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Online-Development Programme: Combinatorial Thinking. How to Find New Ideas and Solutions Where Conventional Approaches No Longer Work

Personal Effectiveness Personal Development CEO, TOP Management HR, CSR, Internal Communications PR, Marketing, Advertising, Design Business Development, Sales, Customer Relations
  • Status:New season starts on November 05th, 2026
  • Duration:05 - 26 November
  • Language: Ukrainian
  • Time:November 5, 12, and 19, 17:00–19:30, online and November 26, 17:00–20:00, online Kyiv time
  • Fee for EBA members:14000 UAH
  • Early Registration for EBA members:12500 UAH till October 25th
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  Online-Development Programme: Combinatorial Thinking. How to Find New Ideas and Solutions Where Conventional Approaches No Longer Work. Date: 05 November2026. Time: 17:00 19:30. Language: Ukrainian. Modern business is increasingly facing challenges for which there are no ready-made instructions or proven algorithms. What worked yesterday may no longer be effective today. That is why one of the key competencies of todays professionals is combinatorial thinking — the ability to combine ideas, knowledge, and experience from different fields, identify non-obvious connections, create new solutions, and recognize opportunities where others see only limitations. EBA Management Development Centre team, together with Anna Kunakova, invite you to participate in the new Online-Development Programme: Combinatorial Thinking. How to Find New Ideas and Solutions Where Conventional Approaches No Longer Work. Throughout the programme, you will gain hands-on experience with combinatorial thinking tools, explore your own thinking patterns and limitations, learn how to use team diversity as a resource, and receive a clear decision-making framework for solving complex real-life business challenges. This is a highly practical program.  Format:  November 5, 12, and 19, 17:00–19:30, November 26, 17:00–20:00  Throughout the programme, you will:  Understand how your thinking works and what prevents you from moving beyond familiar patterns.  Learn how to transform ordinary ideas into unconventional solutions.  Expand your own limitations through the practice of a growth mindset and working with cognitive biases.  Learn how to use team diversity as a resource for generating better ideas.  Master practical tools for decision-making under uncertainty and stress.  Receive your own personal toolkit of combinatorial thinking techniques for real business challenges.  Target audience:  Executives and managers looking for new approaches to solving complex challenges.  HR professionals and People Managers who foster a culture of innovation.  Marketing professionals and entrepreneurs working in conditions of uncertainty.  Professionals across all industries who want to think more flexibly and effectively.  What makes this programme unique:  Your own business cases become the learning material. Before the program begins, participants complete a questionnaire and share real challenges from their work. These cases become the foundation for practicing all the tools.  A variety of learning methods. Each module combines mini-lectures, small group work, metaphorical tools (LEGO, associative cards), and analysis of real business cases.  From understanding to action. The program is designed with increasing depth: from individual self-awareness — through team collaboration — to practical tools for finding and making real business decisions.  Evidence-based methodology. All approaches are grounded in validated research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, organizational theory, and positive psychotherapy.  Programme Module 1 – November 5, 17:00–19:30, online  How Thinking Works and How to Think Beyond Its Limits  The first module is about exploring yourself. We start with the question: “How do I actually think?” — and immediately move on to practice.  What knowledge and skills will you gain?  Types of thinking and individual thinking patterns.  How the brain works and why it gets “stuck” in familiar solutions. The neuroscience approach and Daniel Kahneman’s theory: System 1 and System 2.  Why the first idea is almost always obvious and what to do about it.  Bionics as a method for transforming ideas: how nature solves business challenges.  SCAMPER: a structured algorithm for generating new solutions based on participants’ real-life cases.  Edward de Bono’s lateral thinking: the Random Word technique for thinking beyond conventional patterns.  Analysis of participants’ cases.  Self-assessment.  Module 2 – November 12, 17:00–19:30, online  Biases, Limitations, and the Art of Growth  The second module focuses on what stands between us and new ways of thinking. We go deeper by exploring our internal limitations and learning how to transform them.  What knowledge and skills will you gain?  Metaphors as a tool for going beyond conventional ways of seeing a situation.  Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck’s theory and how it manifests itself in work and everyday life.  Cognitive biases that block creative thinking: how to recognize and work with them.  The “Not Yet” technique as a way to reframe internal limitations.  Circles of Control, Influence, and Concern: where it is worth investing energy in finding solutions and where it is better to let go.  Working with your inner critic.  Group work on cases, individual self-exploration, and reflection in pairs.  Module 3 – November 19, 17:00–19:30, online  Strengths, Synergy, and Facilitation of Team Thinking  The third module explores how different types of thinking within a team can become a competitive advantage. Combinatorial thinking at the team level is not simply about “working well together.” It is about deliberately combining different perspectives to achieve results that no one could achieve alone.  What knowledge and skills will you gain?  Identifying your own strengths and roles within a team.  Principles of working in a team with diverse strengths: how differences can become a valuable resource.  Convergent and divergent thinking.  Facilitation methods: Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Brainstorming, and other techniques.  World Café: exchanging experiences among participants as a source of new combinations and ideas.  Participation in group facilitation followed by an analysis of the tools used.  Module 4 – November 26, 17:00–20:00, online  Decision-Making Tools and Navigating Uncertainty  You will learn and practice:  Exploring your own response to uncertainty and team strategies for navigating it through LEGO® Serious Play®.  Stress responses to uncertainty. The Kübler-Ross Change Curve applied to a real-life case.  The Cynefin Framework: how to distinguish between different types of complexity and choose the right approach for each.  Gary Klein’s Pre-Mortem method.  The Disney Method and 2×2 scenario planning: from ideas and aspirations to strategic future scenarios.  Retrospectives as a tool for final reflection on the course.  LEGO® Serious Play®.  Working with participants’ cases.  Upon successful completion of the programme, you will receive a certificate confirming successful completion.  Please note that the opinions and views expressed by the trainer (speaker) during the event are solely his/her personal position and intellectual property and do not in any way represent the official position of the European Business Association. Speakers. Anna Kunakova. Soft Skills trainer, certified coach, and HR professional with over 10 years of experience.. You can send a question to:. Contact person:. Daria Chyshkala. E-mail [email protected]. Contact Phone. 067 218 27 41.

About the Programme

Modern business is increasingly facing challenges for which there are no ready-made instructions or proven algorithms. What worked yesterday may no longer be effective today. That is why one of the key competencies of today’s professionals is combinatorial thinking — the ability to combine ideas, knowledge, and experience from different fields, identify non-obvious connections, create new solutions, and recognize opportunities where others see only limitations.

EBA Management Development Centre team, together with Anna Kunakova, invite you to participate in the new Online-Development Programme: Combinatorial Thinking. How to Find New Ideas and Solutions Where Conventional Approaches No Longer Work. Throughout the programme, you will gain hands-on experience with combinatorial thinking tools, explore your own thinking patterns and limitations, learn how to use team diversity as a resource, and receive a clear decision-making framework for solving complex real-life business challenges. This is a highly practical program.

Format:

  • November 5, 12, and 19, 17:00–19:30, November 26, 17:00–20:00

Throughout the programme, you will:

  • Understand how your thinking works and what prevents you from moving beyond familiar patterns.
  • Learn how to transform ordinary ideas into unconventional solutions.
  • Expand your own limitations through the practice of a growth mindset and working with cognitive biases.
  • Learn how to use team diversity as a resource for generating better ideas.
  • Master practical tools for decision-making under uncertainty and stress.
  • Receive your own personal “toolkit” of combinatorial thinking techniques for real business challenges.

Target audience:

  • Executives and managers looking for new approaches to solving complex challenges.
  • HR professionals and People Managers who foster a culture of innovation.
  • Marketing professionals and entrepreneurs working in conditions of uncertainty.
  • Professionals across all industries who want to think more flexibly and effectively.

What makes this programme unique:

  • Your own business cases become the learning material. Before the program begins, participants complete a questionnaire and share real challenges from their work. These cases become the foundation for practicing all the tools.
  • A variety of learning methods. Each module combines mini-lectures, small group work, metaphorical tools (LEGO, associative cards), and analysis of real business cases.
  • From understanding to action. The program is designed with increasing depth: from individual self-awareness — through team collaboration — to practical tools for finding and making real business decisions.
  • Evidence-based methodology. All approaches are grounded in validated research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, organizational theory, and positive psychotherapy.

Programme

Module 1 – November 5, 17:00–19:30, online

How Thinking Works and How to Think Beyond Its Limits

The first module is about exploring yourself. We start with the question: “How do I actually think?” — and immediately move on to practice.

What knowledge and skills will you gain?

  • Types of thinking and individual thinking patterns.
  • How the brain works and why it gets “stuck” in familiar solutions. The neuroscience approach and Daniel Kahneman’s theory: System 1 and System 2.
  • Why the first idea is almost always obvious and what to do about it.
  • Bionics as a method for transforming ideas: how nature solves business challenges.
  • SCAMPER: a structured algorithm for generating new solutions based on participants’ real-life cases.
  • Edward de Bono’s lateral thinking: the Random Word technique for thinking beyond conventional patterns.

Analysis of participants’ cases.

Self-assessment.

Module 2 – November 12, 17:00–19:30, online

Biases, Limitations, and the Art of Growth

The second module focuses on what stands between us and new ways of thinking. We go deeper by exploring our internal limitations and learning how to transform them.

What knowledge and skills will you gain?

  • Metaphors as a tool for going beyond conventional ways of seeing a situation.
  • Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck’s theory and how it manifests itself in work and everyday life.
  • Cognitive biases that block creative thinking: how to recognize and work with them.
  • The “Not Yet” technique as a way to reframe internal limitations.
  • Circles of Control, Influence, and Concern: where it is worth investing energy in finding solutions and where it is better to let go.
  • Working with your inner critic.

Group work on cases, individual self-exploration, and reflection in pairs.

Module 3 – November 19, 17:00–19:30, online

Strengths, Synergy, and Facilitation of Team Thinking

The third module explores how different types of thinking within a team can become a competitive advantage. Combinatorial thinking at the team level is not simply about “working well together.” It is about deliberately combining different perspectives to achieve results that no one could achieve alone.

What knowledge and skills will you gain?

  • Identifying your own strengths and roles within a team.
  • Principles of working in a team with diverse strengths: how differences can become a valuable resource.
  • Convergent and divergent thinking.
  • Facilitation methods: Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Brainstorming, and other techniques.
  • World Café: exchanging experiences among participants as a source of new combinations and ideas.

Participation in group facilitation followed by an analysis of the tools used.

Module 4 – November 26, 17:00–20:00, online

Decision-Making Tools and Navigating Uncertainty

You will learn and practice:

  • Exploring your own response to uncertainty and team strategies for navigating it through LEGO® Serious Play®.
  • Stress responses to uncertainty. The Kübler-Ross Change Curve applied to a real-life case.
  • The Cynefin Framework: how to distinguish between different types of complexity and choose the right approach for each.
  • Gary Klein’s Pre-Mortem method.
  • The Disney Method and 2×2 scenario planning: from ideas and aspirations to strategic future scenarios.
  • Retrospectives as a tool for final reflection on the course.

LEGO® Serious Play®.

Working with participants’ cases.

Upon successful completion of the programme, you will receive a certificate confirming successful completion.

Please note that the opinions and views expressed by the trainer (speaker) during the event are solely his/her personal position and intellectual property and do not in any way represent the official position of the European Business Association.

Trainers

1 / 1
Anna Kunakova
Soft Skills trainer, certified coach, and HR professional with over 10 years of experience.
Anna Kunakova

Partners

You can send a question to:

Contact person:

Daria Chyshkala

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