Leadership Development for HR Professionals Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Business Partner, HR Manager and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-LD-143

Before you join: Participants should have practical HR experience, such as advising managers, supporting employee relations, recruitment, learning, talent or workforce planning.

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

HR professionals are often expected to influence senior decisions, strengthen manager capability, deal with difficult people issues and guide organisational change, while holding neither full operational authority nor a large team. Technical HR knowledge alone does not settle competing priorities, gain commitment for workforce investment or create consistent management behaviour. This course addresses the leadership work behind those demands: setting direction, earning trust, using evidence, coaching managers and acting decisively when performance, conduct or change issues emerge.

Participants examine how an HR leader turns people strategy into operating priorities and clear accountabilities. They practise stakeholder mapping, RACI decision design, executive briefings, workforce-data interpretation, business-case development, feedback and coaching conversations, conflict handling, performance intervention and change leadership. The course also examines ethical judgement, inclusion, employee relations and the role of HR in creating psychologically safe, accountable teams. By the end, participants can move between adviser, coach, challenger and decision-maker roles with a clear rationale for each approach.

Instruction combines focused briefings with cases drawn from workforce planning, employee relations, transformation and manager-performance situations. Participants test methods in small groups, simulations and structured peer feedback, then adapt the outputs to a live workplace priority. Each participant leaves with a 90-day HR leadership action plan, influence map, stakeholder communication plan and practical conversation tools. The course suits HR practitioners moving into broader leadership responsibility and established HR managers who need a more deliberate method for leading through others.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess personal leadership credibility using stakeholder and self-assessment evidence
  • Build RACI-based operating arrangements for recurring HR decisions
  • Present people data and workforce risks through executive-level briefings
  • Apply the GROW coaching model in manager development conversations
  • Conduct difficult performance, feedback and conflict conversations with fairness
  • Plan organisational change using ADKAR diagnosis and change-impact assessment
  • Design inclusive, ethical people-management controls for managers
  • Produce a 90-day HR leadership action plan with measurable priorities

Benefits of attending

For you

  • A clearer leadership identity beyond technical HR expertise
  • Stronger credibility in executive and cross-functional discussions
  • Practical language for difficult manager and employee conversations
  • A repeatable method for coaching managers without taking over their responsibilities
  • A 90-day plan for progressing a current leadership priority

For your organisation

  • More consistent HR leadership across workforce, conduct and change decisions
  • Better manager capability through structured coaching and feedback practices
  • Clearer ownership and escalation for recurring people-management decisions
  • Higher-quality people recommendations supported by evidence and business implications
  • Earlier, fairer intervention on performance, conflict and employee relations issues

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define their leadership contribution and identify the credibility required for their role.

  • HR leadership mandate linked to workforce, business and people risks
  • Stakeholder mapping using influence, interest, trust and decision-rights criteria
  • Personal leadership baseline from values, strengths, triggers and credibility gaps
  • Leadership brand statement connecting expertise, conduct and strategic contribution
  • Power bases assessed through authority, expertise, relationships and information access
  • 30-day leadership priorities framed as outcomes, measures and key relationships

Participants can establish clear priorities, decision rights and operating routines for HR work.

  • Decision rights clarified with RACI for recurring people-management decisions
  • Accountability conversations distinguish ownership, consultation, approval and information flow
  • Operating cadence built around workforce reviews, risks and decisions
  • Escalation thresholds defined for conduct, legal, safety and reputational issues
  • Meeting charters specify purpose, participants, inputs, decisions and follow up
  • HR service measures translated into executive-level performance indicators

Participants can prepare and deliver persuasive HR recommendations to senior stakeholders.

  • Audience analysis identifies executive priorities, objections, language and decision criteria
  • Message maps connect people evidence, business consequences and requested action
  • Executive briefings structured with headline, evidence, options and recommendation
  • Influence strategies match stakeholder power, motivation, resistance and network position
  • Negotiation preparation separates interests, positions, concessions and walk-away points
  • SBI feedback model delivers observable, timely and behaviour-specific messages

Participants can convert workforce data into decision-ready insights and recommendations.

  • Employment data converted into trends, risks, assumptions and management questions
  • Workforce dashboards distinguish leading indicators from lagging people measures
  • Absence, turnover and vacancy patterns tested for operational significance
  • Root-cause analysis separates symptoms, contributing factors and controllable causes
  • Business cases compare costs, benefits, risks, assumptions and implementation capacity
  • Recommendations state decision required, owner, timing, dependencies and success measures

Participants can create accountability, trust and performance within HR teams and manager networks.

  • Team purpose translated into service standards, priorities and behavioural expectations
  • Directive, coaching, supporting and delegating responses selected by readiness and task
  • Delegated work defined through outcomes, boundaries, authority and review points
  • Team agreements address availability, decision-making, challenge and mutual accountability
  • Psychological safety supported through curiosity, candour and response to mistakes
  • Performance routines combine weekly priorities, one-to-ones and quarterly reviews

Participants can coach managers towards accountable action and focused development.

  • GROW coaching model structures goal, reality, options and way-forward conversations
  • Listening techniques test assumptions through paraphrasing, probing and purposeful silence
  • Career discussions link aspirations, capability evidence and development opportunities
  • Development plans specify target behaviour, practice opportunities, support and measures
  • Coaching boundaries distinguish developmental support from formal performance management
  • Succession conversations assess readiness, critical roles, risk and development actions

Participants can address performance, conflict and conduct concerns fairly and directly.

  • Performance expectations converted into observable standards, measures and review dates
  • Early intervention addresses missed commitments, capability gaps and conduct concerns
  • Documentation records facts, agreements, support offered and follow-up actions
  • Difficult conversations prepared using purpose, evidence, questions and response options
  • Conflict styles diagnosed before selecting collaboration, accommodation, competition or avoidance
  • Fairness checks test consistency, bias risks, confidentiality and procedural discipline

Participants can diagnose workforce change needs and support managers through implementation.

  • Change case links organisational need, workforce effects and desired behaviours
  • ADKAR change model diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Change-impact assessments identify role, process, skill and stakeholder consequences
  • Resistance responses distinguish legitimate concerns, uncertainty, loss and misinformation
  • Manager enablement packs define messages, FAQs, actions and escalation routes
  • Communication plans sequence audiences, channels, messengers, feedback and decisions

Participants can apply ethical judgement and inclusion controls to people-management decisions.

  • Inclusion risks identified within recruitment, progression, reward and everyday decisions
  • Bias interruption techniques introduce criteria, challenge questions and documented rationale
  • Employee relations decisions balance consistency, dignity, confidentiality and organisational duty
  • Ethical dilemmas tested against evidence, policy, consequences and stakeholder impact
  • Speak-up channels handled with psychological safety, impartiality and appropriate escalation
  • People policies translated into manager actions, controls and communication points

Participants can convert course methods into a focused, measurable leadership plan.

  • Personal leadership assessment revisits strengths, triggers, credibility and priority gaps
  • 90-day action plan sets outcomes, stakeholders, routines, measures and review dates
  • Influence map identifies sponsors, blockers, allies and planned conversations
  • Coaching plan schedules development conversations, questions, commitments and follow-through
  • Change leadership plan assigns messages, manager actions and resistance responses
  • Peer accountability arrangements establish check-ins, evidence and course-correction triggers

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

What you take back to work

  1. 90-day HR leadership action plan
  2. Stakeholder influence map
  3. RACI decision-rights template
  4. Executive people-data briefing template
  5. GROW coaching conversation guide
  6. Change-impact and communication plan

Who should attend

  • HR Business Partner — needs greater influence with business leaders and managers
  • HR Manager — leads people priorities, teams or complex employee issues
  • HR Generalist — is preparing for broader leadership and advisory responsibility
  • Talent Management Manager — needs to develop leaders and succession capability
  • Learning and Development Manager — supports manager capability and organisational change
  • Employee Relations Manager — handles sensitive cases requiring judgement and influence

Skills and tools covered

Strategic HR leadershipStakeholder influenceCoaching conversationsWorkforce data interpretationChange leadershipPerformance intervention

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, SBI feedback model, GROW coaching model, ADKAR change model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to introduce leadership methods, followed by case work based on HR business partnering, workforce change, employee relations and manager-performance scenarios. Group exercises test stakeholder influence, decision rights and people-data recommendations. Simulations provide practice in coaching, feedback, conflict and change conversations, with structured peer and instructor feedback. Participants apply each method to a current workplace priority and build a practical action plan during the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical HR experience, such as advising managers, supporting employee relations, recruitment, learning, talent or workforce planning. They should understand their organisation's basic HR policies and be able to discuss a current people or leadership challenge. Experience supervising staff is useful but not essential. No prior formal leadership qualification, advanced data-analysis capability or legal qualification is required. Participants do not need to bring confidential employee records; anonymised examples and general workplace scenarios are sufficient.

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 an HR role and familiarity with routine HR policies and manager advice. Previous line-management experience is useful but not required.

Bring details of a current people, manager or change challenge that you can discuss without sharing confidential information. You may also bring anonymised workforce measures, team objectives or a draft people initiative.

It is designed for HR business partners, HR managers, generalists and specialist HR professionals taking on broader leadership responsibility. It also suits established HR leaders who want more structured methods for influence, coaching and change.

This course uses leadership methods in HR-specific situations, including employee relations, manager capability, workforce risk and organisational change. It focuses on the authority, confidentiality and fairness issues HR professionals face when leading through others.

You will leave with an action plan, influence map, decision-rights template and conversation guides that can be used immediately. The final module connects these materials to a live workplace priority and planned review points.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instruction, cases, group work, simulations, feedback and application planning; participants receive a certificate of completion.

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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