Executive Development Masterclass Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Chief Executives and Deputy Chief Executives, Business Unit Directors 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-EM-128

Before you join: Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for a function, business unit, major programme or significant budget.

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 executives must convert broad strategic intent into decisions, operating priorities and measurable results while managing boards, regulators, investors, employees, partners and customers. The challenge is rarely a shortage of initiatives. It is choosing where to focus, allocating capital and executive attention, resolving cross-functional conflicts, setting clear accountabilities and responding credibly when performance, risk or stakeholder confidence deteriorates.

This advanced masterclass examines executive management as an enterprise discipline. Participants work with strategic choice frameworks, operating-model design, financial performance analysis, governance, risk appetite, executive communication, talent, culture, transformation and crisis leadership. They learn to make decisions under uncertainty, challenge weak assumptions, construct board-ready recommendations and establish management rhythms that connect strategy to execution.

Teaching combines focused faculty briefings with senior-level cases from regulated, public, financial services, infrastructure, development and multinational environments. Participants apply each major method to a live business issue from their own organisation, building evidence, clarifying strategic choices, testing financial and delivery implications, and refining stakeholder messages through peer review. The final capstone requires a complete executive action proposal for a material organisational priority.

The course is designed for experienced leaders moving into enterprise roles, senior functional heads, business-unit leaders and executives responsible for major change, performance improvement or strategic delivery. Participants receive a certificate of completion after attending the full ten-day programme.

What you will be able to do

  • Formulate strategic choices using the Playing to Win choice cascade and scenario analysis
  • Design operating-model improvements using the Galbraith Star Model and RAPID decision rights
  • Interpret financial performance through ROIC trees, cash forecasts and capital-allocation analysis
  • Establish executive governance using risk appetite statements, delegations and assurance structures
  • Lead transformation programmes using ADKAR, benefits registers and stage-gate governance
  • Construct board-ready papers with clear recommendations, evidence, economics and risk treatment
  • Conduct high-stakes stakeholder conversations using interest-based negotiation and communication architecture
  • Present a complete executive action proposal for a material organisational priority

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence presenting strategic recommendations to boards and executive committees
  • A disciplined approach to judging enterprise trade-offs under uncertainty
  • Practical methods for improving cross-functional decisions and accountability
  • Stronger financial credibility in investment, budget and performance discussions
  • A completed executive action proposal for use with senior sponsors

For your organisation

  • Clearer strategic choices linked to resource allocation and delivery accountability
  • Improved quality of executive papers, investment cases and escalation decisions
  • Stronger governance across risk, assurance, transformation and business performance
  • Faster resolution of cross-functional priorities, dependencies and decision bottlenecks
  • A sponsor-ready action plan addressing a material organisational challenge

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can define an executive mandate, value priorities and a suitable work challenge.

  • Executive mandate translated into enterprise outcomes, decision rights and accountabilities
  • Value creation logic linking strategy, operating model, capital and capability
  • Stakeholder map distinguishing sponsors, veto holders, partners and affected groups
  • Personal leadership thesis grounded in purpose, strengths, risks and ambitions
  • Enterprise scorecard separating financial, customer, process and people measures
  • First-week work challenge selected using materiality, authority and evidence criteria

Participants can make explicit strategic choices supported by market evidence and assumptions.

  • Playing to Win choices define aspiration, where-to-play and how-to-win
  • Industry profit pools mapped through customers, activities, margins and control points
  • Porter's Five Forces tested against actual competitor moves and substitutes
  • Scenario axes built from critical uncertainties, not generic trend lists
  • Strategic assumptions logged with evidence, owners, review dates and triggers
  • Choice cascade converted into explicit trade-offs and resource commitments

Participants can diagnose operating-model misalignments and clarify critical decision rights.

  • Operating model aligned across structure, processes, governance, people and technology
  • Galbraith Star Model used to diagnose organisational design misalignments
  • Decision inventory classifies strategic, cross-functional, operational and delegated decisions
  • RAPID decision rights assigned for recommend, agree, perform, input and decide
  • Spans and layers assessed against managerial capacity and coordination load
  • Service delivery handoffs mapped to expose delays, duplication and control gaps

Participants can use financial analysis to assess performance, liquidity and investment choices.

  • Income statement drivers linked to volume, price, mix and cost
  • Balance-sheet consequences traced through working capital, assets, debt and equity
  • ROIC tree separates margin improvement from invested-capital productivity
  • 13-week cash forecast connects receipts, payroll, suppliers, debt and contingencies
  • Capital allocation ranked using NPV, IRR, payback and strategic fit
  • Management accounts challenged through variance bridges, run rates and leading indicators

Participants can establish governance arrangements that support accountable risk-taking and assurance.

  • Board and executive accountabilities distinguished through reserved matters and delegations
  • Three Lines Model clarifies management, risk oversight and internal audit roles
  • Risk appetite statements translated into limits, thresholds, escalation and reporting
  • Enterprise risk register links causes, events, impacts, controls and owners
  • Control design tested for preventive, detective, corrective and compensating actions
  • Audit committee papers framed around assurance, exceptions and management action

Participants can communicate strategic decisions persuasively to varied senior stakeholders.

  • Stakeholder salience assessed through power, legitimacy, urgency and network position
  • Message architecture links audience concerns, evidence, decisions and requested action
  • Executive narrative built with context, complication, choice and consequence
  • Board papers structured with decision sought, options, recommendation, risks and appendices
  • Hostile questions handled using bridging, acknowledgment, evidence and response discipline
  • Communication cadence coordinates formal forums, informal influence and feedback channels

Participants can adapt their leadership approach to enterprise complexity and senior-level scrutiny.

  • Adaptive Leadership distinguishes technical fixes from value-conflict and capacity challenges
  • Leadership shadow assessed through observed priorities, behaviours, rewards and tolerances
  • Situational leadership adjusted for competence, commitment, task risk and autonomy
  • Psychological safety strengthened through inquiry, fallibility and productive dissent
  • Executive presence combines message discipline, pace, listening and nonverbal signals
  • Leadership brand statement specifies the experience others should consistently receive

Participants can build talent systems aligned with strategic capability and leadership continuity.

  • Critical-role segmentation identifies positions with disproportionate value, risk and scarcity
  • Nine-box talent review separates performance evidence from future potential judgments
  • Succession slates include readiness, development actions, retention risks and contingency cover
  • Capability academies connect strategic priorities, role standards and learning pathways
  • Performance contracts define outcomes, measures, behavioural expectations and review rhythms
  • Calibration meetings reduce rating inflation, bias and inconsistent performance standards

Participants can shape culture through observable behaviours, reinforcement systems and ethical controls.

  • Culture diagnostic compares stated values, everyday norms, symbols and consequences
  • Competing Values Framework identifies clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy patterns
  • Behavioural commitments specify observable actions rather than abstract value statements
  • Reinforcement systems align selection, promotion, recognition, consequences and routines
  • Speak-up mechanisms protect challenge, incident reporting and ethical escalation
  • Culture metrics combine employee listening, conduct data, turnover and customer signals

Participants can translate strategy into priorities, management rhythms and measurable benefits.

  • OKRs connect enterprise outcomes, team commitments, key results and review cycles
  • Hoshin Kanri aligns breakthrough objectives, annual priorities and local actions
  • Strategy maps link financial outcomes, customer value, processes and capabilities
  • Portfolio Kanban visualises initiatives, constraints, dependencies, flow and decision points
  • Quarterly business reviews test progress, assumptions, resource shifts and corrective action
  • Benefits registers assign owners, baselines, targets, timing and validation methods

Participants can sponsor transformation with clear change logic, governance and adoption measures.

  • Case for change quantifies performance gap, urgency, destination and consequences
  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement barriers
  • Change impact assessment identifies role, process, technology and policy implications
  • Transformation governance sets sponsorship, workstreams, stage gates and escalation paths
  • Change network recruits credible influencers, managers and subject-matter champions
  • Adoption metrics track usage, proficiency, sentiment, exceptions and benefit realization

Participants can govern complex programmes and intervene when delivery falls behind plan.

  • Programme charter defines outcomes, scope, benefits, governance, budget and tolerances
  • Critical path analysis exposes sequencing constraints, float and delivery risk
  • RAID log manages risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies and decision dates
  • Stage-gate reviews test evidence before funding, scaling or release decisions
  • Integrated master schedule links milestones, resources, interfaces and assurance activities
  • Recovery plans reset scope, sequencing, resources and stakeholder expectations

Participants can improve decision quality by challenging assumptions, biases and evidence gaps.

  • Decision quality frames alternatives, objectives, information, trade-offs and commitment
  • Pre-mortem analysis surfaces failure modes before irreversible commitments
  • Base rates counter inside-view optimism in forecasts and investment cases
  • Red teams challenge evidence, assumptions, incentives and preferred recommendations
  • Decision journals record rationale, forecasts, dissent and subsequent outcomes
  • Escalation thresholds distinguish reversible decisions from high-consequence commitments

Participants can prepare and conduct high-stakes negotiations across competing stakeholder interests.

  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions, interests, options and objective criteria
  • BATNA assessment establishes walk-away limits, alternatives and negotiating power
  • Value-creation trades exchange low-cost concessions for high-priority gains
  • Negotiation preparation maps stakeholders, mandates, information, tactics and concessions
  • Conflict modes selected using Thomas-Kilmann assertiveness and cooperation dimensions
  • Repair conversations address breach, impact, accountability, remedy and future conduct

Participants can lead executive responses to incidents, crises and stakeholder scrutiny.

  • Crisis leadership distinguishes incident command, strategic direction and stakeholder communications
  • ISO 22361 principles inform crisis management roles, plans and exercises
  • Escalation protocols specify incident severity, authority, notifications and decision cadence
  • First-hour communications balance verified facts, empathy, action and uncertainty
  • Media statements avoid speculation, protect investigations and maintain public trust
  • After-action reviews convert response evidence into corrective actions and ownership

Participants can govern digital and technology investments as enterprise value and risk decisions.

  • Digital strategy links customer journeys, process economics, data and platforms
  • Data governance assigns ownership, quality rules, access controls and stewardship
  • AI use cases screened for value, feasibility, bias, privacy and accountability
  • Build-buy-partner decisions assess differentiation, integration, cost and vendor risk
  • Cyber risk oversight reviews crown jewels, threat scenarios, controls and recovery
  • Technology investment cases quantify benefits, total cost, dependencies and adoption

Participants can address sustainability, conduct and external accountability within executive decisions.

  • Ethical decision model tests duties, consequences, rights, fairness and character
  • Conflicts of interest declared, assessed, mitigated and recorded through formal registers
  • Modern slavery and human-rights risks screened across suppliers and operations
  • Materiality assessment prioritises sustainability topics by impact and stakeholder significance
  • GRI Standards and ISSB disclosures distinguished by audience and reporting purpose
  • Conduct indicators monitor complaints, misconduct, incentives, retaliation and remediation

Participants can establish personal practices that sustain executive judgement, capacity and accountability.

  • Executive energy audit assesses attention, recovery, boundaries, workload and delegation
  • Time portfolio allocates protected capacity to strategy, people and operating rhythm
  • Delegation contracts define outcomes, authority, guardrails, checkpoints and support
  • Immunity-to-change map identifies competing commitments and hidden assumptions
  • Executive coach network combines sponsors, peers, experts and candid critics
  • 90-day development plan links feedback themes, habits, measures and accountability

Participants can integrate strategic, financial, organisational and stakeholder analysis into an action plan.

  • Enterprise diagnostic synthesises strategy, performance, organisation, risk and stakeholder evidence
  • Priority problem statement defines baseline, impact, scope, constraints and decision owner
  • Hypothesis tree separates root causes, evidence needs and intervention options
  • Executive action plan integrates initiatives, governance, resources, milestones and benefits
  • Board-ready recommendation balances strategic rationale, economics, risks and implementation
  • Peer review tests logic, feasibility, stakeholder response and decision clarity

Participants can build, review and present a complete executive action proposal for a material organisational priority.

  • Capstone brief confirms mandate, evidence base, sponsor expectations and decision required
  • Strategic choices articulated through aspiration, scope, advantage and resource commitments
  • Operating model, governance and capability implications translated into implementation design
  • Financial case quantifies value, investment, cash effects, sensitivities and benefits
  • Risk treatment plan sets appetite, controls, contingencies, owners and escalation
  • Executive presentation defends recommendation, trade-offs, sequencing and requested decisions

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

What you take back to work

  1. Executive mandate and stakeholder map
  2. Strategic choice cascade and scenario set
  3. Enterprise performance and ROIC analysis model
  4. Board paper and executive communication template
  5. Transformation governance and benefits register
  6. Board-ready executive action proposal

Who should attend

  • Chief Executives and Deputy Chief Executives — requiring enterprise-level decision and execution disciplines
  • Business Unit Directors — accountable for strategy, performance, investment and delivery results
  • Senior Functional Leaders — needing greater influence across enterprise priorities and governance forums
  • Transformation Directors — leading complex portfolios requiring sponsorship, benefits control and adoption
  • Country Managers — balancing group strategy, local stakeholders, risk and operating performance
  • High-Potential Senior Managers — preparing for executive roles with broader enterprise accountability

Skills and tools covered

Strategic choice designExecutive decision-makingFinancial stewardshipGovernance and riskTransformation leadershipBoard communication

Tools and standards

Playing to Win, RAPID, Three Lines Model, OKRs

How the course runs

Training methodology

Faculty-led briefings introduce the methods, decision standards and executive judgement required for each subject. Cases examine strategic choices, operating failures, transformation risks, board scrutiny and crisis responses. Small-group work tests competing recommendations, stakeholder positions and financial assumptions. Simulations develop decision-making, negotiation and executive communication under pressure. Participants apply the tools to a live organisational issue throughout the programme, receive structured peer and faculty challenge, and prepare a board-ready capstone proposal.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for a function, business unit, major programme or significant budget. They should be comfortable reading management accounts, participating in senior meetings and making decisions with incomplete information. Familiarity with strategic planning, project delivery and people management is assumed. Participants should bring a current organisational issue suitable for structured application during the course. An MBA, formal finance qualification, prior board service or specialist consulting experience is not required.

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

This is an advanced programme for experienced managers and senior leaders with responsibility for teams, functions, business units, budgets or major programmes. Participants should be comfortable discussing strategy, financial performance and organisational decisions, but no MBA or board experience is required.

Participants should bring a current strategic, performance, transformation, governance or stakeholder issue from their organisation. This issue becomes the basis for the executive action proposal developed during the programme.

It suits senior functional leaders, business-unit heads, country managers, transformation directors and executives preparing for wider enterprise responsibility. It is not designed as an introductory management or first-line leadership course.

The programme treats leadership, strategy, finance, governance and execution as connected executive responsibilities. Participants work on board-level decisions, operating-model choices, capital allocation, risk and enterprise delivery rather than leadership theory alone.

Each participant leaves with a structured action proposal for a live organisational priority, supported by strategic rationale, financial implications, risk treatment and implementation steps. The templates can also be reused for future executive papers, reviews and transformation decisions.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The first week establishes executive analysis and management methods, while the second week deepens transformation, judgement, governance and capstone application.

Questions about this course?

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