Digital Leadership Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Unit Directors, Digital Transformation Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-DT-034

Before you join: Participants should have experience managing a team, function, programme, product portfolio or significant business change initiative.

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

Digital transformation programmes often fail to produce expected value because leaders treat technology as an IT initiative rather than a business change programme. Senior managers must make informed choices about investment, customer experience, data, operating models, cyber risk, talent and adoption. They also need to challenge delivery teams without directing technical work they do not own.

This course develops the leadership practices required to set a clear digital direction and turn it into measurable business outcomes. Participants examine digital strategy, product operating models, agile governance, data and AI opportunities, cloud decisions, cyber risk, change leadership and benefits realisation. They learn to frame investment choices, define outcome measures, establish decision rights, assess delivery evidence and manage the organisational changes that determine adoption.

Teaching combines instructor briefings with sector-based cases from banking, public services, retail, manufacturing and regulated enterprises. Participants work through transformation decisions, investment trade-offs, stakeholder resistance, data governance issues and delivery reporting. They leave with a practical digital leadership action plan, supported by a transformation scorecard, benefits map, governance model and 90-day priorities that can be adapted to their own organisation.

The course is suited to managers who lead business functions, technology portfolios, transformation programmes or digital products. It is particularly useful for leaders expected to sponsor technology-enabled change while maintaining service quality, financial discipline, regulatory obligations and operational control.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess digital maturity using operating model, data, technology and talent dimensions
  • Create a digital value thesis linking technology initiatives to business outcomes
  • Prioritise transformation investments using value, feasibility, risk and dependency criteria
  • Design governance arrangements using decision rights, investment forums and escalation paths
  • Apply product operating model principles to organise cross-functional digital delivery
  • Evaluate data, AI, cloud and cyber decisions through business value and risk
  • Develop change adoption plans using stakeholder mapping, ADKAR and adoption measures
  • Produce a 90-day digital leadership action plan with outcome measures and owners

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence challenging digital investment proposals and delivery reports
  • A clearer method for linking technology spend to measurable business outcomes
  • Practical language for discussing data, AI, cloud and cyber issues with specialists
  • Stronger ability to sponsor adoption rather than focusing only on implementation
  • A reusable 90-day plan for leading a current transformation priority

For your organisation

  • Better prioritisation of digital initiatives against value, risk and delivery capacity
  • Clearer accountability for transformation decisions, benefits and adoption
  • Reduced risk of funding technology projects without validated business outcomes
  • Improved coordination between business, technology, data, risk and operational teams
  • Earlier identification of cyber, data, supplier and change adoption risks

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can frame digital transformation as a business value programme with explicit strategic choices.

  • Digital value thesis linking customer outcomes, cost, risk and growth
  • Technology-enabled business models: platform, product, service and data monetisation
  • Board-level digital agenda framed through strategic choices and trade-offs
  • McKinsey Three Horizons portfolio separating core, adjacent and transformational bets
  • Digital maturity assessment using operating model, data, technology and talent dimensions
  • Leadership behaviours that convert technology investment into measurable business change

Participants can prioritise digital initiatives and build evidence-based investment cases.

  • OKRs connecting transformation themes, outcomes, measures and accountable owners
  • North Star Metric selection for customer journeys and product portfolios
  • Benefits maps tracing digital capabilities to financial and service outcomes
  • Business cases separating cashable benefits, avoided costs and strategic options
  • Prioritisation matrices balancing value, feasibility, urgency, risk and dependencies
  • Assumption registers exposing evidence gaps before funding decisions
  • Investment guardrails for discovery, scaling, stopping and benefit realisation

Participants can shape operating model choices that support customer-focused digital delivery.

  • Target operating model decisions across processes, governance, people and technology
  • Product operating model roles: product manager, owner, designer and engineer
  • Value stream mapping from customer trigger to fulfilled outcome
  • Team Topologies interaction modes for platform, enabling and stream-aligned teams
  • Platform strategy distinguishing shared services, reusable components and self-service capabilities
  • Service blueprinting exposes frontstage, backstage, support processes and failure points
  • RACI matrices clarify decision rights without replacing accountable leadership

Participants can oversee iterative delivery through outcome evidence rather than activity reporting.

  • Agile governance aligning quarterly priorities with iterative delivery evidence
  • Scrum events interpreted for executive oversight, not team micromanagement
  • Kanban flow metrics: throughput, work in progress, cycle time and ageing
  • Dual-track discovery separates problem validation from solution delivery
  • Minimum viable product decisions based on learning, risk and user value
  • Portfolio reviews use outcome data, not milestone status alone
  • Scaling choices compare SAFe, LeSS and context-specific coordination patterns

Participants can assess data and AI opportunities while addressing governance, value and harm.

  • Data strategy defines domains, ownership, quality rules and access priorities
  • Data mesh principles assign accountability through domain-owned data products
  • AI use-case assessment considers value, feasibility, data readiness and harm
  • CRISP-DM stages connect business understanding, modelling, deployment and monitoring
  • Model risk controls address bias, explainability, drift and human oversight
  • Data governance councils resolve stewardship, classification and retention decisions
  • Responsible AI policies align use cases with organisational risk appetite

Participants can make informed leadership decisions on architecture, cloud and cyber priorities.

  • Enterprise architecture links capability maps, applications, data and technology roadmaps
  • TOGAF Architecture Development Method structures baseline, target and transition planning
  • Cloud operating models distinguish IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and shared responsibilities
  • Zero Trust principles verify identities, devices, access and continuous signals
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework functions frame leadership risk conversations
  • Technical debt registers make maintenance liabilities visible in investment choices
  • Architecture review boards balance standards, exceptions, speed and reuse

Participants can lead the people, communication and capability changes required for adoption.

  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement barriers
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies sponsors, champions, detractors and affected groups
  • Change impact assessments connect process changes to role-level consequences
  • Communication plans match messages, channels, timing and feedback loops
  • Capability academies combine role curricula, practice opportunities and manager support
  • Psychological safety supports escalation, experimentation and learning from setbacks
  • Adoption metrics track usage, proficiency, sentiment and workarounds

Participants can establish governance that balances pace, control, accountability and value.

  • Digital governance defines investment forums, decision rights and escalation paths
  • COBIT 2019 objectives connect governance controls with enterprise goals
  • Risk appetite statements set thresholds for delivery, cyber and data exposure
  • Stage-gate decisions test evidence before releasing further investment
  • Third-party due diligence covers security, resilience, data and exit arrangements
  • KPIs, KRIs and OKRs distinguish performance, exposure and intended outcomes
  • Benefits realisation reviews assign owners, baselines and corrective actions

Participants can create the leadership conditions for accountable, cross-functional digital work.

  • Digital leadership styles balance direction, autonomy, challenge and coaching
  • Decision logs record assumptions, choices, owners and review triggers
  • Conflict protocols surface trade-offs between customer value, control and speed
  • Cross-functional facilitation turns competing priorities into explicit agreements
  • Talent plans address digital roles, succession, hiring and partner capability
  • Vendor governance manages outcomes, incentives, dependencies and knowledge transfer
  • Executive storytelling uses evidence, options and recommendations for senior audiences

Participants can create a focused transformation roadmap and personal leadership action plan.

  • Transformation roadmaps sequence capabilities, dependencies, releases and benefit milestones
  • Now-next-later planning distinguishes immediate decisions from longer-term commitments
  • 90-day action plans specify sponsors, outcomes, risks and first experiments
  • Transformation scorecards combine delivery, adoption, value, risk and capability measures
  • Scenario planning tests roadmaps against funding, regulation and technology shifts
  • Personal leadership commitments identify conversations, decisions and behaviours to change
  • Peer review criteria strengthen clarity, ownership, evidence and follow-through

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

What you take back to work

  1. Digital value thesis template
  2. Transformation benefits map
  3. Digital governance decision-rights model
  4. Transformation scorecard template
  5. Change adoption planning checklist
  6. 90-day digital leadership action plan

Who should attend

  • Business Unit Directors — responsible for technology-enabled performance, service and growth decisions
  • Digital Transformation Managers — coordinating programmes that require business ownership and adoption
  • IT Directors — aligning technology investment and delivery with enterprise priorities
  • Programme Sponsors — making funding, governance and escalation decisions for major change
  • Product and Portfolio Leaders — managing priorities across customer, technology and operational demands
  • Public Sector and NGO Managers — leading digital service improvement under accountability requirements

Skills and tools covered

Digital strategy formulationTransformation governanceProduct operating modelsBenefits realisationChange leadershipTechnology investment decisions

Tools and standards

OKRs, Team Topologies, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, COBIT 2019

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by facilitated case work, group analysis, decision simulations and structured reflection. Participants assess realistic transformation scenarios involving investment choices, product delivery, AI use cases, cyber exposure, stakeholder resistance and benefits tracking. Discussion focuses on the decisions leaders must make, the evidence they should request and the questions they should ask specialists. Application planning helps participants transfer course methods to a current organisational priority.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience managing a team, function, programme, product portfolio or significant business change initiative. They should understand their organisation’s core services, customers, operating priorities and current technology challenges. Familiarity with basic business cases, project reporting or performance measures is helpful. No coding, systems administration, data science, enterprise architecture or formal agile certification is required. The course explains relevant technical concepts at a level suitable for leaders who must make decisions, sponsor work and hold specialists accountable.

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 management, programme, product, operational or technology leadership experience. No technical qualifications, coding ability or agile certification are required.

Bring details of a current or planned digital initiative, including its business aims and main challenges. A laptop is useful for working on templates and application planning, whether attending in class or live online.

The course is designed for managers responsible for sponsoring, governing or leading technology-enabled business change. It suits business and technology leaders who need to make decisions across functions rather than manage technical implementation alone.

Project management courses focus on planning, controls and delivery management, while agile courses focus on team delivery methods. This course focuses on leadership choices around strategy, investment, governance, operating models, adoption and business value.

Participants can use the benefits map, governance model, scorecard and action plan on an active transformation initiative. The methods also support better conversations with technology, data, risk, finance and operational leaders.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, decision simulations and structured application planning.

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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