Enterprise Leadership for Transformation Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Transformation Directors, Programme and Portfolio Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-LD-117

Before you join: Participants should have experience leading projects, workstreams, teams or business improvements, and should understand their organisation's basic strategy, structure and performance measures.

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

Enterprise transformation asks leaders to change more than project plans. They must set a credible direction, make decisions across competing priorities, redesign operating arrangements, build sponsorship, address resistance and maintain delivery discipline while performance continues. This is difficult when transformation spans functions, legacy systems, regulated services, public commitments or geographically dispersed teams. Leaders need methods that connect strategic intent to measurable outcomes and visible behaviour.

This course develops the leadership practices required to direct and sustain enterprise-scale change. Participants use systems thinking, scenario planning, target operating model design, portfolio prioritisation, benefits realisation, stakeholder analysis and change adoption methods. They learn to frame a transformation case, establish decision rights, sequence initiatives, communicate difficult choices, shape culture and monitor progress through outcome, adoption and risk measures. The course also addresses leading through uncertainty, resolving cross-functional conflict and creating feedback loops that support timely course correction.

Teaching combines concise faculty briefings with cases drawn from banking, government, infrastructure, health, consumer services and multinational operations. Participants analyse transformation decisions, test stakeholder strategies, work through portfolio trade-offs and practise leadership conversations. Each participant leaves with a 90-day transformation leadership plan, supported by practical templates for stakeholder engagement, benefits tracking, governance and communication. The course is delivered over five days in the classroom or live online and includes a certificate of completion.

It is suited to managers and senior specialists who lead workstreams, functions, programmes or business units affected by major change, and who need to influence beyond their formal authority.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose enterprise transformation challenges using systems thinking, Cynefin and stakeholder evidence.
  • Frame a transformation case linking strategic choices, outcomes, measures and investment hypotheses.
  • Design target operating model elements covering processes, decision rights, governance and capabilities.
  • Prioritise transformation initiatives using portfolio criteria, dependencies, horizons and benefits evidence.
  • Build stakeholder engagement and communication plans using power-interest analysis and ADKAR.
  • Lead culture and behaviour change through role modelling, psychological safety and learning routines.
  • Establish transformation scorecards, benefits reviews, risk controls and executive decision forums.
  • Produce a 90-day transformation leadership plan for an active organisational priority.

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading uncertain, cross-functional transformation decisions
  • A practical framework for influencing senior sponsors and resistant stakeholders
  • Clear methods for linking leadership actions to measurable transformation outcomes
  • Stronger judgement when balancing delivery urgency, adoption needs and operational risk
  • A documented 90-day plan for applying enterprise transformation leadership methods

For your organisation

  • Clearer transformation priorities linked to strategic, service and financial outcomes
  • Better sponsorship discipline and faster escalation of cross-functional decisions
  • Reduced initiative overload through portfolio sequencing and dependency management
  • Higher adoption readiness through structured stakeholder and communication planning
  • More credible benefits reporting through baselines, ownership and review routines

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish enterprise transformation from routine improvement and choose leadership responses for complex change.

  • Enterprise transformation distinguished from incremental change, projects and business-as-usual improvement
  • Transformation ambition framed through customer, mission, financial and risk outcomes
  • Systems thinking maps feedback loops, delays, constraints and unintended consequences
  • Adaptive leadership distinguishes technical problems from complex adaptive challenges
  • Cynefin domains guide leadership responses under varying certainty and complexity
  • Personal leadership assumptions tested using the Immunity to Change framework
  • Moral purpose and public value clarified for transformation leadership choices

Participants can frame a credible transformation direction with measurable outcomes and explicit assumptions.

  • Strategic narrative links external drivers, enterprise choices and measurable outcomes
  • PESTLE and scenario planning expose assumptions behind strategic transformation bets
  • Future-back planning defines destination states, transition horizons and decision points
  • OKRs translate transformation intent into outcomes, measures and accountable owners
  • Benefits maps connect initiatives, capabilities, outcomes and financial value
  • Assumption logs distinguish evidence, uncertainty, dependencies and validation actions
  • Investment hypotheses specify expected value, costs, risks and learning milestones

Participants can identify operating model changes and clarify accountability for transformation decisions.

  • Target operating model aligns processes, people, technology, data and governance
  • Customer journeys identify handoffs, failure demand and service redesign priorities
  • Value-stream mapping exposes queues, rework, bottlenecks and control points
  • Decision rights use RAPID to clarify recommenders, approvers and executors
  • Span-of-control and layer analysis informs structural redesign decisions
  • Shared services choices balance standardisation, local responsiveness and accountability
  • Service blueprints connect frontstage experience with backstage operating capabilities

Participants can prioritise transformation work and govern investment against benefits, capacity and risk.

  • Transformation portfolio prioritisation uses value, feasibility, risk and strategic fit
  • Horizon planning separates immediate stabilisation, capability building and future options
  • Dependency mapping sequences workstreams around critical paths and scarce resources
  • Stage-gate governance tests evidence before releasing further investment
  • Benefits realisation plans assign owners, baselines, measures and review dates
  • Portfolio Kanban makes initiative flow, blockers and capacity visible
  • Stop-start-continue decisions prevent resource dilution across competing change initiatives

Participants can build engagement strategies that address sponsorship, resistance and adoption barriers.

  • Stakeholder mapping assesses influence, impact, stance and engagement requirements
  • Power-interest grids identify sponsorship gaps and resistance hotspots
  • Sponsor coalitions align executives around visible commitments and decisions
  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement barriers
  • Change impact assessments specify role, process, technology and policy changes
  • Resistance conversations use inquiry, acknowledgement, choice and follow-through
  • Union, regulator and community engagement planned around legitimate concerns

Participants can communicate transformation choices clearly and create credible two-way communication routines.

  • Strategic change messages connect case, consequences, choices and practical actions
  • Stakeholder-specific message maps address what changes, why and when
  • Leader communication cascades combine town halls, manager briefings and listening channels
  • SCARF model anticipates status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness reactions
  • Sensemaking forums surface weak signals, rumours and implementation realities
  • Two-way communication metrics track reach, understanding, sentiment and response time
  • Visible leadership routines reinforce priorities through decisions, recognition and escalation

Participants can shape behaviours and learning routines that support sustained transformation.

  • Culture diagnosis uses Schein's artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions
  • Psychological safety enables speaking up, learning and early risk reporting
  • Behavioural norms translated into observable leadership habits and team rituals
  • Role modelling aligns leader actions, resource choices and stated values
  • Recognition mechanisms reinforce desired behaviours without distorting performance incentives
  • After-action reviews convert setbacks into operational learning and adaptations
  • Equity impact checks identify uneven burdens and unintended exclusion

Participants can establish execution rhythms that connect strategic transformation work with operational delivery.

  • Transformation roadmaps integrate milestones, capabilities, releases and adoption measures
  • Agile principles distinguish iterative discovery from controlled enterprise delivery
  • Cross-functional teams define product boundaries, outcomes and escalation routes
  • Obeya visual management aligns priorities, decisions, metrics and impediments
  • Daily management systems connect frontline signals to executive intervention
  • Risk registers separate delivery risks, adoption risks and strategic risks
  • RAID logs track risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies consistently

Participants can measure transformation progress and use evidence to make timely interventions.

  • Transformation scorecards balance outcome, adoption, capability, process and risk indicators
  • Leading indicators reveal readiness before lagging measures confirm business results
  • Data governance assigns ownership, quality controls, access and escalation
  • Baseline design makes benefits claims testable against starting performance
  • Benefits reviews distinguish realised value, forecast value and disbenefits
  • Control charts separate common-cause variation from meaningful performance shifts
  • Executive dashboards support intervention without encouraging metric manipulation

Participants can convert course methods into a focused leadership plan for a current transformation priority.

  • Leadership diagnostic identifies strengths, derailers and priority behaviour shifts
  • Stakeholder commitments converted into a 90-day transformation leadership plan
  • Decision calendars schedule forums, thresholds, owners and escalation pathways
  • Personal influence plans prepare critical conversations with sponsors and opponents
  • Peer challenge refines assumptions, sequencing, measures and implementation risks
  • Learning loops define review cadence, evidence sources and adaptation triggers
  • Leadership presence practices strengthen credibility during uncertainty and pressure

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

What you take back to work

  1. Enterprise transformation diagnostic
  2. Transformation case and strategic narrative template
  3. Target operating model design canvas
  4. Stakeholder engagement and communication plan
  5. Benefits realisation scorecard
  6. 90-day transformation leadership plan

Who should attend

  • Transformation Directors — accountable for enterprise change outcomes, sponsorship and governance
  • Programme and Portfolio Managers — coordinating interdependent initiatives, benefits and delivery decisions
  • Business Unit Leaders — translating enterprise direction into operational priorities and behaviour
  • Functional Heads — redesigning services, capabilities and decision rights across functions
  • Senior Change Managers — building adoption plans, sponsor coalitions and feedback mechanisms
  • Digital and Operations Leaders — connecting technology-enabled change with service and workforce outcomes

Skills and tools covered

Transformation strategyOperating model designChange leadershipStakeholder engagementBenefits realisationPortfolio governance

Tools and standards

Cynefin Framework, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), RAPID Decision Rights, ADKAR Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

Faculty-led briefings introduce each method before participants apply it to realistic transformation situations. Cases examine competing priorities, operating model redesign, sponsor alignment, resistance and benefits claims. Small-group work uses stakeholder maps, portfolio decisions, scorecards and communication plans to test judgement under constraints. Simulations focus on executive decisions and difficult leadership conversations. Individual application planning helps participants adapt the methods to a current transformation priority, with peer challenge used to improve assumptions, sequencing and measures.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience leading projects, workstreams, teams or business improvements, and should understand their organisation's basic strategy, structure and performance measures. Familiarity with change initiatives, governance meetings or stakeholder management will help participants apply the material quickly. The course assumes confidence contributing to management discussions and analysing practical business information. Prior formal leadership training, project management certification, finance qualifications and specialist change management credentials are not required. Participants do not need to be responsible for an enterprise-wide transformation before attending.

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 leading a team, project, workstream or business improvement effort. You do not need formal change management or project management certification.

Bring a current or planned transformation challenge that involves multiple stakeholders, functions or delivery dependencies. Non-confidential facts about its objectives, measures, risks and affected groups will make the application work more useful.

The course suits transformation leaders, programme managers, functional heads, business unit leaders and senior change professionals. It is intended for people who must influence decisions and adoption beyond their direct reporting line.

General leadership courses focus mainly on leading people and teams, while project management courses focus on planning and delivery control. This course concentrates on enterprise-scale change, including operating model choices, sponsor coalitions, portfolio governance, adoption and benefits realisation.

Participants build materials around a live transformation priority, including stakeholder analysis, benefits measures and governance choices. The final module turns these into a 90-day leadership plan with specific commitments and review points.

The five days contain ten connected modules covering transformation direction, operating models, portfolios, stakeholders, culture, execution and measurement. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours, alongside scheduled breaks.

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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