Leadership Development for HR Managers Training Course

Course overview

HR managers are expected to lead through reorganisations, workforce shortages, employee relations issues, capability gaps and changing expectations of fairness. Yet many have developed deep HR expertise without receiving structured preparation for leading senior stakeholders, managing an HR team, or converting people data into decisions that executives will act on. This course addresses the shift from trusted HR adviser to credible business leader: setting direction, influencing without formal authority, making sound people-risk decisions and delivering measurable change.

Participants examine the leadership practices most relevant to an HR function: strategic workforce planning, organisational diagnosis, coaching, difficult conversations, inclusive decision-making, change communication and HR service performance. They learn to frame proposals in commercial terms, use workforce metrics and ISO 30414-aligned indicators, map stakeholders, challenge assumptions, and build accountable delivery plans. Particular attention is given to leading an HR team through conflicting priorities while maintaining consistent standards in employee relations, talent and people operations.

The course is delivered through facilitated briefings, practical leadership simulations, peer challenge sessions and a running case based on an HR transformation programme. Participants work with stakeholder maps, decision logs, workforce dashboards, communication plans and coaching frameworks rather than abstract leadership models alone. By the final day, each participant has produced an HR Leadership Action Plan for a live business issue, including a leadership objective, stakeholder strategy, measures, risks, governance rhythm and first 90-day actions.

It is designed for established HR professionals moving into broader leadership accountability, as well as current HR managers who need to strengthen their strategic influence and develop a more capable, resilient HR team.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Diagnose an HR function’s leadership priorities using a people-risk and business-impact assessment
• Build a stakeholder map and influence plan for a contested people initiative
• Translate workforce data into an executive decision paper with clear options and recommendations
• Apply the GROW coaching model to improve HR team performance and accountability
• Conduct high-stakes employee relations and performance conversations using a structured conversation plan
• Design a change communication plan for an HR policy, operating-model or technology rollout
• Create an ISO 30414-aligned workforce metrics dashboard for leadership review
• Produce a 90-day HR Leadership Action Plan with milestones, owners, risks and success measures

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• HR Managers — who lead HR delivery and need stronger strategic influence with business leaders
• HR Business Partners — who must shape workforce decisions across senior stakeholder groups
• Senior HR Advisors — who are preparing for line-management or HR leadership responsibilities
• People Operations Managers — who need to improve service performance while leading operational teams
• Talent and Organisational Development Managers — who lead capability and change initiatives across the organisation
• Employee Relations Managers — who must guide sensitive, high-risk people decisions with consistency and credibility

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of practical HR experience and a working understanding of core HR activities such as employee relations, recruitment, performance management, learning, reward or HR operations. Familiarity with basic workforce measures, including headcount, turnover, absence and vacancy data, is assumed. Participants should be comfortable discussing real workplace cases and using spreadsheets or presentation software to review information and present recommendations. No prior formal leadership qualification, psychometric accreditation, Power BI expertise or specialist change-management certification is required. A laptop is useful for the final action-planning work but not essential.

Training methodology

The programme combines instructor-led input with HR-specific application throughout the week. Participants analyse workforce scenarios, practise executive briefings, rehearse difficult conversations in paired role plays and test decisions against business, legal, employee and reputational risks. Small groups work through a running case involving an HR operating-model change, using stakeholder maps, dashboards, communication plans and decision logs. The instructor provides structured feedback on choices and language used. Each day adds a component to an individual HR Leadership Action Plan, completed and peer-reviewed on day five.

Course outline

Day 1: Positioning HR as a business leadership function

• The HR manager’s leadership remit and decision rights
• Business-model analysis for HR priorities
• People-risk categories and escalation thresholds
• HR operating models and service-delivery accountabilities
• Leadership styles in HR teams and stakeholder settings
• Values-based judgement in sensitive people decisions
• Personal leadership diagnostic and development priorities

Workshop: Participants assess a case HR function, identify its three highest-priority people risks and produce a leadership mandate statement.

Day 2: Influencing executives and leading stakeholders

• Stakeholder mapping using power-interest and commitment analysis
• Influence strategies for line leaders, finance and employee representatives
• Framing people proposals in commercial and operational terms
• Executive decision papers: options, evidence and recommendations
• Managing resistance to HR policy and process change
• Meeting design for contested workforce decisions
• Credibility, challenge and constructive dissent

Workshop: Participants prepare and deliver a five-minute executive recommendation on a workforce proposal, receiving structured peer and instructor feedback.

Day 3: Leading HR teams through performance and complexity

• Role clarity, operating rhythms and service-level expectations
• GROW coaching for HR practitioner development
• Delegation levels and accountable decision-making
• Performance conversations based on observable evidence
• Conflict resolution within HR and cross-functional teams
• Psychological safety and appropriate challenge in HR teams
• Succession and capability planning for the HR function

Workshop: In a triad role play, participants coach an underperforming HR team member and produce a documented development and accountability plan.

Day 4: Using workforce evidence to lead change

• Workforce planning assumptions and demand-capacity analysis
• ISO 30414 human capital reporting indicators
• Interpreting turnover, absence, mobility and span-of-control data
• Dashboard design principles in Microsoft Power BI
• Root-cause analysis using five whys and fishbone diagrams
• Change impact assessment for HR initiatives
• Communication and adoption planning for managers and employees

Workshop: Participants analyse a workforce dataset, create a priority dashboard specification and draft a change impact and communication plan.

Day 5: Governance, resilience and the HR leadership plan

• Governance structures for people programmes and HR transformation
• Decision logs, risk registers and assurance checkpoints
• Ethical dilemmas, confidentiality and consistent treatment
• Leading through restructures, crises and workforce uncertainty
• Measuring HR leadership impact and benefits realisation
• Building a 30-60-90 day leadership action plan
• Peer challenge and commitment planning

Workshop: Participants present their completed HR Leadership Action Plan to a peer review panel and refine its measures, risks, stakeholder actions and first 90-day milestones.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Excel, ISO 30414 Human Resource Management — Human Capital Reporting, GROW coaching model

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions