, weigh evidence, and choose a clear path forward. When reports are too dense, loosely structured, or unclear about their purpose, important information can get lost. This course introduces the FOCUS framework to help participants turn complex information into clear, logical, and decision-ready reports. Participants will learn how to define report boundaries, organize evidence, keep sections focused, and write executive summaries that lead with meaning and direction. They will also explore how to use AI tools selectively to test outlines, identify structural gaps, and refine summaries while maintaining accuracy, context, and professional judgment. Participants leave with a reusable report blueprint they can apply to current and future workplace reports.

Most professionals don’t struggle because they lack discipline; they struggle because their work is invisible, scattered across inboxes, chats, and memory. When tasks live in too many places, the workday is spent restarting instead of making progress—creating a constant cycle of reactive work and growing pressure on both individuals and teams. This workshop provides a clear, functional system to regain control. Participants learn how to capture and organize work into one reliable place, allowing them to make fast, confident decisions about what actually gets their time. With practical strategies to reduce context switching and review overload, individuals improve follow-through while organizations benefit from clearer handoffs and better alignment. The result is work that moves forward consistently, with fewer missed items, less rework, and greater trust across the team.

Busy decision-makers do not have time to search through dense background, unclear issues, or options that are not fully explained. This advanced course helps participants write briefing notes that turn complex, messy, or sensitive information into clear decision support. Using the 4 D’s Briefing Note Framework, participants will practise defining the issue, distilling relevant context, developing balanced options and implications, and delivering a clear recommendation or next step. The course also explores how approved AI tools can help structure non-sensitive source material while keeping human judgment, accuracy, and confidentiality at the centre of the work. Participants will leave with a practical approach for writing briefing notes that help senior readers understand what matters, weigh risks, and move forward with confidence.

More and more organizations are faced with the challenge of maximizing the time they spend attracting, inspiring and retaining top performers. That’s why the interview itself is such a critical step in the employee selection process. Quoting Dr. Paul Green, a pioneer in developing behavioural interviewing processes: “past actions predict future performance.” Behavioural interviewing focuses on the applicant’s past actions and behaviors, and not subjective impressions that can sometimes be misleading. This type of interviewing improves your organization’s overall hiring ROI (cost of hire or re‐hire, training and productivity costs, impact on morale, etc.) and competitive edge in today’s market. It also reduces risk in potential bias and is more legally defensible than any other type of interview. This one-day workshop provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and incorporating behavioural interviewing techniques to identify, hire and retain quality talent every time.

The ability to succinctly brief others in plain language is a highly valued competency in today’s fast-paced workplace. This expertise requires the writer and speaker to clearly understand the issue, structure their message in a way that is easy to comprehend, and deliver it effectively. Participants will learn how to plan and fine-tune effective briefings, and how to deliver them clearly and succinctly. They will also know how to put together and use effective decks that accompany these briefings. Participants will leave this interactive workshop with techniques, strategies, and tips for framing issues, and presenting information in a clear, concise manner. Each participant will receive a detailed workbook that is theirs to keep.