Leadership and Influence in Healthcare Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Clinical Service Manager, Senior Nurse or Allied Health Professional 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-HSM-054

Before you join: Participants should have experience working in a healthcare, public health, social care or health-related support function and be familiar with basic organisational structures, meetings and decision processes.

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

Healthcare and social care leaders often need agreement from people they do not directly manage: senior clinicians, operational managers, finance teams, patient representatives, commissioners, regulators and partner agencies. Service redesign, workforce changes, quality improvement and patient-safety action can stall when decision rights are unclear, professional interests conflict or informal networks are ignored. Effective influence requires more than a persuasive presentation; it requires sound political judgement, credible evidence, ethical conduct and disciplined follow-through.

This course develops practical methods for understanding power, building credibility and gaining support for important healthcare decisions. Participants assess formal and informal sources of power, map stakeholders, identify sponsors and brokers, frame messages for different audiences, negotiate resources and manage difficult conversations. The programme addresses coalition building, governance routes, conflict resolution, change adoption and ethical boundaries, including confidentiality, conflicts of interest and duty-of-candour considerations.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with healthcare cases, facilitated group analysis, stakeholder-mapping work, negotiation simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect situations such as reducing elective-care backlogs, improving patient flow, implementing a clinical pathway, securing support for workforce changes and escalating patient-safety concerns. Participants leave with an influence strategy canvas, stakeholder analysis, communication plan and 30-day action plan for a current workplace priority.

The course is suited to managers and clinical leaders who must coordinate action across professional, departmental or organisational boundaries. It is relevant to hospitals, primary care networks, public health bodies, social care providers, charities, insurers, commissioners and health-related government agencies.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose formal and informal power dynamics using French and Raven's Bases of Power
  • Map stakeholders using the Stakeholder Salience Model and interest-influence grids
  • Build an ethical influence strategy for a healthcare service, quality or workforce priority
  • Frame evidence-based messages using message maps, SBAR and audience-interest analysis
  • Negotiate resources and commitments using BATNA, reservation points and objective criteria
  • Manage conflict using Thomas-Kilmann modes and structured difficult-conversation techniques
  • Build cross-functional coalitions using sponsorship analysis, RACI matrices and engagement sequencing
  • Produce a 30-day influence action plan with measures, risks and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence influencing senior clinicians and managers without formal authority
  • A clearer method for preparing contested service or resource proposals
  • Stronger handling of resistance, disagreement and emotionally charged discussions
  • More credible executive briefings supported by evidence and audience-specific framing
  • A practical workplace strategy for gaining support for a live priority

For your organisation

  • Faster agreement on service redesign, quality improvement and patient-safety actions
  • Better cross-functional coordination between clinical, operational and corporate teams
  • More productive handling of resource disputes and competing professional priorities
  • Stronger governance discipline around decision rights, escalation and accountability
  • Improved adoption of change through credible sponsorship and stakeholder engagement

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the power dynamics affecting a healthcare decision and select appropriate influence approaches.

  • Formal authority, expert credibility and network position as healthcare power sources
  • French and Raven's six power bases applied to clinical teams
  • Reading professional hierarchies, referral dependencies and resource-control points
  • Distinguishing legitimate influence from coercion, manipulation and informal patronage
  • Power dynamics between clinicians, managers, patients and governing boards
  • Authority gradients and speaking-up risks in patient-safety decisions

Participants can map stakeholders, assess their interests and prioritise engagement actions.

  • Stakeholder Salience Model: power, legitimacy and urgency scored systematically
  • Mapping decision makers, blockers, brokers and affected patient groups
  • Interest-influence grids for service redesign and resource-allocation decisions
  • Identifying informal opinion leaders through network and meeting observations
  • Stakeholder interviews that surface interests, fears, constraints and success measures
  • Prioritising engagement actions using impact, readiness and relationship strength

Participants can strengthen their credibility and choose ethical influence methods for different situations.

  • Personal influence audit against role authority, expertise and relationships
  • Credibility equation: trustworthiness, expertise, reliability and shared purpose
  • Building clinical-managerial credibility through evidence, follow-through and visibility
  • Using Cialdini's influence principles without compromising professional ethics
  • Reciprocity and social proof applied to multidisciplinary improvement proposals
  • Influence style choices under pressure, ambiguity and competing priorities

Participants can prepare concise, audience-specific messages that support healthcare decisions.

  • Message maps connecting patient outcomes, operational impact and strategic priorities
  • SBAR structure for concise escalation and cross-professional communication
  • Framing service proposals around audience interests, risks and choices
  • Data stories combining quality indicators, patient experience and financial consequences
  • Preparing executive briefings with recommendation, evidence, options and decision request
  • Handling challenging questions through bridging, acknowledgement and factual response

Participants can negotiate agreements that protect patient-care priorities and working relationships.

  • Interest-based negotiation separates people, positions, interests and options
  • BATNA and reservation points prepared before resource and staffing negotiations
  • Objective criteria drawn from guidelines, workload data and service standards
  • Trading low-cost concessions for commitments that protect patient-care priorities
  • Negotiating scope, timelines and accountability within multidisciplinary projects
  • Documenting agreements, assumptions, named owners and escalation routes

Participants can respond constructively to conflict, resistance and disruptive behaviour.

  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to urgency, relationships and patient risk
  • Diagnosing task, process, relationship and values conflicts accurately
  • De-escalation language for emotionally charged clinical and operational discussions
  • Structured difficult conversations using observation, impact, inquiry and request
  • Addressing disruptive behaviour while maintaining dignity and procedural fairness
  • Escalation thresholds for unresolved conflict, safety concerns and conduct issues

Participants can assemble and sustain coalitions for complex healthcare initiatives.

  • Coalition-building sequence: shared problem, core sponsors, allies and commitments
  • Selecting sponsors with positional authority, credibility and decision access
  • RACI matrices clarifying accountable owners, contributors, consultees and informed parties
  • Sequencing one-to-one conversations before contested committee or board decisions
  • Creating mutual-gain propositions for clinical, operational and community stakeholders
  • Maintaining coalitions through visible progress, recognition and feedback loops

Participants can work through formal governance and informal politics without compromising professional standards.

  • Formal governance routes: clinical committees, executive forums and board escalation
  • Informal political intelligence gathered ethically through listening and observation
  • Decision rights mapped using delegated authorities, terms of reference and mandates
  • Conflicts of interest, confidentiality and procurement boundaries in influence work
  • Whistleblowing protections and duty-of-candour considerations for patient safety
  • Equity impact questions before advocating service changes or resource decisions

Participants can build support for healthcare change from initial case through implementation.

  • Kotter's eight steps adapted for clinical service and pathway change
  • Case for change built from safety, access, quality and workforce evidence
  • Readiness assessment identifies sponsors, resistance patterns and implementation constraints
  • Influencing adoption through peer champions, early wins and feedback data
  • Resistance conversations distinguish legitimate concerns from loss of status
  • Implementation communications aligned to governance milestones and operational handoffs

Participants can produce a practical influence plan for a current workplace priority.

  • Influence strategy canvas defines objective, stakeholders, messages, tactics and measures
  • Selecting a live workplace issue with appropriate authority and confidentiality
  • Sequencing actions across sponsor engagement, negotiation and decision forums
  • Risk register covers opposition, delays, safety implications and reputational exposure
  • Measures track commitments, decisions, adoption and service outcome indicators
  • Thirty-day application plan assigns actions, dates, allies and review points

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

What you take back to work

  1. Healthcare influence strategy canvas
  2. Stakeholder salience and interest-influence analysis
  3. Executive message map and SBAR briefing template
  4. Negotiation preparation worksheet with BATNA assessment
  5. Coalition sponsorship and RACI plan
  6. Thirty-day workplace influence action plan

Who should attend

  • Clinical Service Manager — needs support for service, workforce and quality decisions
  • Senior Nurse or Allied Health Professional — must influence multidisciplinary care delivery
  • Healthcare Operations Manager — coordinates decisions across clinical and corporate functions
  • Medical or Clinical Lead — requires commitment without relying solely on formal authority
  • Quality Improvement Lead — secures sponsorship and adoption for improvement initiatives
  • Social Care Manager — aligns professionals, providers and public-sector partners around client outcomes

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder mappingPolitical judgementClinical negotiationCoalition buildingConflict resolutionInfluence planning

Tools and standards

French and Raven's Bases of Power, Stakeholder Salience Model, RACI matrix, Kotter's 8-Step Process

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by healthcare and social care cases, facilitated group analysis and structured peer discussion. Participants apply stakeholder mapping, message design, negotiation preparation and coalition-building methods to realistic scenarios. Simulations develop responses to resistance, difficult conversations and contested decisions. Individual application planning connects each method to a live workplace issue while respecting confidentiality. Instructor feedback helps participants strengthen the evidence, stakeholder logic and sequencing behind their proposed actions.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working in a healthcare, public health, social care or health-related support function and be familiar with basic organisational structures, meetings and decision processes. They should ideally bring a current workplace issue requiring agreement from several stakeholders, such as a service improvement, workforce proposal or patient-safety concern. No formal management qualification is required. The course does not require prior study of leadership theory, finance, project management, negotiation or organisational psychology.

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 practical experience in a healthcare, public health, social care or related support role. Familiarity with meetings, reporting lines and service priorities is useful, but no prior leadership or negotiation qualification is required.

Bring a current workplace issue that requires support from several people, such as a service improvement, staffing proposal or quality concern. Do not bring confidential patient information, commercially sensitive documents or identifiable case records.

The course suits clinical leaders, service managers, operations managers, quality leads and social care managers. It is particularly useful for people who must gain agreement across professional or departmental boundaries.

General leadership courses commonly focus on team management, delegation and personal leadership style. This course concentrates on power, stakeholder interests, organisational politics, negotiation, coalition building and influencing without direct authority.

Participants use a live workplace priority to develop a stakeholder analysis, influence strategy and 30-day action plan. The methods can be used for board papers, service redesign, quality initiatives, workforce decisions and cross-functional projects.

Each training 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 framework briefings, case analysis, simulations, group work 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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