Leadership and Organisational Development in Healthcare Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Clinical Service Managers, Department 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-HSM-029

Before you join: Participants should have experience working in a healthcare provider, commissioner, public health body, social care service or related health organisation.

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 services must improve access, quality, safety and staff experience while managing workforce shortages, rising demand, financial constraints and public accountability. Leaders are expected to make sound decisions across professional boundaries, interpret performance evidence, address cultural problems and lead change without weakening patient care. This requires more than operational management: it requires clear leadership practice, credible governance and disciplined organisational development.

This course examines how healthcare leaders diagnose service problems, set priorities, build effective multidisciplinary teams and translate strategy into measurable action. Participants work with practical methods for workforce planning, quality improvement, clinical governance, service redesign, change management and resource stewardship. They learn how to use performance measures, risk registers, stakeholder analysis, demand-capacity analysis, business cases and implementation roadmaps to support better decisions.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with healthcare cases, facilitated group analysis, leadership simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect common challenges such as emergency department flow, delayed discharge, workforce retention, clinical incident follow-up, service transformation and digital system adoption. Participants leave with a 90-day leadership and organisational development action plan, supported by reusable templates for stakeholder engagement, change impact assessment, service performance review and improvement measurement. A certificate of completion is awarded to participants who complete the course.

The course is suited to managers and clinical leaders moving into broader service, workforce or transformation responsibilities. It is particularly relevant where organisations need stronger coordination between clinical quality, operational performance, staff engagement and financial discipline.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose healthcare service problems using demand-capacity, quality, workforce and financial evidence
  • Apply situational leadership and emotional intelligence to difficult management conversations
  • Design multidisciplinary team arrangements using RACI roles, team charters and escalation routes
  • Assess workforce culture, engagement, retention and burnout risks using structured evidence
  • Build service improvement plans using the IHI Model for Improvement and PDSA cycles
  • Lead organisational change using Kotter's eight-step process and ADKAR assessments
  • Prepare governance reports, risk registers and business cases for senior decision-makers
  • Produce a 90-day leadership action plan with measures, owners and review milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading multidisciplinary teams during service pressure and organisational change
  • Practical language for discussing quality, safety, workforce and financial trade-offs
  • A structured approach to difficult conversations, conflict and staff performance concerns
  • Evidence-based methods for presenting improvement proposals to senior leaders
  • A personal 90-day plan for applying leadership and organisational development methods

For your organisation

  • Clearer accountability across clinical, operational and support teams
  • Better alignment between workforce action, patient safety and service performance priorities
  • More disciplined change planning with defined measures, risks and ownership
  • Improved use of performance evidence in resource allocation and service redesign decisions
  • Stronger local leadership capacity for quality improvement and staff retention

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can interpret how health system structures, stakeholders and service pressures shape leadership decisions.

  • Health system governance, commissioning, regulation and provider accountability relationships
  • Donabedian structure, process and outcome measures linked to leadership decisions
  • Patient flow mapped from referral through discharge and follow-up care
  • Quality, safety, access and equity trade-offs in service redesign
  • Stakeholder power-interest grids for clinicians, patients, unions and regulators
  • Escalation routes for clinical risk, operational failure and safeguarding concerns

Participants can adapt their leadership approach to people, situations and patient-care risks.

  • Leadership values translated into observable behaviours during clinical service pressure
  • Emotional intelligence for difficult conversations, feedback and conflict de-escalation
  • Situational leadership matched to staff competence, confidence and task risk
  • Psychological safety conditions that support speaking up and incident learning
  • Reflective practice using Gibbs' cycle after challenging leadership episodes
  • Personal leadership development goals framed through strengths and feedback

Participants can establish clearer roles, communication routines and accountability within multidisciplinary teams.

  • Multidisciplinary team roles clarified through RACI decision-accountability mapping
  • Team charters defining purpose, behavioural norms, meeting cadence and escalation
  • Structured handovers using closed-loop communication to reduce information loss
  • Conflict sources diagnosed through interests, roles, resources and professional boundaries
  • Delegation matched to competence, authority, supervision and patient-risk thresholds
  • Performance conversations address expectations, evidence, support and agreed actions

Participants can identify workforce risks and develop practical actions to improve staff experience and retention.

  • Workforce capacity assessed through demand, skill mix, roster and absence data
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion examined through recruitment, progression and staff experience
  • Just culture principles distinguish human error, at-risk behaviour and reckless conduct
  • Burnout indicators identified through workload, control, support and moral distress
  • Staff engagement plans connect listening findings with local improvement actions
  • Retention risks prioritised using turnover, vacancy, agency and exit-interview evidence

Participants can convert organisational priorities into focused service objectives, measures and delivery plans.

  • Service strategy translated into aims, measures, initiatives, owners and review cycles
  • Demand-capacity analysis identifies bottlenecks, queues, utilisation and avoidable variation
  • Population health needs segmented by risk, deprivation and care utilisation
  • Scenario planning tests workforce, funding and demand assumptions against service options
  • Balanced scorecards connect patient, workforce, quality and financial performance
  • Benefits maps link proposed changes to measurable service and patient outcomes

Participants can plan and measure improvement work using established healthcare quality methods.

  • IHI Model for Improvement converts service problems into testable change ideas
  • Process mapping exposes delays, rework, handoffs and unsafe workarounds
  • Run charts distinguish common-cause variation from emerging performance signals
  • Root cause analysis separates contributing factors from individual blame after incidents
  • Clinical audit cycles compare practice against agreed criteria and standards
  • PDSA cycles specify predictions, measures, tests and adoption decisions

Participants can plan healthcare change initiatives that address readiness, resistance and sustained adoption.

  • Kotter's eight-step process builds urgency, coalition, vision and sustained adoption
  • ADKAR assessments identify awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Change impact assessments map role, workflow, technology and policy consequences
  • Stakeholder engagement plans match messages, channels, influence and concerns
  • Resistance addressed through listening, involvement, training and visible sponsorship
  • Implementation roadmaps sequence readiness, pilot, scale-up, monitoring and course correction

Participants can use governance and risk tools to provide credible assurance on service delivery.

  • Clinical governance integrates quality assurance, risk management and professional accountability
  • Risk registers record hazards, controls, owners, ratings and review dates
  • Risk appetite statements guide escalation and treatment of service risks
  • Board papers distinguish assurance, performance reporting, decisions and recommendations
  • Data quality checks test completeness, timeliness, validity and consistency
  • Information governance protects confidentiality, access control and lawful data use

Participants can assess service options using activity, cost, benefit, risk and equity considerations.

  • Service-line budgets connect activity, staffing, supplies, overheads and variance
  • Cost drivers separated into fixed, variable, step and avoidable components
  • Business cases state problem, options, costs, benefits, risks and recommendation
  • Option appraisal compares clinical impact, affordability, feasibility and equity
  • Productivity measures interpret output, inputs, quality safeguards and unintended consequences
  • Resource allocation decisions document assumptions, trade-offs and approval authority

Participants can produce a practical leadership and organisational development plan for their service area.

  • Diagnostic findings synthesised into a priority problem statement and case for change
  • Leadership actions aligned with workforce, quality, operational and financial measures
  • 90-day action plans assign milestones, owners, dependencies and review points
  • Measurement plans define baseline, target, data source, cadence and owner
  • Communication plans tailor messages for executives, clinicians, patients and partners
  • Peer challenge strengthens assumptions, mitigations and accountability for proposed actions

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

What you take back to work

  1. Healthcare service performance diagnostic template
  2. Multidisciplinary team charter and RACI matrix
  3. Workforce culture and retention risk checklist
  4. Change impact assessment and stakeholder engagement plan
  5. Clinical governance risk register template
  6. 90-day leadership and organisational development action plan

Who should attend

  • Clinical Service Managers — need to coordinate quality, staffing, activity and financial performance
  • Department Heads — need to lead multidisciplinary teams through operational and cultural change
  • Senior Nurses and Allied Health Professionals — need broader leadership responsibilities beyond clinical practice
  • Healthcare Operations Managers — need structured methods for improving patient flow and service reliability
  • Quality and Patient Safety Managers — need to connect improvement work with leadership and governance
  • Transformation Programme Managers — need practical change methods for healthcare implementation

Skills and tools covered

Healthcare service leadershipWorkforce developmentQuality improvementChange managementClinical governancePerformance analysis

Tools and standards

IHI Model for Improvement, Kotter's Eight-Step Process, ADKAR Model, RACI Matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by healthcare case analysis, group exercises, simulations and facilitated peer review. Participants interpret service data, assess stakeholder interests, examine workforce and culture issues, and plan responses to realistic change scenarios. Leadership simulations address difficult conversations, resistance and competing priorities. Application planning throughout the course helps participants adapt methods to their own service area, team or transformation programme. Trainers adjust cases and discussion emphasis for clinical, operational, public health or social care cohorts.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working in a healthcare provider, commissioner, public health body, social care service or related health organisation. They should understand basic service operations, such as patient pathways, staffing arrangements, performance reporting or quality requirements. Experience supervising staff, contributing to projects or managing a service area is helpful. Participants do not need a clinical qualification, formal management qualification, finance background or prior training in organisational development. The course does not assume prior knowledge of Kotter, ADKAR, RACI or the IHI Model for Improvement.

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 experience in a healthcare, public health, social care or related service setting. Prior management experience is useful, but formal management qualifications and clinical registration are not required.

Bring details of a current service challenge, such as a workforce issue, patient-flow problem, quality concern or planned change. You may also bring non-confidential performance reports or planning documents if these will help your application planning.

The course is designed for clinical leaders, service managers, operations managers, quality professionals and transformation staff with responsibility for teams or service improvement. It is suitable for participants from provider, commissioner, public health and social care settings.

This course applies leadership methods to healthcare realities including clinical governance, patient safety, multidisciplinary working, workforce pressures and service performance. General leadership principles are linked directly to healthcare cases, measures and decision-making tools.

Participants develop a 90-day action plan focused on a real issue from their service area. The templates for stakeholder analysis, risk management, improvement measurement and change planning can be reused with local teams.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from health system leadership and team practice through workforce, improvement, change, governance 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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