Leadership Essentials Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Foundation to Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends New Managers, Team Leaders 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-LD-204

Before you join: Participants should have some workplace experience and responsibility for a task, project, service area or small team.

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

New and emerging leaders are often asked to deliver results through people before they have formal authority, a settled management routine or the confidence to handle competing demands. They must translate strategy into clear direction, earn trust, influence peers and senior stakeholders, address weak performance, and make sound decisions under pressure. When these disciplines are absent, teams receive mixed messages, commitments drift and difficult issues remain unresolved. This course treats leadership as observable conduct: the choices, conversations and operating rhythms that create alignment and accountability.

This five-day Leadership Essentials Training Course builds practical command of leadership purpose, vision, communication, influence, delegation, coaching, feedback, conflict resolution, team leadership and change. Participants apply PESTLE, RACI, GROW, SBI, stakeholder mapping, the Pyramid Principle and structured decision methods to realistic situations such as a bank service failure, a public-sector programme delay or a cross-functional implementation dispute. They learn to set direction, gain commitment without relying only on rank, hold focused conversations and create conditions where people raise risks early.

Delivery is instructor-led in a classroom in more than 50 cities or live online. Each 08:30–16:30 training day combines short briefings with cases, facilitated group work, simulations and individual planning; approximately 6.5 contact hours are scheduled daily. Participants leave with a personal leadership charter and 90-day application plan supported by stakeholder, communication, feedback and delegation templates. The materials are designed for immediate use with a current team or project. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

What you will be able to do

  • Formulate a leadership purpose and vision statement linked to strategic priorities
  • Translate strategic goals into SMART objectives, ownership and delivery rhythms
  • Map stakeholders and select ethical influence strategies for priority decisions
  • Structure concise leadership messages using the Pyramid Principle
  • Conduct feedback and coaching conversations using SBI and GROW
  • Address conflict using Thomas-Kilmann modes and DESC conversation scripts
  • Establish team charters, decision protocols and accountability arrangements
  • Produce a personal leadership charter and 90-day application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading conversations with peers, direct reports and senior stakeholders
  • A repeatable method for setting direction and converting priorities into action
  • Practical scripts for feedback, coaching, delegation and difficult conversations
  • Stronger credibility through consistent values, judgement and follow-through
  • A 90-day plan for applying leadership methods to a live workplace challenge

For your organisation

  • Clearer team priorities, ownership and escalation routes
  • More consistent management conversations across supervisors and team leaders
  • Earlier identification of delivery risks, conflict and stakeholder resistance
  • Improved cross-functional cooperation through structured influence and communication
  • Stronger internal pipeline of managers prepared for broader leadership responsibilities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define the conduct, values and credibility required for their leadership role.

  • Leadership and management accountabilities distinguished through authority, responsibility and accountability
  • Personal leadership purpose articulated using values, strengths and role expectations
  • Character-based credibility built through consistency, courage, humility and ethical judgement
  • Formal and informal power sources assessed before influencing key stakeholders
  • Psychological safety behaviours identified: curiosity, fallibility, invitation and productive response
  • Leadership presence strengthened through message discipline, listening and composed body language

Participants can create and communicate a credible vision that connects purpose with strategic choices.

  • Vision statements tested against strategic intent, customer value and organisational purpose
  • Future-back planning converts a desired destination into present leadership priorities
  • Strategic narrative links evidence, purpose, choices and consequences for audiences
  • PESTLE assumptions examined to distinguish external signals from internal preferences
  • Three horizons frame core operations, emerging opportunities and longer-term bets
  • Vision communication adapted for executives, teams, partners and frontline staff

Participants can convert strategic priorities into clear commitments, decision rights and delegated work.

  • SMART objectives translated into observable outcomes, measures, owners and review dates
  • OKR structure connects team commitments with strategic outcomes and measurable key results
  • Priority decisions use impact-effort analysis and explicit trade-off criteria
  • RACI matrices clarify decision rights, consultation routes and delivery accountabilities
  • Weekly leadership cadence aligns commitments, escalation points and stakeholder updates
  • Delegation levels matched to capability, risk, authority and required support

Participants can build stakeholder commitment through ethical influence, negotiation and coalition-building.

  • Stakeholder maps plot power, interest, stance and required engagement approach
  • Influence strategies match stakeholder motivations, concerns, networks and decision authority
  • Reciprocity, social proof and authority applied ethically to gain commitment
  • Principled negotiation separates people, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Coalition-building identifies sponsors, blockers, connectors and credible messengers early
  • Requests framed with a clear ask, rationale, benefit and next step

Participants can communicate direction, decisions and difficult messages with clarity and appropriate audience focus.

  • Audience-message-channel planning tailors communication to decision, action and trust needs
  • Pyramid Principle structures recommendations from headline claim to supporting evidence
  • Briefing messages distinguish facts, interpretations, assumptions, risks and decisions required
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, probing questions, summaries and purposeful silence
  • Meeting design specifies purpose, decision owner, agenda, participation and follow-through
  • Difficult messages delivered directly, respectfully and with agreed next actions

Participants can use structured conversations to improve performance, ownership and development.

  • SBI feedback describes situation, behaviour, impact and an agreed adjustment
  • GROW conversations establish goals, current reality, options and committed actions
  • Coaching questions separate diagnosis, advice, challenge and ownership appropriately
  • Feedforward requests focus on future behaviours rather than past criticism
  • Performance expectations documented through standards, evidence, checkpoints and consequences
  • Recognition practices connect specific contributions with team purpose and values

Participants can diagnose conflict and conduct firm, respectful conversations that produce workable agreements.

  • Conflict sources diagnosed across task, process, relationship and status dimensions
  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to stakes, relationships, time and power
  • DESC scripts prepare assertive conversations without blame, avoidance or aggression
  • Interest-based dialogue tests assumptions, surfaces needs and generates workable options
  • De-escalation uses emotional labelling, pause, reframing and agreed ground rules
  • Conflict agreements record actions, owners, boundaries and review points

Participants can establish the team conditions, norms and decision practices that support delivery.

  • Team charters define purpose, outcomes, roles, norms and operating rhythms
  • Tuckman's stages inform leadership responses during forming, storming, norming and performing
  • Psychological safety strengthened through inclusive turn-taking, candour and constructive challenge
  • Decision protocols distinguish consultation, consent, recommendation and accountable final decisions
  • Cross-functional handoffs mapped through inputs, outputs, service levels and escalation paths
  • Remote team agreements cover availability, response times, channels and meeting etiquette

Participants can lead people through change by explaining impacts, addressing resistance and reinforcing adoption.

  • Change case explains urgency, desired outcomes, impacts and consequences of inaction
  • Stakeholder impact assessments identify role changes, concerns, readiness and support needs
  • Kotter's 8-Step Process sequences urgency, coalition, vision and short-term wins
  • Resistance conversations distinguish valid risks, uncertainty, loss and misinformation
  • Change communications specify what changes, why, when, support and feedback routes
  • Reinforcement plans track adoption indicators, manager actions, barriers and adjustments

Participants can make better leadership decisions and commit to a focused workplace application plan.

  • Decision quality improves through criteria, evidence, assumptions, risks and dissent
  • Bias checks address confirmation, availability, anchoring and groupthink before commitment
  • After-action reviews capture intended results, actual results, causes and lessons
  • Personal leadership charter states purpose, values, behaviours and non-negotiable boundaries
  • 90-day application plan schedules priorities, stakeholder actions, measures and reflection
  • Peer accountability arrangements establish check-ins, evidence sharing and course correction

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

What you take back to work

  1. Personal leadership charter
  2. Future-back vision statement template
  3. Stakeholder influence map
  4. RACI accountability matrix
  5. SBI and GROW conversation guides
  6. 90-day leadership application plan

Who should attend

  • New Managers — need practical methods for leading former peers and new teams
  • Team Leaders — need clearer direction, delegation and performance conversations
  • Supervisors — need consistent ways to build trust and address day-to-day issues
  • Project Managers — need influence methods for cross-functional delivery without direct authority
  • Technical Specialists — need leadership tools before moving into people management
  • High-Potential Employees — need a structured foundation for upcoming leadership responsibilities

Skills and tools covered

Leadership communicationStakeholder influenceCoaching conversationsConflict resolutionTeam accountabilityChange leadership

Tools and standards

GROW coaching model, SBI feedback model, RACI matrix, Kotter's 8-Step Process

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines concise instructor briefings with facilitated case analysis, small-group exercises, communication simulations and structured reflection. Participants work with realistic leadership situations involving competing priorities, stakeholder resistance, service failure, performance concerns and cross-functional disagreement. Trainers demonstrate methods before participants apply them to scenarios and current workplace challenges. Peer feedback is used to improve leadership messages, coaching questions and conflict responses. Each participant converts learning into a personal leadership charter and a focused 90-day application plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have some workplace experience and responsibility for a task, project, service area or small team. The course is particularly useful for people newly appointed to supervisory, management or project leadership roles, and for experienced specialists preparing for such roles. Participants should be ready to discuss a current leadership challenge and receive constructive feedback. No previous leadership qualification, formal people-management experience, personality assessment or prior study of management theory is required. Financial, technical or sector-specific expertise is not assumed.

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

Some workplace experience and responsibility for a task, project or team is helpful. No previous leadership course, management qualification or formal line-management experience is required.

Bring a current leadership challenge, such as a difficult stakeholder relationship, team performance issue or upcoming change. Participants receive course materials and templates for use during the programme.

The course suits new managers, supervisors, team leaders, project managers and high-potential specialists. It is also relevant for experienced technical professionals who need to influence colleagues without direct authority.

This course focuses on the personal conduct and practical methods used to lead people, teams and stakeholders. It includes people-management conversations, but also covers vision, influence, communication, conflict and leading change.

Participants build reusable tools for a live workplace situation, including stakeholder maps, communication plans and feedback guides. The final module produces a personal leadership charter and 90-day plan with specific actions and review measures.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, group work, simulations, feedback 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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