Global Leadership Masterclass Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Regional Directors, Global Function Heads 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-LD-138

Before you join: Participants should have substantial leadership experience, typically managing senior stakeholders, a function, a country operation, regional portfolio or major cross-border programme.

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 leaders working across borders face decisions shaped by differing cultural expectations, political conditions, reporting lines, languages and stakeholder interests. A strategy that is clear at headquarters can lose meaning in country teams; a decision that appears efficient may damage trust, inclusion or local legitimacy. This masterclass addresses the practical work of leading global teams, influencing peers and partners, and delivering enterprise priorities without imposing one leadership style everywhere.

Participants examine how culture affects authority, communication, feedback, conflict, risk and decision-making. They use GLOBE cultural dimensions, Cultural Intelligence CQ, RAPID decision roles, interest-based negotiation and ADKAR change analysis to diagnose leadership challenges. The course builds capability in creating aligned global teams, managing matrix tensions, influencing across formal and informal networks, leading virtual discussions, developing internationally mobile talent and responding to ethical or reputational issues.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with senior-level cases, facilitated group analysis, negotiation simulations, leadership communication practice and structured peer feedback. Cases reflect issues such as regional resistance to a headquarters programme, post-merger integration, cross-border talent decisions, supplier concerns and politically sensitive change. Participants leave with a global leadership application plan, stakeholder influence map, decision-rights design, communication plan and personal behavioural commitments. The course is available as a five-day classroom programme in more than 50 cities or as live online instruction. Participants who complete the programme receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose cultural, structural and stakeholder factors affecting global leadership decisions
  • Apply Cultural Intelligence CQ to adapt communication and leadership behaviour
  • Design decision rights using the RAPID framework for matrix organisations
  • Build stakeholder influence plans using power, legitimacy and urgency analysis
  • Conduct interest-based negotiations across cultural and organisational boundaries
  • Lead inclusive virtual meetings with explicit participation and decision protocols
  • Plan international change initiatives using ADKAR and local champion networks
  • Produce a 30-day global leadership application plan with measurable commitments

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater credibility when leading colleagues, partners and executives from different cultures
  • Clearer judgement on when to standardise, adapt or escalate decisions
  • Practical language for resolving headquarters and country-team tensions
  • Stronger preparation for regional, international and enterprise leadership roles
  • A documented development plan based on observed global leadership behaviours

For your organisation

  • Faster cross-border decisions through clearer decision rights and escalation rules
  • Reduced execution risk from culturally informed communication and stakeholder planning
  • More consistent leadership standards across regions without ignoring local conditions
  • Improved retention and development of internationally mobile senior talent
  • Better management of change, reputation and ethical concerns across country operations

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can diagnose the contextual factors and personal assumptions shaping their global leadership choices.

  • Global operating context mapped through PESTLE, stakeholder power and institutional differences
  • Home-country assumptions identified using cultural self-awareness and attribution checks
  • Competing priorities diagnosed across headquarters, regional offices and country teams
  • Country risk signals separated from cultural preference and individual behaviour
  • Strategic intent translated into non-negotiables, local choices and decision rights
  • Leadership credibility assessed against consistency, competence, care and fairness

Participants can adapt their leadership behaviour using evidence-based cultural intelligence methods.

  • GLOBE dimensions interpreted without turning national patterns into stereotypes
  • Cultural Intelligence CQ Drive, Knowledge, Strategy and Action applied
  • High-context and low-context communication choices matched to audience expectations
  • Power distance effects anticipated in challenge, escalation and meeting participation
  • Face-saving protocols used when delivering difficult feedback across cultures
  • Personal cultural triggers converted into behavioural adaptation commitments

Participants can establish team conditions that support inclusion, challenge and accountable collaboration.

  • Psychological safety conditions established for dispersed, multilingual leadership teams
  • SCARF threats diagnosed before high-stakes meetings and change announcements
  • Meeting designs balance airtime, language fluency and status differences
  • Decision records distinguish consultation, consent, recommendation and executive accountability
  • Remote inclusion practices prevent headquarters bias and invisible contributor effects
  • Conflict norms agreed through team charters and explicit response protocols

Participants can convert enterprise strategy into clear accountabilities and locally workable decisions.

  • Global strategy translated into a one-page strategic narrative
  • OKRs cascade outcomes while preserving locally owned implementation choices
  • RAPID decision roles clarify Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input and Decide
  • Matrix tensions resolved using escalation thresholds and issue-routing rules
  • Portfolio trade-offs framed with value, risk, capacity and reputational criteria
  • Alignment conversations test understanding rather than seek passive agreement

Participants can build support for cross-border initiatives through structured influence and negotiation.

  • Stakeholder maps rank power, legitimacy, urgency and relationship strength
  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions from underlying needs and constraints
  • Coalition plans identify sponsors, blockers, brokers and credible messengers
  • Principled negotiation prepares BATNA, reservation point and objective criteria
  • Influence messages combine evidence, values, reciprocity and shared outcomes
  • Informal networks mapped before launching cross-border transformation initiatives

Participants can communicate decisions and difficult messages clearly across languages, cultures and channels.

  • Executive messages structured using context, choice, consequence and commitment
  • Virtual briefings use pre-reads, decision asks and documented follow-through
  • Listening for meaning distinguishes content, emotion, identity and interests
  • Interpreter briefings establish terminology, turn-taking and confidentiality expectations
  • Communication channels selected by ambiguity, urgency, sensitivity and audience reach
  • Written messages checked for idiom, humour, tone and translation risk

Participants can make fairer talent decisions and develop leaders for international responsibility.

  • Global talent reviews separate performance evidence from visibility and similarity bias
  • Succession slates assess readiness, mobility, aspiration and critical experience
  • Development assignments match business exposure, sponsorship and risk support
  • Performance conversations calibrate standards while respecting local employment constraints
  • Situational Leadership adjusts direction, coaching, support and delegation appropriately
  • Cross-border onboarding plans clarify cultural norms, networks and early priorities

Participants can plan multinational change with local ownership, credible sponsorship and adoption measures.

  • Change cases connect enterprise purpose with locally credible consequences
  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Local change champions receive roles, messages, feedback loops and escalation paths
  • Resistance data segmented by country, function, stakeholder and root concern
  • Change governance sets sponsorship cadence, decision forums and adoption measures
  • Post-merger integration addresses identity loss, power shifts and operating routines

Participants can make and communicate defensible leadership decisions under cross-border ethical pressure.

  • Ethical dilemmas tested against legality, values, consequences and stakeholder rights
  • Speak-up channels assessed for confidentiality, retaliation risk and response ownership
  • Human rights due diligence considers suppliers, security, labour and communities
  • Crisis leadership communications state facts, uncertainty, actions and update commitments
  • Reputation risks escalated using severity, velocity, exposure and controllability criteria
  • Cross-border investigations preserve evidence, procedural fairness and need-to-know access

Participants can convert course insights into measurable leadership commitments and ongoing peer accountability.

  • Leadership purpose translated into observable commitments for diverse stakeholder groups
  • 360-degree feedback patterns converted into priority behavioural experiments
  • Global leadership strengths assessed through impact, adaptability and trust evidence
  • Personal advisory network mapped across functions, countries and career stages
  • Thirty-day application plan specifies actions, sponsors, measures and review dates
  • Peer accountability arrangements set check-ins, evidence and adjustment triggers

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

What you take back to work

  1. Global leadership diagnostic
  2. Cultural Intelligence behavioural adaptation plan
  3. RAPID decision-rights template
  4. Stakeholder influence and coalition map
  5. Cross-border communication checklist
  6. 30-day global leadership application plan

Who should attend

  • Regional Directors — align enterprise priorities with country-level execution
  • Global Function Heads — lead dispersed teams and manage matrix accountabilities
  • Country Managers — influence headquarters while sustaining local legitimacy
  • Senior Project Directors — deliver cross-border programmes through varied stakeholders
  • Human Resources Directors — build global talent, succession and mobility practices
  • Transformation Leaders — lead multinational change, integration and operating-model work

Skills and tools covered

Cross-cultural leadershipMatrix decision-makingGlobal stakeholder influenceVirtual team leadershipInternational change leadershipEthical crisis judgement

Tools and standards

GLOBE cultural dimensions, Cultural Intelligence CQ, RAPID decision framework, ADKAR change model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short faculty briefings to introduce each framework, followed by senior-level cases drawn from multinational operations. Participants analyse stakeholder conflicts, matrix decisions, virtual meeting failures, change resistance and ethical dilemmas in facilitated groups. Simulations develop negotiation, feedback, escalation and executive communication skills. Peer discussion compares assumptions from different sectors and national contexts. Each participant applies the methods to a current leadership challenge and builds an action plan with defined stakeholders, decisions, measures and review dates.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial leadership experience, typically managing senior stakeholders, a function, a country operation, regional portfolio or major cross-border programme. They should be familiar with organisational strategy, performance management, stakeholder engagement and the realities of matrix reporting. Experience working with international colleagues, clients, suppliers or partners is expected, though participants do not need overseas postings or expatriate experience. No prior study of cultural frameworks, negotiation theory, change models or formal leadership qualifications is required. The course does not assume a particular industry, national background or organisational structure.

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 practitioners who lead major teams, functions, countries or cross-border initiatives. Participants should already be comfortable making decisions with senior stakeholders and working through organisational complexity.

Bring a current global or cross-border leadership challenge that involves real stakeholders, decisions or change activity. Participants may also bring an organisational chart, project brief or stakeholder list, provided confidential information is removed.

The course suits regional leaders, country managers, global function heads, transformation directors and senior human resources leaders. It is particularly relevant where participants must influence without direct authority or reconcile enterprise priorities with local needs.

General leadership courses usually focus on core management behaviours such as delegation, motivation and performance conversations. This masterclass concentrates on leadership across cultures, borders, matrix structures, virtual teams and international stakeholder groups.

Participants use their own leadership challenge as a reference point throughout the programme. They leave with a stakeholder map, decision-rights design, communication choices and a 30-day plan for applying the methods.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between faculty input, case analysis, group work, simulations, peer feedback and individual 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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