Leadership Thinking Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Managers, Department Heads 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-126

Before you join: Participants should have experience leading projects, teams, workstreams or significant stakeholder discussions.

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 decisions often fail not because leaders lack technical knowledge, but because they frame the wrong problem, accept weak evidence, overlook system effects or move to action before testing assumptions. Senior professionals must make sound judgments amid competing priorities, incomplete information, political pressure and uncertain outcomes. They also need to help teams think clearly rather than simply wait for direction.

This course develops the thinking disciplines needed for strategic leadership. Participants learn to distinguish complicated from complex challenges, scan external forces, map system relationships, test assumptions, assess evidence and make defensible decisions. They use PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, Cynefin, causal loop diagrams, pre-mortem analysis, RAPID decision roles and structured decision briefs. The programme also addresses creative problem framing, stakeholder reasoning, constructive dissent, executive communication and turning strategic choices into measurable action.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic cases, facilitated group analysis, decision simulations and application planning. Cases can be adapted to public services, banking, infrastructure, humanitarian programmes, technology, manufacturing or corporate functions. Participants leave with a personal leadership thinking toolkit, including a decision brief, stakeholder analysis, systems map, assumption log and 90-day application plan. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits managers and specialists who already lead work, influence decisions or advise senior stakeholders, and who need more disciplined ways to analyse complex issues and guide others toward action.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose leadership challenges using strategic, critical, systems and creative thinking perspectives
  • Apply PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces to assess strategic conditions and competitive pressures
  • Map feedback loops, stakeholders and dependencies using causal loop diagramming
  • Evaluate assumptions, evidence quality, cognitive bias and decision risk before committing resources
  • Structure high-stakes decisions using RAPID roles, decision matrices and decision briefs
  • Generate and select alternative responses using Six Thinking Hats and constraint reversal
  • Lead evidence-based challenge and constructive dissent through advocacy-and-inquiry techniques
  • Produce a 90-day leadership thinking application plan for a current workplace issue

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make better-structured recommendations under uncertainty and time pressure
  • Recognise personal cognitive biases before they distort important judgments
  • Explain strategic choices clearly to senior stakeholders and teams
  • Handle challenge and disagreement without becoming defensive or vague
  • Build a repeatable approach for complex leadership decisions

For your organisation

  • Improves decision quality through clearer assumptions, evidence and accountability
  • Reduces rework caused by poorly framed problems and hidden dependencies
  • Strengthens cross-functional decisions where priorities and incentives conflict
  • Creates more consistent executive briefs, escalation routes and review practices
  • Develops managers who can identify risks and opportunities earlier

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can select an appropriate thinking perspective for a leadership challenge.

  • Leadership thinking patterns: operational, strategic, critical and systems perspectives
  • Distinguishing complicated problems from complex adaptive challenges using Cynefin
  • Question ladders that move conversations from symptoms to governing assumptions
  • Separating facts, inferences, opinions and unknowns before committing resources
  • First-order and second-order consequences traced through stakeholder and system effects
  • Personal thinking habits identified through triggers, biases and decision preferences
  • Reflection protocol for reviewing reasoning after consequential leadership decisions

Participants can assess external conditions and translate strategic intent into decision criteria.

  • Purpose, ambition and strategic intent translated into decision criteria
  • PESTLE signals sorted by impact, uncertainty and time horizon
  • Porter's Five Forces used to test industry attractiveness and power shifts
  • Trend-impact matrix distinguishing noise, drivers, constraints and discontinuities
  • Scenario axes built from critical uncertainties rather than linear forecasts
  • Strategic choices tested against opportunity cost, capability and stakeholder value
  • Strategic narrative connecting external evidence, choices and intended outcomes

Participants can identify feedback, dependencies and intervention points within complex systems.

  • Causal loop diagrams reveal reinforcing and balancing feedback in performance problems
  • System boundary choices expose omitted actors, incentives and dependencies
  • Stock-and-flow thinking distinguishes accumulated conditions from current activity rates
  • Intervention points ranked by likely effect, feasibility and unintended consequences
  • Stakeholder ecosystem maps show influence, interests, relationships and information flows
  • Cross-functional handoffs examined for delays, rework and accountability gaps
  • System interventions framed as hypotheses with observable leading indicators

Participants can test claims, assumptions and evidence before endorsing a course of action.

  • Assumption mapping separates certainties, testable beliefs and dangerous unknowns
  • Evidence quality assessed through source credibility, relevance, timeliness and corroboration
  • Confirmation bias, anchoring and availability bias recognised in leadership judgments
  • Pre-mortem analysis identifies plausible failure modes before approval
  • Red-team questions challenge framing, data selection and favored recommendations
  • Argument maps connect claims, evidence, warrants and counterarguments
  • Decision logs record rationale, dissent, confidence and review dates

Participants can structure high-stakes decisions with clear ownership, criteria and risk controls.

  • Decision rights defined using RAPID roles for high-stakes choices
  • Reversible and irreversible decisions allocated different speed and evidence thresholds
  • Weighted decision matrices compare options against explicit criteria and trade-offs
  • Expected-value estimates clarify risk exposure under alternative outcomes
  • Risk appetite statements distinguish acceptable exposure from escalation triggers
  • Decision brief structure presents context, options, recommendation and required commitment
  • Escalation paths specify authority, deadlines and unresolved decision ownership

Participants can generate credible alternatives when conventional approaches are insufficient.

  • Problem reframing converts stated requests into underlying needs and constraints
  • Six Thinking Hats separates facts, caution, benefits, feelings and ideas
  • SCAMPER prompts generate alternatives beyond familiar solutions and past precedents
  • Constraint reversal tests what changes when assumed limits are removed
  • Analogical reasoning imports patterns from unrelated services, products and systems
  • Option portfolios balance incremental improvements, experiments and transformational bets
  • Selection criteria protect originality without losing strategic fit and feasibility

Participants can communicate recommendations and handle challenge with evidence and constructive inquiry.

  • Stakeholder analysis identifies decision makers, blockers, allies and affected groups
  • Audience-first messages connect recommendations to interests, risks and commitments
  • Strategic questions surface concerns without triggering defensive positional responses
  • Advocacy-and-inquiry balances a clear view with genuine exploration
  • Constructive dissent techniques separate people, positions, interests and evidence
  • Executive briefings use headline, evidence, implications and requested decision
  • Listening summaries test understanding before negotiating action or accountability

Participants can connect strategic decisions to measures, accountability and learning routines.

  • Strategy maps link outcomes, capabilities, processes and measures
  • OKR drafting converts strategic choices into measurable near-term commitments
  • Leading and lagging indicators distinguish progress signals from final results
  • After-action reviews examine intent, results, causes and corrective actions
  • Review cadences align decision checkpoints with uncertainty and delivery risk
  • Accountability maps clarify owners, contributors, approvers and informed parties
  • Learning loops update plans when evidence invalidates original assumptions

Participants can create team conditions that improve shared reasoning, challenge and accountability.

  • Leadership stance adapted to ambiguity, urgency, expertise and team confidence
  • Psychological safety practices invite challenge, questions and early risk reporting
  • Sensemaking conversations convert fragmented signals into shared working interpretations
  • Distributed leadership assigns thinking responsibility beyond formal reporting lines
  • Meeting architecture separates exploration, decision, coordination and reflection
  • Coaching questions develop others' reasoning rather than supplying immediate answers
  • Conflict reframing finds shared interests beneath competing proposed solutions

Participants can apply the course methods to a current issue and plan sustained use at work.

  • Current leadership challenge scoped with stakeholders, constraints, evidence and decision owner
  • Thinking diagnosis selects strategic, systems, critical or creative approaches
  • One-page decision brief integrates analysis, options, risks and recommendation
  • 90-day application plan sequences actions, conversations, checkpoints and measures
  • Peer challenge strengthens assumptions, reasoning and implementation commitments
  • Personal trigger plan anticipates bias, stress and premature closure
  • Follow-through review dates establish accountability for changed leadership behaviour

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

What you take back to work

  1. Leadership thinking diagnostic
  2. Strategic external analysis template
  3. Causal loop diagram template
  4. Assumption and evidence log
  5. RAPID decision brief template
  6. 90-day application plan

Who should attend

  • Senior Managers — strengthen judgment across competing operational and strategic demands
  • Department Heads — make clearer cross-functional choices and explain their reasoning
  • Programme Managers — manage uncertainty, dependencies and stakeholder trade-offs
  • Policy and Strategy Advisors — present evidence, options and recommendations to decision makers
  • Project Directors — address complex delivery issues before they become escalations
  • Technical Specialists — influence decisions beyond their formal authority

Skills and tools covered

Strategic analysisSystems thinkingCritical reasoningDecision governanceCreative problem solvingStakeholder influence

Tools and standards

PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, Cynefin framework, RAPID decision model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to introduce each thinking method, followed by case work drawn from realistic leadership decisions. Participants analyse evidence, compare options, map stakeholders and systems, and practise decision conversations in facilitated group exercises. Simulations test judgment under ambiguity, competing interests and limited time. Individual reflection identifies personal thinking habits and bias triggers. Throughout the course, participants apply the methods to a current work issue and develop a practical plan for using them after the programme.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience leading projects, teams, workstreams or significant stakeholder discussions. They should be familiar with making recommendations, interpreting business information and working through competing priorities. The course assumes professional workplace experience rather than prior study of leadership theory. No formal management qualification, finance background, statistical training or prior knowledge of the named frameworks is required. Participants gain most value when they bring a current decision, strategic issue or organisational challenge they can examine during the programme.

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 experience leading work, contributing to decisions or influencing stakeholders. No prior leadership qualification or formal study of strategic frameworks is required.

Bring a current workplace challenge, decision or strategic question that matters to your role. You will use it to test the methods and build your application plan.

The course is designed for experienced managers, programme leaders, advisors, project directors and technical specialists. It is particularly useful for people moving from operational management into broader leadership responsibilities.

This course focuses on how leaders analyse issues, frame decisions, test evidence and guide collective reasoning. It gives less attention to performance management, delegation, coaching conversations or employment processes.

Participants use a live work issue to build a decision brief, stakeholder analysis and application plan. The templates can be used for project decisions, strategy discussions, risk reviews and executive recommendations.

The programme contains ten connected modules covering about 32.5 contact hours across five days. Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30, with time for instructor input, cases, group work, simulations and personal application.

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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