Leadership in Public Organisations Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Government Managers, Public Service Directors 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-GPS-084

Before you join: Participants should have experience working in a government body, public agency, municipality, regulator, development programme, humanitarian organisation or comparable institution.

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

Public organisations must deliver services, programmes and reforms while working within law, political direction, public scrutiny, budget limits and formal accountability. Leaders often need to align professionals with different mandates, manage competing stakeholder expectations, make defensible decisions with incomplete information, and sustain staff commitment during organisational change. These demands differ from private-sector leadership because public value, procedural fairness and legitimacy are part of the result.

This course develops practical leadership skills for managers and senior professionals in government agencies, public authorities, municipalities, regulators, donor-funded programmes and humanitarian institutions. Participants examine public-service values, political-administrative relationships, ethical decision-making, stakeholder mapping, team leadership, performance management and change leadership. They apply methods including Theory of Change, RACI responsibility mapping, ADKAR change planning and public-integrity risk assessment to realistic cases involving service reform, emergency response, policy implementation and interagency coordination.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with case analysis, facilitated group work, leadership simulations and structured peer discussion. Participants work with public-sector scenarios such as improving permit turnaround times, coordinating a disaster response, implementing a new benefits system and restoring confidence after a service failure. Each participant leaves with a public-sector leadership action plan, stakeholder map, team accountability model, change communication plan and integrity risk checklist that can be adapted to a current work priority.

The course suits professionals who already supervise staff, lead projects or influence delivery through partnerships, but who need stronger methods for leading within public mandates and formal governance arrangements.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply public-value principles to leadership decisions, priorities and service-delivery trade-offs
  • Map stakeholders using power-interest analysis and design targeted engagement approaches
  • Clarify team accountabilities through RACI matrices, delegation boundaries and decision rights
  • Conduct difficult performance conversations using SBI feedback and documented improvement actions
  • Develop change plans using the ADKAR model, resistance analysis and communication measures
  • Assess integrity risks using conflict-of-interest controls, escalation routes and audit trails
  • Lead cross-agency delivery through shared outcomes, governance routines and coordination agreements
  • Produce a 90-day leadership action plan for a defined public-service priority

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible leadership decisions under public scrutiny and competing mandates
  • Handle difficult staff conversations with a clear feedback and follow-up structure
  • Lead reform initiatives with practical resistance-management and communication methods
  • Build credibility with political leaders, citizens, partner agencies and professional staff
  • Create a focused 90-day plan for improving a current leadership priority

For your organisation

  • Clearer accountability for service-delivery decisions, handoffs and team responsibilities
  • More consistent management of performance, conduct and capability issues
  • Stronger coordination between agencies, contractors, communities and delivery partners
  • Better managed change initiatives with visible ownership, communications and adoption measures
  • Reduced integrity and reputational risks through clearer ethical decision processes

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can frame leadership choices against public value, legal duties and institutional mandate.

  • Public value distinguished from organisational output, efficiency and political popularity
  • Statutory mandate translated into leadership priorities, boundaries and accountabilities
  • Political-administrative interface managed through role clarity and documented advice
  • Stewardship obligations for public funds, authority, information and citizen trust
  • Competing objectives assessed using legality, equity, effectiveness and legitimacy criteria
  • Leadership choices tested against short-term pressures and long-term public outcomes

Participants can identify integrity risks and respond using appropriate controls and escalation routes.

  • OECD public integrity principles applied to everyday management decisions
  • Conflict-of-interest declarations assessed for actual, potential and perceived conflicts
  • Gifts, hospitality and procurement influence managed through documented controls
  • Speaking-up channels protected through confidentiality, non-retaliation and timely investigation
  • Ethical dilemmas resolved using facts, duties, consequences and public-interest tests
  • Decision records structured to withstand audit, review and external scrutiny

Participants can analyse stakeholders and plan engagement suited to their influence, interests and concerns.

  • Power-interest grids identify stakeholders requiring different engagement approaches
  • Stakeholder positions separated from underlying interests, fears and incentives
  • Citizen voices incorporated through consultation design, feedback channels and response commitments
  • Ministerial, board and council briefings tailored to decision needs
  • Interagency relationships mapped around dependencies, authority and resource control
  • Difficult stakeholder meetings prepared using objectives, messages, concessions and red lines

Participants can establish roles, decision rights and operating routines for accountable team delivery.

  • RACI matrices clarify responsibility, accountability, consultation and information requirements
  • Decision rights assigned using mandate, expertise, risk and proximity criteria
  • Delegation agreements specify outcomes, authority limits, checkpoints and escalation triggers
  • Team charters establish purpose, behavioural norms and meeting disciplines
  • Weekly delivery routines track commitments, blockers, dependencies and decisions
  • Cross-functional handoffs improved through service standards and named owners

Participants can manage performance constructively through expectations, feedback, coaching and follow-up.

  • Performance expectations linked to service standards, objectives and behavioural requirements
  • SMART objectives define measurable results, deadlines and quality criteria
  • SBI feedback addresses observable situations, behaviours and resulting impacts
  • Coaching conversations use GROW questions to build staff ownership
  • Underperformance addressed through evidence, support measures and documented review points
  • Recognition practices reinforce public-service behaviours, learning and delivery contribution

Participants can communicate decisions and difficult messages clearly to staff, leaders and external stakeholders.

  • Message maps organise core message, supporting evidence and anticipated questions
  • Plain-language principles improve clarity for citizens, partners and frontline staff
  • Sensitive announcements sequenced across leadership, staff, unions and public audiences
  • Briefing notes distinguish facts, assumptions, risks, options and recommendations
  • Media-sensitive issues handled through agreed lines, approvals and spokesperson roles
  • Listening methods capture concerns, test understanding and identify misinformation early

Participants can plan and lead change while addressing adoption barriers, workforce concerns and delivery risks.

  • ADKAR model diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Change cases connect reform objectives with citizen outcomes and staff impacts
  • Resistance analysis identifies losses, uncertainties, influencers and practical responses
  • Sponsor coalitions secure visible commitment from senior decision-makers and managers
  • Change communications match audience concerns, timing, channels and feedback loops
  • Adoption measures track behaviour change, service continuity and implementation risks

Participants can establish practical arrangements for joint delivery across agencies, partners and communities.

  • Shared outcomes define collective results beyond individual organisational outputs
  • Governance structures assign membership, authority, reporting and dispute-resolution arrangements
  • Memoranda of understanding specify contributions, information-sharing and accountability provisions
  • Coordination meetings use decision logs, action registers and dependency tracking
  • Data-sharing agreements address purpose, access, security and retention requirements
  • Partnership tensions managed through interests, evidence, options and escalation routes

Participants can make timely, evidence-based decisions while managing risk, uncertainty and crisis pressures.

  • Risk registers record causes, events, consequences, controls and owners
  • Decision criteria balance urgency, evidence quality, reversibility and public impact
  • OODA loops structure observation, orientation, decision and action under pressure
  • Escalation thresholds distinguish operational issues from strategic or political risks
  • Incident leadership roles coordinate information, resources, communications and recovery
  • After-action reviews capture lessons, ownership and corrective actions after incidents

Participants can translate course methods into a focused leadership plan for immediate workplace use.

  • Leadership strengths assessed against mandate, relationships, delivery and integrity demands
  • Priority issue defined through problem statements, evidence and desired outcomes
  • Theory of Change links leadership actions to intermediate and service outcomes
  • Ninety-day plans sequence actions, milestones, owners and review dates
  • Personal stakeholder maps identify conversations required during the first month
  • Accountability partners establish follow-through, reflection and progress-review routines

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

What you take back to work

  1. Public-sector leadership action plan
  2. Power-interest stakeholder map
  3. RACI responsibility matrix
  4. ADKAR change plan
  5. Public-integrity risk checklist
  6. 90-day implementation tracker

Who should attend

  • Government Managers — need practical methods for leading teams under public accountability
  • Public Service Directors — must align delivery priorities, staff performance and political direction
  • Programme Managers — coordinate complex reforms, grants or service-improvement initiatives
  • Municipal Officials — balance citizen needs, council oversight and operational delivery
  • Humanitarian Team Leaders — manage partnerships, field teams and accountable emergency operations
  • Regulatory and Agency Professionals — lead technical work while protecting fairness and due process

Skills and tools covered

Public value leadershipStakeholder engagementTeam accountabilityChange leadershipEthical decision-makingInteragency coordination

Tools and standards

OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity, Theory of Change, RACI matrix, ADKAR model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce public-sector leadership models, followed by realistic case work drawn from service delivery, policy implementation, emergency response and regulatory administration. Participants analyse scenarios in groups, practise stakeholder and accountability decisions through simulations, and compare approaches with peers from different institutions. Facilitated reflection links each method to participants' own mandates, constraints and leadership responsibilities. Application planning converts course outputs into practical actions for a current workplace priority.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working in a government body, public agency, municipality, regulator, development programme, humanitarian organisation or comparable institution. They should understand their organisation's basic mandate, reporting lines and current operational priorities, and ideally have responsibility for staff, projects, partners or workstreams. The course assumes familiarity with routine workplace communication and meetings. Prior formal leadership training, management qualifications, policy-analysis expertise, finance knowledge or experience supervising large teams is not required. Participants may bring a current leadership or delivery issue to use during application planning.

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 public, development or humanitarian organisation and understand your institution's mandate and basic reporting structure. Formal management qualifications and previous leadership training are not required.

Bring details of a current leadership, service-delivery, reform or partnership issue you are permitted to discuss. You do not need to bring confidential documents; anonymised facts, process descriptions and performance concerns are sufficient.

It is designed for managers, team leaders, programme managers, senior technical specialists and officials who influence delivery through others. It is particularly useful for people moving into broader management responsibility within public institutions.

The course addresses public value, statutory mandates, political oversight, procedural fairness, public integrity and citizen accountability. Cases and tools are selected for government, public agencies, municipalities, development programmes and humanitarian operations.

Participants build reusable stakeholder, accountability, change and integrity tools around a current workplace priority. The final module converts these outputs into a 90-day action plan with milestones and review points.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten connected modules, combining instructor input, 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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