Certificate Course in Strategic Leadership and Management

Duration 10 days 21 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Directors and Heads of Department, Senior Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-EM-064

Before you join: Participants should have at least three years of management, programme, functional leadership or specialist advisory experience.

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

Senior managers are expected to set direction while managing competing priorities, uncertain markets, financial constraints, political interests and delivery pressures. Many strategic plans fail not because the analysis was weak, but because leaders cannot convert choices into resource decisions, operating priorities, accountable ownership and sustained execution. This programme addresses that gap by treating strategy and leadership as connected management work rather than separate subjects.

Participants examine how to diagnose strategic position, define purpose, make choices, allocate capital, design operating models and govern execution. They apply PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT, stakeholder mapping, scenario planning, Balanced Scorecard, OKRs, Hoshin Kanri and risk-based decision methods. The programme also develops the leadership disciplines required to lead through ambiguity: influencing stakeholders, shaping culture, conducting strategic conversations, managing change and making decisions with incomplete information.

The course is delivered over 10 instructor-led days in classroom locations across 50+ cities or live online. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Short faculty briefings are combined with case analysis, leadership simulations, facilitated group work and structured application to participants’ own strategic issues. From the first week, participants build a strategy execution pack for a real business unit, function, programme or public-service mandate. They leave with a reviewed strategic plan, scorecard, initiative portfolio, stakeholder plan, risk register and 90-day leadership agenda.

This flagship certificate programme suits experienced managers moving into enterprise-level responsibility, as well as leaders who must align teams, budgets, partners and programmes around a clear strategic direction.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose strategic position using PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT and stakeholder analysis
  • Formulate strategic choices using purpose statements, strategic themes and scenario assumptions
  • Design a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard linking outcomes, drivers and measures
  • Prioritise strategic initiatives using portfolio scoring, dependency mapping and resource criteria
  • Build an execution governance model with decision rights, review cadence and accountable owners
  • Lead strategic change using stakeholder segmentation, change impact assessment and communication planning
  • Evaluate strategic risks through risk appetite, scenario analysis and treatment plans
  • Present a complete strategy execution pack for a live organisational challenge

Benefits of attending

For you

  • A credible method for moving from strategic analysis to funded priorities
  • Stronger executive communication for boards, sponsors and senior stakeholders
  • A practical framework for making trade-offs under uncertainty
  • Reusable tools for leading cross-functional strategy execution
  • A completed strategy execution pack for an active work priority

For your organisation

  • Clearer translation of strategic intent into owned initiatives and measures
  • Better resource allocation across competing programmes and operational demands
  • Earlier identification of strategic risks, dependencies and stakeholder resistance
  • More consistent leadership language across functions, business units and programmes
  • Improved management review discipline through defined scorecards and decision forums

Course modules

21 modules over 10 days

Participants can define their strategic leadership mandate and distinguish strategic from operational management work.

  • Mintzberg’s managerial roles and strategic leadership accountabilities
  • Distinguishing corporate, business-unit and functional strategy decisions using decision-rights criteria
  • Chief executive agenda analysis: direction, alignment, resource allocation and renewal
  • Leadership operating cadence linking priorities, decisions, reviews and interventions
  • Authority, accountability and responsibility mapped through a RACI matrix
  • Personal leadership mandate drafted from stakeholder expectations and organisational strategy

Participants can assess external forces and identify strategic implications for their organisation.

  • PESTLE analysis identifying political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces
  • Porter’s Five Forces assessment of industry profit pools
  • Market segmentation using customer needs, behaviours and value drivers
  • Competitor intelligence profiles comparing capabilities, positioning, partnerships and likely moves
  • Trend impact matrix ranking uncertainty, relevance and strategic consequences
  • Strategic issue statements separating evidence, assumptions, risks and decisions

Participants can identify the capabilities, constraints and assets that shape strategic feasibility.

  • VRIO analysis testing value, rarity, imitability and organisational support
  • Value chain mapping of activities, costs, handoffs and differentiators
  • Core capability assessment against customer requirements and strategic ambition
  • SWOT converted into prioritised strategic issues rather than descriptive lists
  • Capability heat map comparing current maturity with required future state
  • Resource constraints analysed across people, capital, technology, time and partnerships

Participants can create a clear strategic intent that guides choices and aligns stakeholders.

  • Purpose statements distinguishing organisational contribution from products and services
  • Vision criteria defining an observable future position and timeframe
  • Mission statements specifying customers, mandate, scope and distinctive contribution
  • Strategic intent translated into three to five focused strategic themes
  • Ambition levels tested against resources, capabilities, stakeholder expectations and risk
  • Choice cascade linking winning aspiration, where-to-play and how-to-win decisions

Participants can compare strategic options and select a defensible course of action.

  • Scenario planning using critical uncertainties and plausible alternative futures
  • Option evaluation matrix scoring attractiveness, feasibility, risk and stakeholder acceptability
  • Decision trees estimating outcomes, probabilities, costs and strategic reversibility
  • Strategic assumptions log identifying evidence gaps and validation actions
  • Real options thinking applied to staged commitments and learning investments
  • Trade-off conversations addressing scope, speed, quality, cost and risk

Participants can assess how their organisation creates, delivers and captures value.

  • Business Model Canvas mapping customers, value propositions, channels and revenues
  • Value proposition design matching customer jobs, pains and gains
  • Revenue logic assessed through pricing, volume, mix and margin drivers
  • Public-value model linking outcomes, beneficiaries, funding and service delivery
  • Partnership models comparing build, buy, ally and outsource choices
  • Economic logic tested against fixed costs, variable costs and scale

Participants can make resource decisions using financial and strategic value criteria.

  • Driver-based budgets linking strategic initiatives to cost categories and benefits
  • Net present value comparing long-term investment alternatives and timing
  • Sensitivity analysis testing assumptions for volume, price, cost and delay
  • Capital allocation criteria balancing returns, risk, mandate and strategic fit
  • Zero-based review challenging inherited spending and low-value activities
  • Benefits profiles specifying financial, operational, customer and public-value returns

Participants can establish stakeholder engagement and governance arrangements for strategic decisions.

  • Stakeholder mapping using power, interest, legitimacy and urgency criteria
  • Influence strategies tailored to supporters, blockers, gatekeepers and affected groups
  • Board papers structured around decision, evidence, options, recommendation and risk
  • Governance map defining committees, mandates, escalation routes and reporting cycles
  • Sponsor alignment conversations resolving conflicting expectations and success measures
  • Ethical decision tests examining duty, consequences, rights and fairness

Participants can align structure, processes, technology and accountability with strategic priorities.

  • Target operating model covering processes, people, technology, governance and locations
  • Organisation design principles derived from customer needs and strategic choices
  • Span-of-control analysis identifying managerial capacity and decision bottlenecks
  • Process architecture linking value streams, service standards and ownership
  • Decision-rights matrix assigning recommend, decide, approve and execute roles
  • Shared services assessment balancing standardisation, local control and service quality

Participants can prioritise initiatives and manage dependencies across a strategic portfolio.

  • Strategic initiative charters defining outcomes, scope, sponsor, owner and milestones
  • Portfolio scoring model weighting strategic fit, benefits, cost, risk and readiness
  • Dependency mapping identifying critical handoffs, sequencing constraints and shared resources
  • Benefits realisation plans assigning measures, owners, baselines and review dates
  • Stop-start-continue decisions removing low-value work and protecting priorities
  • Portfolio dashboards showing status, spend, risks, dependencies and benefit forecasts

Participants can convert strategic themes into coordinated objectives, initiatives and review routines.

  • Hoshin Kanri X-matrix linking breakthrough objectives, measures, owners and actions
  • Strategy maps connecting financial, customer, process and capability outcomes
  • Balanced Scorecard measures distinguishing outcomes, drivers, targets and thresholds
  • OKRs drafted with measurable objectives and verifiable key results
  • Annual operating plan aligned to strategic themes, budgets and initiative milestones
  • Catchball conversations testing ownership, feasibility and cross-functional commitments

Participants can run performance reviews that trigger decisions, corrective action and learning.

  • KPI design using definitions, formulas, baselines, targets and data owners
  • Leading and lagging indicators linked through explicit cause-and-effect hypotheses
  • Performance review agenda separating information sharing from decision-making
  • Exception reporting focused on variance, root cause, owner and recovery action
  • After-action reviews capturing expected results, actual results and lessons
  • Management information packs designed for clarity, comparability and timely intervention

Participants can integrate strategic risk and resilience planning into management decisions.

  • ISO 31000 principles applied to strategic risk identification and treatment
  • Risk appetite statements defining acceptable exposure, thresholds and escalation triggers
  • Risk registers connecting causes, events, impacts, controls and accountable owners
  • Bow-tie analysis mapping preventive controls, consequences and recovery measures
  • Business continuity priorities identified through critical-service impact assessment
  • Crisis decision protocols establishing authority, communications and situation reporting

Participants can identify cultural conditions required for strategy execution and ethical conduct.

  • Schein’s culture model examining artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions
  • Culture diagnostic linking behaviours, incentives, rituals and performance consequences
  • Psychological safety practices supporting challenge, reporting and learning conversations
  • Ethical fading identified in target pressure, incentives and normalised shortcuts
  • Leadership shadow assessed through visible decisions, language, attention and rewards
  • Behavioural commitments translated into observable actions and accountability mechanisms

Participants can plan and lead change that addresses adoption, resistance and operational transition.

  • Kotter’s eight-step process applied to a strategic transformation
  • Change impact assessment identifying role, process, technology and capability effects
  • ADKAR analysis diagnosing awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Resistance mapping separating legitimate concerns, political interests and misinformation
  • Transition plans sequencing communications, training, support and operational cutover
  • Change sponsor roles defined through visible actions and decision responsibilities

Participants can make transparent, evidence-based decisions when facts are incomplete or contested.

  • Evidence hierarchy distinguishing data, expert judgement, assumptions and anecdotes
  • Cognitive bias checks addressing confirmation, anchoring, availability and sunk-cost effects
  • Pre-mortem analysis identifying likely failure modes before committing resources
  • Red-team challenge testing assumptions, alternatives and unintended consequences
  • Decision log recording rationale, evidence, dissent, owner and review date
  • OODA loop applied to fast-moving operational and strategic situations

Participants can build leadership and workforce plans that support future strategic capability needs.

  • Strategic workforce planning forecasting critical roles, skills, supply and demand
  • Nine-box talent reviews combining performance evidence and future potential
  • Succession slates identifying readiness, development actions and role-cover risks
  • Capability academies designed around priority skills, practice and assessment
  • Retention risk analysis examining critical talent, motivation and market alternatives
  • Leadership development plans linked to strategic assignments and measurable outcomes

Participants can communicate strategic choices clearly to senior audiences and affected stakeholders.

  • Pyramid Principle structuring messages around answer, arguments and supporting evidence
  • Executive narrative linking strategic context, choice, value, risk and action
  • Stakeholder-specific messages addressing interests, objections, implications and requested commitments
  • Data storytelling selecting charts that clarify trends, comparisons and decisions
  • Difficult strategic conversations using inquiry, advocacy, acknowledgement and agreement
  • Briefing notes written for decisions, not background information accumulation

Participants can assess digital and innovation investments against strategic value and delivery readiness.

  • Digital strategy assessment linking customer experience, operations, data and business model
  • Innovation portfolio balancing core improvement, adjacent growth and new ventures
  • Design thinking problem framing through user needs, evidence and constraints
  • Data governance roles covering ownership, quality, access, privacy and accountability
  • Technology investment cases assessing value, feasibility, risk and adoption
  • Pilot criteria defining hypothesis, minimum success threshold, timeframe and scaling decision

Participants can integrate strategic tools into a personal leadership agenda and execution rhythm.

  • Leadership reflection identifying strengths, derailers, triggers and development priorities
  • Stakeholder feedback interpreted through recurring themes, evidence and action commitments
  • Ninety-day agenda sequencing early decisions, relationships, reviews and visible wins
  • Personal operating system defining priorities, meeting rhythm, delegation and reflection
  • Strategic conversation plan preparing questions, evidence, options and commitments
  • Peer accountability arrangements establishing milestones, review dates and follow-through

Participants can build, review and present a complete strategy execution pack for a real organisational priority.

  • Strategic diagnosis synthesised into evidence-based issues, opportunities and assumptions
  • Strategic intent expressed through priorities, choices, outcomes and success measures
  • Initiative portfolio prioritised with benefits, costs, risks, owners and dependencies
  • Balanced Scorecard linking strategic themes, indicators, targets and review cadence
  • Governance model specifying decisions, forums, escalation routes and stakeholder engagement
  • Executive presentation defended through challenge, feedback and final action commitments

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic diagnosis template
  2. Strategy choice cascade
  3. Balanced Scorecard and KPI dictionary
  4. Strategic initiative portfolio
  5. Stakeholder and governance plan
  6. Ninety-day leadership agenda

Who should attend

  • Directors and Heads of Department — need to translate enterprise strategy into accountable delivery
  • Senior Managers — need stronger methods for strategic choices and cross-functional alignment
  • Programme and Portfolio Leaders — need to govern priorities, dependencies, benefits and delivery risk
  • Business Unit Managers — need to connect market position, resources and operating performance
  • Public Sector and NGO Leaders — need to balance mandate, stakeholders, funding and measurable outcomes
  • High-Potential Leaders — need preparation for broader executive management responsibility

Skills and tools covered

Strategic diagnosisStrategy formulationExecution governanceFinancial decision-makingStakeholder influenceChange leadership

Tools and standards

PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces, Balanced Scorecard, Hoshin Kanri

How the course runs

Training methodology

Faculty-led briefings introduce each method before participants apply it to realistic commercial, public-sector and NGO cases. Small-group work tests strategic choices, financial trade-offs, stakeholder responses and execution risks. Simulations develop decision-making, strategic communication and leadership under pressure. Facilitated peer review helps participants challenge assumptions and strengthen their own work. Throughout the programme, participants build and refine a strategy execution pack based on a current organisational priority, receiving structured feedback before the final capstone presentation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of management, programme, functional leadership or specialist advisory experience. They should understand their organisation’s basic structure, financial pressures, principal stakeholders and current priorities. Experience managing people, budgets, projects or service delivery is useful because course work draws on live management situations. Participants do not need an MBA, formal strategy qualification, advanced finance training or prior knowledge of the named frameworks. A current business issue, departmental plan or strategic challenge will help participants produce more useful course outputs.

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

Participants should have several years of management, programme, functional or advisory experience. They do not need an MBA or prior formal training in strategy, finance or leadership frameworks.

Bring a current organisational priority, service challenge, transformation programme or business-unit plan. Participants can use this material to build their strategy execution pack during the programme.

It is designed for directors, senior managers, functional heads, programme leaders and high-potential managers preparing for broader responsibility. It is most useful for people who must align work across teams or stakeholder groups.

Leadership skills courses usually focus on personal communication and team management, while project management courses focus on delivery controls. This programme concentrates on strategic diagnosis, choices, resource allocation, execution governance and the leadership required to sustain them.

Participants leave with practical templates and a strategy execution pack linked to a live priority. They can use the scorecard, initiative portfolio, stakeholder plan and 90-day agenda in management meetings and planning cycles.

The first week builds diagnosis, strategic choice, value creation and execution foundations. The second week develops performance management, risk, culture, change, decision-making and executive communication before the final 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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