Certificate Course in Leading Change

Duration 10 days 19 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Managers, Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-118

Before you join: Participants should have experience working in a team, project, operational function or professional service environment where change has affected people, processes or systems.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Change initiatives fail when leaders treat them as communications campaigns rather than shifts in work, decision rights, systems, behaviours and relationships. A new operating model, core banking platform, policy regime, merger, digital service or public-sector reform creates different impacts for different groups. Leaders must define the case for change, assess readiness, manage resistance, sponsor visibly and track adoption before intended benefits can be realised.

This certificate course gives participants a structured approach to leading and managing change from diagnosis through implementation and sustainment. Participants use recognised frameworks including Prosci ADKAR, Kotter's Eight-Step Process, Bridges' Transition Model, stakeholder mapping, force-field analysis, change impact assessment and benefits realisation. They learn to build a change charter, identify affected groups, plan sponsorship, design communications, prepare managers, address resistance and measure adoption through practical indicators.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning. Participants progressively build a change plan for a live or realistic initiative during the programme, then test it against organisational constraints, stakeholder concerns and delivery risks. The course is delivered over 10 days, from 08:30 to 16:30, in classroom settings across 50+ cities or live online. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with a reviewed change leadership portfolio ready for workplace use.

The programme is suited to managers leading significant initiatives, project and programme professionals, HR and people practitioners, transformation teams, operational leaders and internal consultants. It is particularly relevant where change must be delivered across functions, locations, regulatory requirements or service-critical operations.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose change drivers, readiness conditions and delivery risks using structured assessment methods
  • Develop a change charter linking strategic intent, scope, benefits, governance and success measures
  • Map stakeholders and create engagement plans based on influence, impact and commitment
  • Conduct a change impact assessment covering processes, roles, systems, skills and behaviours
  • Apply Prosci ADKAR and Kotter's Eight-Step Process to sequence change interventions
  • Design sponsor, manager and communication plans that support adoption at each change stage
  • Address resistance through listening, root-cause analysis, coaching conversations and targeted actions
  • Present a complete change leadership plan with adoption measures, risks and governance controls

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build confidence when leading difficult conversations about uncertainty, disruption and new expectations
  • Produce a credible change plan for a current initiative rather than generic notes
  • Recognise resistance patterns and select responses matched to their underlying causes
  • Improve influence with sponsors, managers and affected stakeholder groups
  • Gain a certificate of completion evidencing structured change leadership capability

For your organisation

  • Reduce adoption delays caused by unclear sponsorship, weak communication and unmanaged resistance
  • Improve consistency of change planning across projects, programmes and operational initiatives
  • Give line managers practical materials for preparing teams for new ways of working
  • Identify people, process and capability impacts before implementation disrupts service delivery
  • Strengthen benefits realisation through adoption measures, feedback loops and sustainment actions

Course modules

19 modules over 10 days

Participants can define a change challenge and explain the leadership work required to deliver it.

  • Change as a portfolio of initiatives, projects and operational shifts
  • Distinguishing adaptive, technical, developmental and transformational change using Heifetz's framework
  • Business cases translated into observable workforce and customer outcomes
  • Leadership responsibilities across sponsor, manager, project and change practitioner roles
  • Systems thinking used to identify reinforcing loops and unintended consequences
  • Change failure patterns: weak sponsorship, unclear impacts, overload and poor follow-through

Participants can assess the internal and external conditions shaping a change initiative.

  • PESTLE analysis connecting external pressures to organisational change priorities
  • SIPOC mapping of suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs and customers
  • Problem statements separating symptoms, root causes and desired future conditions
  • Force-field analysis identifying driving forces, restraining forces and practical responses
  • Readiness criteria covering leadership alignment, capacity, trust and implementation history
  • Assumption logs tested through evidence, interviews and operational data

Participants can construct a credible case for change for different stakeholder audiences.

  • Case for change structured around urgency, evidence, consequences and opportunity
  • Burning-platform messages balanced with realistic confidence and practical direction
  • Strategic alignment traced from organisational priorities to change objectives
  • Benefits maps linking enablers, outcomes, measures and accountable owners
  • Narratives tailored for executives, managers, employees, customers and union representatives
  • Ethical framing of workforce impacts, fairness, consultation and informed participation

Participants can establish governance structures that support timely and accountable change decisions.

  • Change governance defining escalation routes, forums, authorities and decision cadence
  • RACI matrices assigning responsibility, accountability, consultation and information requirements
  • Sponsor coalitions built across functions, business units and delivery partners
  • Stage-gate reviews linking implementation decisions to evidence and readiness
  • Change control procedures managing scope, timing, resource and impact changes
  • Governance dashboards combining delivery milestones, adoption indicators and unresolved risks

Participants can draft a change charter that connects delivery activity with people adoption.

  • Change charters defining purpose, scope, outcomes, exclusions and critical dependencies
  • Target operating model elements: processes, people, technology, governance and performance
  • Workstream design separating technical delivery, people change and business readiness
  • Milestone plans integrating project releases, communications and manager preparation
  • Dependency mapping across policy, process, technology, capability and supplier decisions
  • Resource plans identifying change roles, time commitments, budgets and specialist support

Participants can prioritise stakeholders and plan engagement matched to their influence and concerns.

  • Stakeholder maps plotting influence, impact, interest and current commitment
  • Power-interest grids used to prioritise engagement and communication effort
  • Stakeholder personas capturing needs, concerns, motivations and preferred channels
  • Commitment curves tracking awareness, understanding, acceptance and active support
  • Engagement plans specifying objectives, owners, messages, channels and feedback routes
  • Political mapping identifying allies, blockers, informal influencers and decision makers

Participants can identify and prioritise the practical impacts of change on affected groups.

  • Change impact assessments covering roles, processes, systems, skills and behaviours
  • Future-state process maps compared against current workflows and controls
  • Role-impact matrices identifying changed accountabilities, tasks and decision rights
  • Persona-based impact analysis for frontline, managerial, specialist and customer groups
  • Impact severity ratings based on scale, complexity, timing and support needs
  • Mitigation actions linked to each material operational and people impact

Participants can apply ADKAR to diagnose and support individual adoption barriers.

  • Prosci ADKAR stages: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement
  • Awareness messages explaining why change is required and why now
  • Desire factors including incentives, trust, perceived loss and local leadership
  • Knowledge interventions using briefings, job aids, demonstrations and structured training
  • Ability assessed through observation, practice, coaching and performance support
  • Reinforcement mechanisms using recognition, measures, feedback and consequence management

Participants can prepare sponsors and leaders to provide visible, credible and sustained direction.

  • Executive sponsorship roles: authorise, advocate, remove barriers and hold accountability
  • Sponsor roadmaps scheduling visible actions at critical decision and adoption points
  • Leadership alignment sessions resolving conflicting messages, priorities and resource commitments
  • Sponsor talking points grounded in evidence, local impacts and desired behaviours
  • Leader as coach practices for listening, clarification and practical follow-through
  • Escalation protocols for sponsor absence, mixed signals and stalled decisions

Participants can equip line managers to prepare, support and reinforce their teams.

  • Line-manager roles translating enterprise change into team-level actions
  • Manager readiness assessments covering knowledge, confidence, capacity and local constraints
  • Manager toolkits containing briefing guides, FAQs, checklists and escalation routes
  • Team conversation plans addressing practical impacts, concerns and required actions
  • Coaching frameworks using GROW for individual transition and performance discussions
  • Local change networks structured through champions, feedback loops and accountability

Participants can design communication plans that inform, involve and support action.

  • Communication objectives differentiated by awareness, understanding, commitment and action
  • Message maps connecting core narrative, evidence, local relevance and call-to-action
  • Channel selection based on audience access, credibility, urgency and feedback needs
  • Communication calendars aligned with decisions, releases, training and operational milestones
  • Two-way communication methods including listening sessions, pulse surveys and open forums
  • Frequently asked questions maintained through evidence, ownership and version control

Participants can identify resistance causes and respond constructively to concerns and conflict.

  • Resistance diagnostics separating capability gaps, distrust, loss, workload and disagreement
  • Listening techniques using open questions, paraphrasing, probing and emotional labelling
  • Ladder of Inference used to test assumptions behind opposing positions
  • Interest-based negotiation separating stated positions from underlying needs and concerns
  • Difficult conversations structured through facts, impacts, requests and agreed next steps
  • Resistance logs tracking themes, owners, actions, status and recurring patterns

Participants can manage the human transition between current and future ways of working.

  • Bridges' Transition Model: endings, neutral zone and new beginnings
  • Cultural assessment using artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions
  • Behavioural design applying prompts, capability, motivation and reinforcement principles
  • Role modelling plans identifying visible leadership behaviours and moments that matter
  • Psychological safety practices supporting questions, reporting and learning from setbacks
  • Rituals and recognition reinforcing new norms, decisions and operating routines

Participants can specify capability interventions that enable people to perform in the future state.

  • Training needs analysis derived from role changes, task complexity and risk
  • Competency maps distinguishing knowledge, skills, behaviours and decision authority
  • 70-20-10 development plans combining experience, coaching and formal learning
  • Performance support tools including job aids, checklists, scripts and decision trees
  • Training evaluation using Kirkpatrick levels and operational performance evidence
  • Proficiency criteria defining minimum standards before independent future-state work

Participants can sequence implementation activities while protecting operational performance and learning quickly.

  • Pilot designs testing change assumptions before wider rollout commitments
  • Wave plans sequencing locations, functions, user groups and readiness requirements
  • Business readiness checklists covering people, process, technology, controls and support
  • Cutover plans coordinating communications, help desks, contingency actions and leadership presence
  • PDSA cycles converting frontline feedback into controlled implementation improvements
  • Hypercare arrangements defining triage, issue ownership, response times and exit criteria

Participants can measure adoption, act on performance evidence and sustain change after implementation.

  • Adoption measures combining usage data, proficiency, compliance and behaviour observations
  • Leading indicators identifying readiness gaps before benefit outcomes deteriorate
  • Benefits realisation plans assigning measures, baselines, targets, owners and review dates
  • Pulse surveys designed around confidence, clarity, workload and support quality
  • After-action reviews capturing decisions, evidence, lessons and improvement commitments
  • Control plans embedding new processes into audits, scorecards and management routines

Participants can manage change risks while maintaining fairness, service continuity and workforce wellbeing.

  • Change risk registers covering adoption, capacity, service, reputation and compliance
  • Risk scoring using likelihood, impact, proximity, ownership and response actions
  • Equity impact assessments examining differential effects on affected employee groups
  • Consultation requirements considered for workforce, regulatory, contractual and community obligations
  • Change fatigue assessed through initiative load, capacity data and employee feedback
  • Contingency plans protecting critical services during delayed adoption or delivery failure

Participants can coordinate change across functions, geographies and professional cultures.

  • Cross-functional alignment methods resolving competing priorities, dependencies and performance measures
  • Boundary-spanning roles connecting operational, technical, people and governance perspectives
  • Cultural intelligence applied to communication preferences, authority and decision-making norms
  • Global-local design balancing common standards with legitimate local adaptation
  • Virtual change leadership routines for distributed teams, time zones and channels
  • Stakeholder agreements documenting shared outcomes, responsibilities and escalation arrangements

Participants can build, review and present a complete change leadership plan for a defined initiative.

  • Change charter integrating purpose, scope, governance, benefits and delivery assumptions
  • Stakeholder and impact analyses prioritised through evidence, severity and commitment gaps
  • ADKAR-based adoption plan connecting interventions to identified individual barriers
  • Sponsor, manager and communication plans sequenced against implementation milestones
  • Risk, readiness and adoption dashboard specifying indicators, thresholds and review cadence
  • Peer review testing plan coherence, feasibility, ethics and operational resilience

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Change charter template
  2. Stakeholder engagement plan
  3. Change impact assessment matrix
  4. Sponsor and manager action plan
  5. ADKAR-based adoption plan
  6. Change leadership dashboard

Who should attend

  • Senior Managers — leading strategic, operational or technology-driven change
  • Project Managers — integrating people adoption work into project delivery
  • Programme Managers — coordinating change activity across interdependent initiatives
  • HR Business Partners — preparing managers and employees for workforce change
  • Transformation Leaders — building structured plans for enterprise-wide reform
  • Internal Consultants — advising sponsors on change strategy and implementation

Skills and tools covered

Change diagnosisStakeholder engagementChange impact assessmentSponsor mobilisationResistance managementAdoption measurement

Tools and standards

Prosci ADKAR Model, Kotter's Eight-Step Process, Bridges' Transition Model, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to establish models and decision criteria, followed by case work drawn from transformation, technology, regulatory and service-change settings. Participants analyse stakeholder data, prepare impact assessments, draft communications and rehearse sponsor and manager conversations. Simulations examine resistance, competing priorities and implementation setbacks. Throughout both weeks, participants apply each method to a chosen change initiative and receive structured peer and instructor feedback before presenting their final change leadership plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working in a team, project, operational function or professional service environment where change has affected people, processes or systems. Familiarity with basic project terminology, such as scope, milestones, risks and stakeholders, is useful. Participants should bring a current, planned or recent change initiative where possible, although a realistic case can be used instead. No formal change management qualification is required. The course does not require prior study of Prosci, Kotter, organisational psychology, HR practice or advanced project management methods.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience in a workplace where projects, service improvements, restructures, technology deployments or policy changes occur. No previous change management qualification is required, and the course explains the main frameworks from first principles.

Bring information about a current, planned or recently completed change initiative if your organisation permits it. Useful materials include a project brief, stakeholder list, timeline, business case or known implementation concerns; a case study is available where this is not possible.

It is designed for managers, project and programme professionals, HR practitioners, transformation staff, operational leaders and internal consultants. It suits people responsible for helping others adopt new processes, systems, structures, policies or behaviours.

Project management concentrates on delivering scope, schedule, cost and technical outputs, while this course concentrates on people adoption and sustained use. General leadership courses build wider management capability; this programme applies leadership directly to a defined change initiative.

You will leave with templates and a reviewed plan that can be adapted for your own initiative. The methods support practical actions such as briefing sponsors, assessing role impacts, preparing managers, responding to resistance and monitoring adoption.

The first week establishes diagnosis, governance, stakeholder, impact and adoption methods while participants begin their own change work. The second week develops sponsorship, communication, resistance, capability, implementation, measurement and sustainment, ending with a capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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