Organisational Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Business Partners, Organisational Development Specialists 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-OD-009

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in HR, change, learning, management, consulting or operational improvement.

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

Organisational development practitioners are asked to improve performance while managing structural change, culture issues, leadership gaps, process breakdowns and workforce concerns. The work requires more than running engagement surveys or facilitating workshops. Practitioners must diagnose root causes, define the organisation’s current and desired state, select suitable interventions, involve stakeholders and show whether change has produced measurable results.

This course develops the practical methods used to plan and deliver organisation development initiatives. Participants assess organisational systems using Burke-Litwin and McKinsey 7S, conduct stakeholder and force-field analysis, interpret culture and engagement evidence, design change strategies and select interventions at individual, team and organisational levels. They also learn how to contract with sponsors, facilitate productive conversations, manage resistance, build change communication plans and evaluate intervention results through Kirkpatrick measures and business indicators.

The five-day instructor-led format combines concise technical briefings with realistic cases, facilitated group work, diagnostic activities and intervention-design tasks. Participants work with scenarios such as a bank redesigning customer operations, a public agency introducing a new service model and a multinational integrating two regional teams. Each participant leaves with an organisational development toolkit containing diagnostic, stakeholder, intervention and evaluation templates that can be adapted to current workplace priorities. The course is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

It is suited to HR professionals, internal consultants, change practitioners and managers who contribute to planned organisational change.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose organisational performance issues using Burke-Litwin, McKinsey 7S and systems thinking
  • Define an evidence-based organisational development brief, scope, success measures and governance structure
  • Conduct stakeholder analysis, force-field analysis and sponsor alignment for planned change
  • Design culture, leadership, team and process interventions matched to diagnosed causes
  • Build an ADKAR-based change plan addressing adoption, resistance and communication needs
  • Facilitate contracting, feedback and decision-making conversations with sponsors and stakeholder groups
  • Evaluate organisational development interventions using Kirkpatrick levels, indicators and review cycles
  • Produce a practical organisational development action plan for a workplace initiative

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Diagnose organisational problems before selecting familiar but unsuitable HR interventions
  • Lead structured conversations with sponsors, managers and employee representatives
  • Build credible change plans that address behaviour, systems, leadership and communication
  • Use recognised diagnostic frameworks when presenting recommendations to senior stakeholders
  • Create a portfolio-quality organisational development action plan for workplace use

For your organisation

  • Improves identification of root causes behind performance, culture and engagement problems
  • Reduces poorly targeted change activity and duplicated improvement initiatives
  • Creates clearer sponsorship, stakeholder ownership and accountability for organisational change
  • Strengthens internal capability to design interventions instead of relying solely on external consultants
  • Provides more consistent measures for tracking adoption, behaviour change and business results

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define organisational development work, boundaries and practitioner responsibilities.

  • Organisation development purpose, values and planned change assumptions
  • Distinguishing OD from HR operations, project management and business process improvement
  • Open-systems thinking: inputs, transformation processes, outputs and feedback loops
  • Internal consultant roles: expert, pair-of-hands, facilitator and process consultant
  • Ethical practice, confidentiality, informed consent and political awareness
  • Contracting expectations with sponsors before commencing diagnostic work

Participants can diagnose organisational performance issues using structured systems frameworks.

  • Burke-Litwin model linking external environment, leadership, culture and performance
  • McKinsey 7S analysis of strategy, structure, systems and shared values
  • Problem statements separating symptoms, causes, consequences and desired outcomes
  • Data sources: interviews, observation, document review, surveys and operational metrics
  • Triangulating qualitative and quantitative evidence before drawing conclusions
  • Diagnostic hypotheses tested through targeted questions and evidence collection

Participants can establish a clear mandate, sponsorship model and governance approach.

  • Entry contracting defines client expectations, roles, scope and decision rights
  • Sponsor readiness assessed through authority, commitment, visibility and available resources
  • RACI matrix assigning accountable, responsible, consulted and informed stakeholders
  • Governance structures for steering groups, working groups and escalation routes
  • Success criteria translated into behavioural, operational and business measures
  • Managing scope change through agreed assumptions, boundaries and review points

Participants can assess stakeholder influence, readiness and likely sources of resistance.

  • Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, impact and current commitment
  • Force-field analysis identifies driving forces, restraining forces and countermeasures
  • Readiness assessment covers leadership alignment, capacity, capability and change history
  • Resistance diagnosis distinguishes rational concerns, emotional responses and political interests
  • Segmenting stakeholder groups by role, exposure and communication needs
  • Engagement plans specify messages, channels, owners and feedback mechanisms

Participants can assess cultural patterns and identify practical culture change actions.

  • Schein's culture model: artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions
  • Culture data gathered through interviews, focus groups and employee surveys
  • Climate indicators reveal perceptions of leadership, fairness, safety and workload
  • Behavioural norms compared against stated values and strategic priorities
  • Employee journey mapping identifies friction across critical workplace moments
  • Culture interventions align leadership routines, recognition, systems and symbols

Participants can select and design interventions that address diagnosed organisational causes.

  • Intervention design links diagnostic findings, objectives, mechanisms and measurable outcomes
  • Individual interventions include coaching, feedback, role clarification and skills development
  • Team interventions address trust, decision rights, conflict and working agreements
  • Structural interventions revise reporting lines, spans of control and accountabilities
  • Process interventions improve handoffs, workflow, customer journeys and service standards
  • Prioritisation matrix compares impact, feasibility, risk, cost and implementation timing

Participants can build an adoption plan that supports sustained behaviour change.

  • ADKAR model addresses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement
  • Kotter's change steps used to sequence mobilisation and implementation activities
  • Change impact assessment identifies affected roles, processes, systems and behaviours
  • Communication plans match audience concerns, message content, channels and timing
  • Manager toolkits support local conversations, coaching and issue escalation
  • Reinforcement mechanisms include performance measures, recognition and process controls

Participants can facilitate structured OD conversations and feedback sessions.

  • Facilitation design sets purpose, participant roles, agenda and decision method
  • Ground rules create psychological safety for difficult organisational conversations
  • Ladder of Inference helps test assumptions before reaching conclusions
  • Data-feedback sessions present evidence without blame or premature solutions
  • Divergent and convergent thinking structures generate and select intervention options
  • Action commitments record owners, deadlines, dependencies and review arrangements

Participants can measure intervention results and plan follow-through after implementation.

  • Logic models connect activities, outputs, outcomes and longer-term organisational impact
  • Kirkpatrick levels distinguish reaction, learning, behaviour and results measures
  • Baseline measures established before intervention delivery and implementation decisions
  • Leading indicators track adoption, participation, manager actions and behavioural shifts
  • Outcome dashboards combine workforce data, operational measures and stakeholder feedback
  • After-action reviews capture lessons, adjustments and sustainability actions

Participants can assemble a practical organisational development plan for a defined workplace issue.

  • Diagnostic summary synthesises evidence, root causes, assumptions and unresolved questions
  • Intervention roadmap sequences quick wins, dependencies, milestones and accountable owners
  • Risk register records resistance, resource constraints, governance gaps and mitigations
  • Sponsor briefing presents options, recommendations, trade-offs and required decisions
  • Implementation plan aligns stakeholder engagement, communications, capability and measurement
  • Personal application plan identifies a priority issue and first actions

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

What you take back to work

  1. Organisational diagnosis template
  2. OD contracting checklist
  3. Stakeholder and force-field analysis canvas
  4. Culture assessment guide
  5. Change adoption plan template
  6. Intervention evaluation dashboard

Who should attend

  • HR Business Partners — diagnose people and operating issues before proposing HR solutions
  • Organisational Development Specialists — structure and deliver planned change initiatives
  • Change Managers — connect change adoption plans with organisation-wide interventions
  • Learning and Development Managers — align capability programmes with performance and culture needs
  • Internal Consultants — contract, diagnose and advise business sponsors credibly
  • Operational Managers — lead local change affecting structures, teams and ways of working

Skills and tools covered

Organisation diagnosisChange intervention designStakeholder managementCulture assessmentFacilitation practiceImpact evaluation

Tools and standards

Burke-Litwin Model, McKinsey 7S Framework, ADKAR Model, Kirkpatrick Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with cases drawn from banking, public services, NGOs and multinational organisations. Participants interpret diagnostic evidence, compare intervention options, conduct stakeholder and force-field analysis, and practise contracting and feedback conversations. Small-group work focuses on decisions an internal OD practitioner must make: what problem to address, who to involve, which intervention fits and how results will be measured. Simulations address sponsor meetings, resistance and change communications. Individual application planning converts course methods into a workplace-ready action plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in HR, change, learning, management, consulting or operational improvement. They should understand basic organisational structures, management roles and common people processes such as performance management, recruitment or employee engagement. Experience contributing to a change project or cross-functional initiative is useful. No prior qualification in organisational development, psychology, coaching, project management or data analytics is required. Participants do not need to bring an active workplace case, although a current organisational issue will help them apply the course methods directly.

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 in HR, management, consulting, learning, change or operational improvement. Prior formal study in organisational development is not required, but familiarity with workplace structures and people processes is assumed.

Bring a laptop or tablet if possible, plus details of a current organisational issue you would like to examine. A live case is optional; course cases and templates are provided for participants without one.

The course is designed for HR business partners, OD specialists, change managers, internal consultants, learning leaders and operational managers. It is most useful for people expected to influence organisation-wide or cross-functional change.

Change management courses commonly focus on adoption during a defined project, while this course begins with diagnosing organisational causes and selecting interventions. HR business partnering courses focus more broadly on commercial partnering, workforce advice and HR service delivery.

You can use the diagnostic, contracting, stakeholder, intervention and evaluation templates for restructuring, culture work, service improvement, leadership initiatives or post-merger integration. The final application plan helps identify a suitable first initiative and immediate actions.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and includes about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided across instructor input, case analysis, group activities, simulations, facilitated discussion 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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