Executive Leadership Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Unit Directors, Senior Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-LD-199

Before you join: Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for teams, budgets, programmes, functions or significant stakeholder relationships.

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

Executive leaders must convert organisational strategy into decisions, priorities and visible action while managing competing stakeholder demands, uncertain information and cross-functional dependencies. They are expected to set direction, maintain ethical standards, build capable leadership teams and respond credibly when performance, transformation or crisis issues arise. Technical expertise alone is insufficient when decisions require judgement, influence and accountability at enterprise level.

This advanced course develops the executive leadership competencies needed to lead strategically and consistently. Participants work with strategy maps, decision-rights matrices, stakeholder salience analysis, executive narratives, succession tools, culture diagnostics and change governance methods. They learn to frame consequential decisions, challenge assumptions, build coalitions, manage executive team dynamics, address performance concerns and create the conditions for responsible delivery.

Instruction combines focused briefings with realistic cases drawn from corporate, public-sector, financial-services and international development settings. Participants analyse leadership dilemmas, conduct stakeholder and risk assessments, practise executive communication, work through transformation and crisis scenarios, and prepare an individual leadership operating system. Each participant leaves with a 90-day executive leadership plan, a stakeholder engagement plan, an executive scorecard and practical templates for decisions, delegation, team accountability and change governance. A certificate of completion is awarded to participants who complete the course.

The course is suited to senior managers moving into enterprise leadership, experienced executives taking on broader mandates, and leaders responsible for strategy execution, major programmes, business units or critical functions. It is delivered over five instructor-led days in classroom locations in more than 50 cities or live online.

What you will be able to do

  • Translate enterprise strategy into an executive agenda, scorecard and decision priorities
  • Apply the Cynefin framework to select responses under different levels of uncertainty
  • Construct decision-rights matrices, risk appetite statements and escalation thresholds
  • Conduct stakeholder salience analysis and build influence strategies for critical decisions
  • Lead executive teams using team charters, RACI matrices and peer accountability practices
  • Develop succession, delegation and coaching plans for critical leadership roles
  • Direct transformation and crisis communications using structured governance and incident methods
  • Produce a 90-day executive leadership plan with measurable commitments and review routines

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater credibility when presenting recommendations to boards and senior stakeholders
  • Clearer judgement under uncertainty, risk and competing organisational pressures
  • A repeatable method for influencing peers without relying on formal authority
  • Practical approaches for developing successors and addressing leadership performance gaps
  • A structured 90-day plan for strengthening executive leadership habits

For your organisation

  • More consistent strategic decisions across business units, functions and major programmes
  • Clearer accountability for cross-functional initiatives, risks and delivery commitments
  • Improved executive communication during transformation, performance issues and crises
  • Stronger succession coverage for critical roles and leadership continuity risks
  • Earlier identification of cultural, ethical and stakeholder concerns affecting delivery

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can translate organisational strategy into a focused executive agenda with measurable priorities.

  • Enterprise purpose translated into strategic choices, priorities and measurable outcomes
  • Strategy map links financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Distinguishing governance decisions, management decisions and delegated operational authority
  • Value-creation logic tested against stakeholder expectations and resource constraints
  • Scenario planning uses driving forces, uncertainties and strategic implications
  • Executive agenda balances performance delivery, transformation and external obligations

Participants can apply disciplined self-management and judgement methods under executive pressure.

  • Leadership principles converted into observable decision rules and behavioural commitments
  • Immunity-to-change map identifies competing commitments and hidden assumptions
  • Emotional self-management under pressure using cognitive reappraisal techniques
  • Decision journals separate facts, assumptions, probabilities and hindsight bias
  • Adaptive leadership distinguishes technical problems from adaptive challenges
  • Executive presence aligns message, bearing, voice and audience expectations

Participants can structure complex decisions, test assumptions and define appropriate risk controls.

  • Cynefin framework selects appropriate responses for clear, complicated, complex and chaotic contexts
  • Pre-mortem analysis exposes failure modes before consequential decisions
  • Red-team challenge tests strategic assumptions, evidence quality and alternatives
  • Decision-rights matrix clarifies recommend, decide, input and execute accountabilities
  • Risk appetite statements connect choices with tolerances and escalation thresholds
  • After-action reviews capture decision outcomes, signals missed and corrective actions

Participants can build stakeholder support and communicate recommendations with executive clarity.

  • Stakeholder salience analysis maps power, legitimacy, urgency and engagement priorities
  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Coalition mapping identifies sponsors, blockers, persuadables and reciprocal commitments
  • Executive narratives connect strategic intent, evidence, consequences and required action
  • SBI feedback addresses observable behaviour, operational impact and future expectations
  • Board papers frame decisions, recommendations, risks and approval requirements

Participants can establish executive team disciplines that support candid debate and accountable delivery.

  • Team charter specifies purpose, decision rules, behavioural norms and meeting cadence
  • RACI matrix assigns accountable ownership for cross-functional deliverables
  • Psychological safety practices surface dissent, errors and minority viewpoints
  • Productive conflict separates task disagreement from relationship conflict
  • Executive meeting architecture uses consent agendas, decision logs and action tracking
  • Peer accountability conversations address missed commitments without blame or avoidance

Participants can strengthen leadership capacity through succession, delegation, coaching and performance calibration.

  • Succession slates assess readiness, potential, development needs and role risk
  • Nine-box talent matrix distinguishes performance evidence from future potential
  • Delegation contracts define outcomes, decision boundaries, resources and review points
  • Coaching conversations apply GROW questions, active listening and accountability
  • Performance calibration tests ratings against evidence, standards and bias
  • Critical-role profiles identify capabilities, successors and retention actions

Participants can assess leadership culture and reinforce ethical, accountable governance practices.

  • Culture diagnostics compare espoused values, observed norms and reinforcing systems
  • Tone-from-the-top signals tested through incentives, promotions and resource allocation
  • Ethical decision protocol examines duties, consequences, rights and conflicts
  • Speak-up channels assessed for confidentiality, protection, response and learning
  • Three lines model clarifies management, risk oversight and independent assurance
  • Conflict-of-interest registers support disclosure, recusal and documented decisions

Participants can direct change initiatives through clear cases, stakeholder planning and governance controls.

  • Change case defines urgency, outcomes, affected groups and measurable benefits
  • Kotter's eight-step process sequences mobilisation, communication, wins and anchoring
  • Change impact assessment identifies process, role, technology and capability effects
  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Transformation governance tracks milestones, dependencies, benefits and decision gates
  • Resistance conversations distinguish legitimate concerns from untested assumptions

Participants can lead coordinated decisions and communications during significant operational or reputational incidents.

  • Crisis leadership establishes command roles, escalation thresholds and communication rhythm
  • Incident action plans set objectives, owners, resources and reporting periods
  • Situational reports distinguish confirmed facts, assumptions, decisions and outstanding questions
  • Stakeholder communications acknowledge impact, actions, uncertainty and next updates
  • Media-response preparation develops holding statements, spokesperson lines and question handling
  • Post-incident reviews identify control failures, lessons and assigned improvements

Participants can create a practical leadership operating system and 90-day action plan.

  • Executive scorecards connect strategic outcomes, leading indicators and accountability owners
  • 90-day leadership plan prioritises commitments, stakeholders, milestones and evidence
  • Personal advisory board maps counsel required for consequential decisions
  • Stakeholder engagement plan schedules conversations, messages, asks and follow-through
  • Leadership operating system defines routines, forums, metrics and review cycles
  • Commitment register records actions, deadlines, dependencies and escalation triggers

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

What you take back to work

  1. Executive leadership operating system template
  2. 90-day executive leadership plan
  3. Stakeholder salience and engagement analysis
  4. Decision-rights and escalation matrix
  5. Executive team charter and accountability checklist
  6. Transformation governance and change-impact plan

Who should attend

  • Business Unit Directors — need to convert enterprise strategy into accountable operational direction
  • Senior Managers — preparing for broader enterprise, regional or functional leadership mandates
  • Functional Heads — responsible for cross-functional priorities, people decisions and executive reporting
  • Programme Directors — leading complex transformations with multiple stakeholders and dependencies
  • Country Directors — balancing strategic delivery, governance obligations and external relationships
  • Public-Sector Executives — accountable for policy implementation, scrutiny and public value outcomes

Skills and tools covered

Strategic leadershipExecutive judgementStakeholder influenceTeam accountabilityTalent developmentChange governance

Tools and standards

Cynefin framework, RACI matrix, Stakeholder Salience Model, ADKAR model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by case analysis, facilitated group work, decision simulations and structured reflection. Participants work with realistic executive scenarios involving strategy choices, stakeholder conflict, performance issues, transformation resistance and crisis communications. Faculty feedback focuses on the quality of judgement, evidence, stakeholder logic and communication choices. Application planning throughout the course enables participants to adapt the methods to a current leadership mandate, team challenge or strategic priority.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial management experience, normally including responsibility for teams, budgets, programmes, functions or significant stakeholder relationships. They should be familiar with organisational planning, performance reporting and routine management decisions, and be ready to discuss real leadership challenges from their work. Previous formal leadership training is useful but not required. No prior knowledge of specific leadership models, psychology instruments, financial valuation methods or crisis-management standards is assumed. This is not an entry-level supervision or first-time manager course.

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 already have substantial management responsibility for people, budgets, programmes, functions or key stakeholder relationships. The course does not require previous study of named leadership frameworks or formal executive education.

Participants should bring a current leadership challenge, strategic priority, team issue or transformation initiative they can use for application planning. No specialist software, assessments or technical equipment is required beyond normal access for live online attendance.

It is designed for senior managers, directors, functional heads, programme leaders and executives with enterprise-level responsibilities. It is particularly relevant for leaders moving into broader roles where influence, judgement and governance matter as much as operational delivery.

This course concentrates on executive-level responsibilities: strategic choices, decision governance, stakeholder influence, organisational culture, succession and crisis leadership. It assumes participants already manage work and people, rather than teaching basic supervision, delegation or meeting management.

Participants leave with templates and plans that can be used in executive meetings, strategy reviews, stakeholder discussions, talent reviews and transformation governance forums. The 90-day plan identifies specific commitments, milestones, evidence and review routines for workplace use.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from strategic direction and judgement through influence, team leadership, talent, culture, transformation, crisis response and individual action 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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