Leadership Influence Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Managers, Project Managers 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-LD-148

Before you join: Participants should have experience working with colleagues, managers, clients or partners whose cooperation affects delivery.

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

Leadership influence is the ability to shape decisions, gain commitment and move work forward when authority alone is insufficient. Managers and senior specialists often depend on peers, executives, technical experts and external partners who do not report to them. They must secure support for investment proposals, service changes, risk controls, transformation work and cross-functional priorities while protecting trust and professional relationships. Poor influence can produce stalled decisions, avoidable resistance, weak sponsorship and meetings that end without clear commitments.

This course develops the practical methods used by influential leaders. Participants assess their sources of power and credibility, map stakeholders and informal networks, and build influence strategies around real decisions. They learn to frame recommendations around audience interests, use evidence and persuasive communication, adapt to behavioural preferences, and gain support before formal meetings. The course also covers ethical persuasion, difficult conversations, objection handling, interest-based negotiation, executive communication and influence across functions, cultures and remote teams.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with cases drawn from organisational change, public service delivery, banking, infrastructure and multinational operations. Participants analyse realistic stakeholder situations, practise conversations and meeting interventions, receive structured feedback, and apply each method to a current workplace priority. They leave with an influence plan for a live decision or initiative, supported by stakeholder analysis, message maps, meeting preparation and a 30-day application plan.

The course suits managers, project leaders, technical specialists and professionals whose results depend on gaining commitment from people outside their direct reporting line. It is particularly relevant where decisions involve competing priorities, constrained resources, senior stakeholders or resistance to change.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess personal power, credibility and influence risks using French and Raven’s power bases
  • Map stakeholders, informal networks and political interests using power-interest analysis
  • Build audience-specific message maps using ethos, logos, pathos and BLUF structure
  • Adapt communication to behavioural preferences and SCARF threat or reward triggers
  • Apply Cialdini’s ethical persuasion principles to proposals, requests and commitments
  • Prepare difficult conversations using interest-based negotiation, BATNA and reservation points
  • Plan meeting influence through pre-wiring, RAPID roles and decision logs
  • Produce a 30-day influence plan for a live workplace decision

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence influencing senior stakeholders without relying on rank
  • A repeatable method for gaining support before key meetings
  • Clearer recommendations that connect evidence to stakeholder priorities
  • Stronger responses to objections, resistance and competing interests
  • A practical plan for improving credibility and influence habits

For your organisation

  • Faster cross-functional decisions through better stakeholder preparation
  • Stronger sponsorship for change, risk and improvement initiatives
  • Fewer stalled proposals caused by unaddressed concerns or hidden resistance
  • More productive meetings with clearer decisions, owners and follow-up actions
  • Improved collaboration between technical, operational and executive stakeholders

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can assess their available influence resources and define an ethical influence objective.

  • Influence defined: changing decisions, commitment and action without formal authority
  • French and Raven’s six power bases assessed against current relationships
  • Authority, expertise, networks and credibility distinguished as influence resources
  • Personal influence inventory identifies strengths, gaps and reputation risks
  • Ethical boundaries separate persuasion, coercion, manipulation and political manoeuvring
  • Influence goals framed around specific decisions, stakeholders and desired commitments

Participants can map decision stakeholders, interests and informal sources of support or resistance.

  • Stakeholder maps classify decision makers, sponsors, blockers and affected groups
  • Power-interest grid prioritises engagement effort and communication frequency
  • Informal networks traced through information flows, trust and access
  • Political mapping reveals alliances, competing interests and hidden constraints
  • Stakeholder salience assessed through power, legitimacy and urgency
  • Influence strategy selects sponsor, message, channel and timing

Participants can build credibility deliberately and repair trust when commitments are missed.

  • Credibility built through competence, reliability, integrity and purposeful intent
  • Trust Equation diagnoses credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation
  • Promises converted into observable commitments with owners and deadlines
  • Expertise signals tailored without overstating certainty or status
  • Reputation repair conversation addresses missed commitments and damaged confidence
  • Consistency between stated values, decisions and behaviours tested

Participants can frame concise recommendations that connect evidence to stakeholder concerns and decisions.

  • Message maps connect audience concerns, evidence, benefits and requested action
  • Aristotle’s ethos, logos and pathos balanced for business communication
  • BLUF structure places the recommendation and decision request first
  • Framing effects tested through gain, loss, risk and fairness language
  • Data stories combine operational evidence, narrative and visual emphasis
  • Strategic questions surface assumptions before presenting a recommendation

Participants can adapt their communication while managing emotional reactions and maintaining professional rapport.

  • DiSC behavioural preferences used to adapt pace, detail and interaction
  • SCARF domains identify status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness triggers
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, labelling, summarising and calibrated questions
  • Emotional self-management separates reaction, interpretation, choice and response
  • Communication preferences agreed without stereotyping individuals or excusing conduct
  • Feedback loops check understanding, concerns and commitment before decisions

Participants can apply ethical persuasion techniques to gain voluntary support for proposals and actions.

  • Cialdini’s principles applied ethically to requests, proposals and commitments
  • Reciprocity established through useful contributions before requesting support
  • Social proof uses relevant peer decisions without false consensus
  • Scarcity claims tested for accuracy, consequence and decision timing
  • Commitment-consistency techniques secure small, voluntary next steps before larger decisions
  • Choice architecture clarifies options, defaults and decision consequences

Participants can prepare and conduct difficult influence conversations around conflict, objections and competing interests.

  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions, interests, options and criteria
  • BATNA and reservation points prepared before consequential conversations
  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to stakes, relationships and time
  • Crucial Conversations contrasting prevents misunderstanding and defensiveness
  • Objections reframed as information about risk, need or disagreement
  • Conflict de-escalation combines acknowledgement, questions, boundaries and documented agreements

Participants can prepare meetings that build alignment, surface concerns and secure clear decisions.

  • Meeting influence plans define decision, participants, roles, agenda and pre-wiring
  • Pre-wiring builds alignment through individual conversations before formal meetings
  • RAPID decision roles clarify recommenders, approvers, contributors and performers
  • Facilitation interventions redirect dominant voices and draw out dissent
  • Objection handling distinguishes factual challenge, value conflict and procedural concern
  • Decision logs record commitments, owners, dates and unresolved assumptions

Participants can adjust influence approaches for senior leaders, peers, remote colleagues and culturally diverse groups.

  • Influencing upward connects recommendations to executive priorities, risks and choices
  • Peer influence trades resources, information and support without positional authority
  • Leading across functions reconciles local targets with enterprise outcomes
  • Virtual influence uses agenda discipline, chat signals and asynchronous follow-up
  • Cross-cultural communication checks directness, hierarchy, face and decision norms
  • Remote relationship routines maintain visibility, trust and reciprocal support

Participants can produce a structured influence plan for a current workplace priority.

  • Live influence case diagnosed using stakeholders, power, interests and decision paths
  • Influence plan specifies outcomes, allies, messages, risks and milestones
  • Resistance scenarios prepared with responses, evidence and escalation routes
  • Personal credibility commitments translated into weekly observable behaviours
  • Thirty-day application plan schedules conversations, meetings and feedback checkpoints
  • Progress measures track decisions advanced, relationships strengthened and commitments secured

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

What you take back to work

  1. Personal influence inventory
  2. Stakeholder power-interest map
  3. Audience message map
  4. Difficult conversation preparation sheet
  5. Meeting influence and pre-wiring checklist
  6. Thirty-day influence action plan

Who should attend

  • Managers — gain commitment from peers, senior leaders and cross-functional teams
  • Project Managers — secure decisions, resources and sponsorship without direct authority
  • Senior Specialists — turn technical recommendations into approved action
  • Programme Leaders — align stakeholders around contested change priorities
  • Business Partners — influence client, operational and executive decisions credibly
  • Team Leaders — handle resistance and build support beyond their immediate teams

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder mappingPersuasive communicationPolitical awarenessDifficult conversationsMeeting influenceNegotiation planning

Tools and standards

French and Raven’s Bases of Social Power, Power-Interest Grid, Cialdini’s Principles of Influence, RAPID Decision-Making Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each framework, followed by case analysis, small-group work, simulations and structured reflection. Participants work with stakeholder dilemmas, decision proposals, meeting scenarios and difficult conversations similar to those faced by managers and senior specialists. Facilitators provide observation criteria and feedback on message framing, listening, objection handling and meeting interventions. Application planning links each method to a participant’s live workplace priority, producing materials that can be used after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working with colleagues, managers, clients or partners whose cooperation affects delivery. They should be familiar with routine workplace meetings, written recommendations and cross-functional working. Bringing a current decision, proposal, change initiative or stakeholder challenge will make the application work more useful. No prior leadership qualification, formal management role, negotiation certification or behavioural assessment experience is required. The course does not assume participants manage large teams or hold budget authority.

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

Participants should have experience working with colleagues, clients, managers or partners whose support affects results. No formal leadership qualification, negotiation training or direct-report responsibility is required.

Bring details of a current proposal, decision, stakeholder challenge or change initiative. Sensitive information can be anonymised while still allowing useful analysis and planning.

It is suited to managers, project leaders, business partners and senior specialists who need results from people outside their direct authority. Participants often work in matrix structures, programmes or cross-functional teams.

People management courses focus on directing and developing direct reports, while presentation courses focus mainly on delivery. This course focuses on gaining commitment, handling interests and shaping decisions across stakeholder groups.

Participants create a stakeholder analysis, message map and 30-day plan for a live workplace priority. These materials can be used to prepare conversations, meetings, proposals and follow-up actions.

The five days run from 08:30 to 16:30, with about 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, group work, simulations, feedback 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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