HR Professional Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Officers, HR Advisors 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-HM-104

Before you join: Participants should have six to twelve months of HR, people-management or administrative experience and familiarity with common HR activities such as recruitment, onboarding, absence, performance reviews or employee records.

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

Effective HR practice depends on more than knowing policies. HR professionals must turn business requests into clear advice, consistent processes and documented decisions while balancing employee experience, manager accountability, confidentiality and risk. Weak intake, vague records, inconsistent selection or poorly handled concerns can create avoidable disputes, delay hiring and reduce confidence in HR. This course develops the practical professional skills needed to handle routine and sensitive work with sound judgement.

Participants build an end-to-end method for core HR work: clarifying stakeholder needs, planning workforce actions, recruiting fairly, supporting performance, managing employee concerns, interpreting people data and communicating recommendations. The course addresses the practical tools that make HR credible, including RACI matrices, SMART objectives, structured interview guides, SBI feedback, case chronologies, absence analysis, development plans and HR dashboards. Participants learn how to distinguish an HR process issue from a manager capability issue, when to escalate a matter and how to record the rationale for decisions.

Instructor-led delivery combines short briefings with realistic cases from corporate, public-sector, banking and NGO settings. Participants work through manager requests, recruitment decisions, performance concerns, absence patterns and change communications, receiving feedback on the quality of their analysis and recommendations. Each participant leaves with an HR professional practice toolkit containing reusable templates, checklists and a 90-day application plan. The course runs for five days, from 08:30 to 16:30, in classroom venues in 50+ cities or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

The course is suited to HR practitioners who already support managers and employees and now need greater consistency, confidence and influence in their day-to-day work.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply a structured HR intake method to define requests, risks, stakeholders and escalation needs
  • Construct RACI matrices and employee lifecycle maps for core HR service processes
  • Design structured selection processes using role criteria, interview guides and scoring matrices
  • Deliver SBI feedback and document performance improvement plans with measurable review points
  • Prepare fact-finding plans, case chronologies and procedurally fair employee-relations records
  • Interpret absence, turnover and recruitment data to identify trends and management actions
  • Develop workforce, learning and change plans aligned with operational priorities
  • Present evidence-based HR recommendations through concise executive briefings and dashboards

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Handle manager requests with clearer boundaries, evidence requirements and escalation decisions
  • Produce more consistent recruitment, performance and employee-relations documentation
  • Give feedback using a repeatable structure for difficult workplace conversations
  • Convert people data into practical recommendations for managers and senior stakeholders
  • Build a 90-day plan for improving personal HR service delivery

For your organisation

  • More consistent application of HR processes across managers, teams and locations
  • Better documented decisions for recruitment, performance and employee-relations cases
  • Earlier identification of absence, turnover and capability risks through people data
  • Improved manager self-service through clearer guidance, tools and escalation routes
  • Stronger alignment between workforce actions, learning investment and operational priorities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define HR responsibilities, service boundaries and stakeholder expectations using structured operating tools.

  • HR operating model roles, service channels and escalation boundaries
  • RACI matrices clarifying ownership between HR, managers and shared services
  • Employee lifecycle maps identifying critical moments, handoffs and control points
  • Stakeholder mapping using influence, interest, expectations and communication needs
  • Intake questions separating policy requests, people risks and manager capability gaps
  • Professional judgement: evidence, consistency, confidentiality and documented rationale

Participants can translate operational priorities into practical workforce and HR action plans.

  • Workforce plans translating business demand into headcount, skills and cost assumptions
  • HR scorecard measures linking people activity to operational outcomes
  • SMART objectives aligned with departmental priorities and HR accountabilities
  • Root-cause analysis distinguishing symptoms from workforce, process and leadership causes
  • People data definitions, data-quality checks and reporting caveats
  • Recommendations structured through issue, evidence, options, risk and decision

Participants can maintain controlled HR documentation and identify matters requiring specialist escalation.

  • Employment contract essentials: status, terms, variation and probation records
  • Policy architecture distinguishing mandatory rules, guidance notes and local procedures
  • Document control: owners, review dates, version history and approval routes
  • Confidential personnel files, access permissions, retention schedules and secure disposal
  • Data-minimisation principles applied to recruitment, performance and absence records
  • Escalation thresholds for legal advice, safeguarding concerns and serious misconduct

Participants can run fair, evidence-based selection and onboarding processes that support early performance.

  • Role profiles separating outcomes, accountabilities, essential criteria and behavioural indicators
  • Structured interview guides using anchored questions and consistent scoring
  • Selection matrices weighting criteria, evidence sources and panel decisions
  • Candidate communication timelines protecting experience, fairness and employer reputation
  • Bias interruption techniques for shortlisting, interviews and selection discussions
  • Onboarding plans covering preboarding, first-week milestones, role clarity and feedback

Participants can support managers to set expectations, give feedback and address performance gaps fairly.

  • Performance cycles connecting goals, check-ins, evidence and year-end decisions
  • SMART goals written with measures, deadlines, dependencies and quality standards
  • SBI feedback model: situation, behaviour, impact and agreed next steps
  • Calibration discussions testing standards, evidence quality and rating consistency
  • Performance improvement plans specifying gaps, support, review dates and consequences
  • Recognition practices reinforcing valued behaviours without creating inequitable precedents

Participants can structure employee-relations cases with fair process, reliable evidence and clear records.

  • Informal resolution options matched to issue severity, relationships and evidence
  • Fact-finding plans defining allegations, witnesses, documents, sequence and confidentiality
  • Investigation interviews using open questions, contemporaneous notes and neutral language
  • Grievance and disciplinary pathways distinguishing process roles and decision authority
  • Case chronology templates recording actions, evidence, decisions and communication dates
  • Procedural fairness safeguards: notice, response opportunity, impartiality and reasoned outcomes

Participants can identify people risks and guide managers through appropriate support and attendance actions.

  • Absence data segmented by frequency, duration, patterns and business impact
  • Return-to-work conversations addressing support, attendance expectations and adjustments
  • Wellbeing risk assessments identifying workload, role, relationships and change pressures
  • Psychological safety behaviours supporting respectful challenge, speaking up and learning
  • Reasonable-adjustment conversations documenting functional needs, options and review points
  • Manager referral routes for occupational health, employee assistance and safeguarding

Participants can identify capability needs and create targeted development and succession actions.

  • Capability needs analysis comparing required performance with current knowledge and skill
  • 70-20-10 development plans combining experience, feedback and formal learning
  • Learning objectives written with observable performance, conditions and success criteria
  • Kirkpatrick evaluation levels applied to learning, behaviour and business results
  • Succession slates identifying critical roles, readiness, development actions and risk
  • Career conversations linking aspirations, strengths, opportunities and realistic next moves

Participants can plan people-side change activities and equip managers for consistent communication.

  • Change impact assessments mapping stakeholder effects, capability needs and transition risks
  • ADKAR framework addressing awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement
  • Consultation plans setting messages, audiences, channels, feedback loops and owners
  • Manager toolkits preparing consistent answers to predictable employee questions
  • Resistance diagnosis separating information gaps, workload concerns, trust and skill barriers
  • Communication drafts distinguishing confirmed decisions, open questions and next milestones

Participants can present credible HR recommendations and prioritise actions for their own workplace.

  • HR dashboards presenting headcount, turnover, absence, recruitment and learning measures
  • Trend analysis separating signal, seasonal variation, anomalies and data limitations
  • Executive briefings using headline, evidence, options, recommendation and requested decision
  • Ethical decision-making tested against fairness, transparency, harm and accountability
  • Influencing conversations adapting messages to stakeholder priorities, objections and authority
  • 90-day HR application plan with priorities, measures, sponsors and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. HR request intake and escalation checklist
  2. RACI matrix and employee lifecycle map template
  3. Structured interview guide and selection matrix
  4. Performance improvement plan and SBI feedback worksheet
  5. Employee-relations case chronology template
  6. 90-day HR professional application plan

Who should attend

  • HR Officers — need consistent methods for handling employee and manager requests
  • HR Advisors — need stronger judgement, documentation and stakeholder-facing communication
  • HR Business Partners — need practical tools for translating business priorities into people actions
  • HR Generalists — need a structured approach across recruitment, performance and employee relations
  • People Managers with HR duties — need confidence applying fair people processes and escalating concerns
  • Talent and Learning Specialists — need stronger links between capability needs, development and business outcomes

Skills and tools covered

HR service designEmployee relations handlingPerformance managementWorkforce planningPeople analyticsStakeholder influencing

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, SMART objectives, SBI feedback model, ADKAR change management model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings, facilitator demonstrations, case work, group exercises, simulations and structured peer review. Cases include recruitment decisions, underperformance, employee concerns, absence patterns, workforce requests and change communications. Participants apply named frameworks to realistic documents, data extracts and stakeholder scenarios, then compare approaches against fairness, evidence, confidentiality and business criteria. Daily reflection links the material to participants' own roles, and the final sessions convert priorities into a practical 90-day application plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have six to twelve months of HR, people-management or administrative experience and familiarity with common HR activities such as recruitment, onboarding, absence, performance reviews or employee records. They should be comfortable discussing workplace scenarios and reviewing basic spreadsheet tables. No HR qualification, employment-law specialism, HR information system expertise or prior people-analytics training is required. The course does not replace jurisdiction-specific legal advice; participants should bring their own organisation's policies where permitted.

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

The course assumes some exposure to HR administration, people management or common employee processes. It does not require an HR qualification, legal specialism or previous people-analytics training.

Bring examples of non-confidential HR challenges, manager requests or process gaps you want to improve. If permitted, your current HR policies, forms or dashboard samples can help you apply the methods directly.

It is designed for HR officers, advisors, generalists, business partners and managers with people-process responsibilities. It is most useful for professionals who need to move from task completion to structured HR judgement and advice.

This course focuses on the professional methods used to carry out day-to-day HR work: intake, documentation, selection, feedback, case handling, data and influencing. It is not a jurisdiction-specific employment law programme or a senior strategic HR leadership course.

Participants leave with templates for intake, selection, performance, case handling and action planning. The final module helps each participant select workplace priorities, sponsors, measures and review dates for the next 90 days.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, combining instructor input, case analysis, simulations, group work and 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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