Planning Organising and Control Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Frontline Supervisors, 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-SM-044

Before you join: Participants should have experience coordinating people, tasks, shifts, services or project activities, or be preparing for a supervisory role.

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

Supervisors are expected to turn departmental targets into coordinated daily work while maintaining service levels, safety, quality, cost and delivery commitments. Problems arise when priorities are unclear, workloads exceed available capacity, responsibilities overlap, or performance information arrives too late for corrective action. Effective planning, organising and control gives supervisors a disciplined way to assign work, monitor progress and intervene before small deviations become operational failures.

This course develops the core management cycle used by frontline and middle supervisors: setting objectives, defining outputs and standards, scheduling resources, allocating responsibilities, communicating expectations, tracking performance and taking corrective action. Participants use SMARTER objectives, RACI matrices, workload and capacity plans, KPIs, control charts, variance analysis, root-cause analysis and the PDCA cycle. They learn to distinguish urgent issues from important work, structure delegation, manage dependencies and escalate exceptions with evidence.

Instructor-led delivery combines short briefings, sector-based cases, team planning tasks, control-room style simulations and structured peer review. Participants apply the methods to realistic situations such as missed service targets, delayed project deliverables, staff shortages, quality defects and budget overruns. Each participant leaves with a supervisor's planning and control pack containing reusable templates for objectives, priorities, delegation, schedules, dashboards, issue logs and corrective-action reviews. The course runs for five days, 08:30-16:30, in classroom locations in more than 50 cities or live online, and includes a certificate of completion.

The course suits supervisors and team leaders responsible for people, workloads, service delivery or operational results. It is also valuable for newly appointed managers who need practical control methods rather than abstract management theory.

What you will be able to do

  • Set SMARTER objectives with measurable standards, owners, deadlines and review points
  • Build RACI matrices that clarify decision rights, handoffs and escalation responsibilities
  • Create workload and capacity plans using demand, available hours and resource constraints
  • Prioritise competing work using the Eisenhower Matrix and agreed operational criteria
  • Delegate assignments through clear outcomes, authority limits, checkpoints and support
  • Design KPI dashboards linking operational measures to targets, tolerances and actions
  • Diagnose performance variances using root-cause analysis and the PDCA cycle
  • Produce a 90-day planning and control action plan for a supervised team

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Run weekly planning meetings with clearer priorities and accountable owners
  • Make delegation decisions without losing visibility of critical work
  • Spot schedule, quality and workload issues before they become escalations
  • Use performance data to explain decisions and corrective actions credibly
  • Build a practical 90-day improvement plan for a current team

For your organisation

  • Clearer alignment between departmental targets and daily team activity
  • Fewer missed handoffs, duplicated tasks and unowned operational issues
  • Earlier detection of service, quality, cost and delivery variances
  • More consistent supervisory routines across teams and locations
  • Documented corrective actions that improve accountability and follow-through

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define the supervisory management cycle and translate organisational requirements into controlled team outputs.

  • Supervisor accountabilities translated into clear outputs, standards, authority and constraints
  • Management cycle links planning, organising, directing, controlling and corrective action
  • SMARTER objectives converted into measurable team commitments and deadlines
  • Stakeholder maps identify customers, peers, suppliers and escalation routes
  • RACI matrices clarify responsibility, accountability, consultation and information requirements
  • Assumption logs expose dependencies, constraints and decision triggers early
  • Planning horizons distinguish shift, weekly, monthly and quarterly control needs

Participants can convert broad requirements into prioritised objectives, deliverables and decision criteria.

  • SMARTER objective statements specify results, measures, owners, dates and reviews
  • Outcome, output and activity measures separated to prevent false progress
  • Eisenhower Matrix distinguishes urgent interruptions from important planned work
  • MoSCoW prioritisation ranks essential, important, desirable and deferred requirements
  • Critical success factors define conditions required for acceptable performance
  • Decision criteria balance safety, quality, service, cost and delivery
  • Priority registers record ranking rationale, dependencies and review dates

Participants can prepare workable schedules that match demand, capacity, milestones and constraints.

  • Work breakdown structures divide deliverables into controllable work packages
  • Gantt charts sequence activities, milestones, dependencies and completion dates
  • Capacity calculations compare demand, available hours, skills and equipment
  • Load charts reveal overloads, idle capacity and resourcing bottlenecks
  • Critical path analysis identifies activities that determine completion dates
  • Rolling weekly plans incorporate new demand, absences and changed priorities
  • Contingency allowances protect schedules against predictable disruption risks

Participants can organise team resources and delegate work with appropriate authority and follow-up.

  • Organisation charts show reporting lines, functional roles and decision boundaries
  • Span of control assessed against task complexity, location and staff capability
  • RACI matrices assign ownership for recurring processes and cross-team handoffs
  • Delegation briefs define expected results, authority, resources and checkpoints
  • Situational leadership matches direction and support to capability levels
  • Standard operating procedures preserve consistency for repetitive critical tasks
  • Escalation thresholds specify when supervisors retain or transfer decisions

Participants can establish communication routines that maintain coordination across people, shifts and functions.

  • Daily huddles review priorities, risks, constraints and required decisions
  • Communication plans specify audience, message, channel, timing and owner
  • Shift handover checklists capture status, exceptions, risks and pending actions
  • Visual management boards make workload, progress and blockers visible
  • Meeting action logs record commitments, due dates and verification methods
  • Closed-loop communication confirms instructions, understanding and completion status
  • Escalation messages present impact, evidence, options and requested decisions

Participants can define operational standards and select measures that support timely management control.

  • Performance standards define acceptable quality, quantity, time and cost
  • Key performance indicators link team activity to required operational results
  • Leading indicators signal developing issues before target failures occur
  • Lagging indicators confirm results after output, service or quality events
  • KPI dictionaries define formulas, data sources, frequency and accountable owners
  • Balanced scorecards connect customer, process, people and financial measures
  • Target bands distinguish normal variation from intervention-worthy performance deviations

Participants can monitor performance, interpret variances and identify issues requiring management action.

  • Performance dashboards compare actual results, targets, trends and tolerances
  • Variance analysis separates planned results from actual operational performance
  • Run charts reveal trends, shifts, cycles and unusual performance patterns
  • Control charts distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause variation
  • Exception reports focus management attention on material deviations and risks
  • Pareto analysis identifies the few causes driving most defects
  • Data validation checks completeness, timeliness, consistency and calculation accuracy

Participants can investigate performance problems and manage corrective actions through to verified closure.

  • PDCA cycle structures problem definition, testing, review and standardisation
  • Five Whys analysis traces recurring problems beyond immediate symptoms
  • Fishbone diagrams organise possible causes across people, process and equipment
  • Corrective-action registers assign owners, dates, evidence and closure criteria
  • Containment actions protect customers while permanent solutions are developed
  • After-action reviews capture expected results, actual results and learning
  • Standard work updates embed approved improvements into routine operations

Participants can manage operational risks, make evidence-based decisions and control exceptions.

  • Risk registers record threats, likelihood, impact, controls and owners
  • Risk matrices rank issues using agreed probability and consequence scales
  • Decision logs document options, criteria, approvals and implementation actions
  • OODA loop accelerates observation, orientation, decision and responsive action
  • Scenario planning tests staffing, supplier, demand and system disruption assumptions
  • Business continuity triggers define immediate actions during significant disruption
  • Control limits establish authority boundaries for cost, quality and service decisions

Participants can combine planning, organising and control methods into a practical 90-day team management routine.

  • Weekly management cadence connects planning, review, decisions and follow-through
  • Integrated planning packs combine objectives, schedules, risks and accountabilities
  • Monthly performance reviews test trends, causes, actions and resource needs
  • Personal action plans identify priority routines, stakeholders and implementation dates
  • Implementation barriers assessed through influence, authority, time and capability
  • 90-day review milestones measure adoption, results and required adjustments
  • Commitment statements define first actions following return to the workplace

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

What you take back to work

  1. SMARTER objective and priority register template
  2. RACI responsibility and delegation matrix
  3. Weekly workload, capacity and milestone plan
  4. KPI dashboard and variance-analysis model
  5. Corrective-action and escalation register
  6. 90-day supervisory management action plan

Who should attend

  • Frontline Supervisors — coordinate daily work, staff and service commitments
  • Team Leaders — need consistent methods for priorities, delegation and follow-up
  • Operations Supervisors — control output, quality, capacity and shift performance
  • Newly Appointed Managers — require practical management routines for their first team
  • Project Coordinators — organise dependencies, responsibilities and milestone delivery
  • Service Delivery Managers — monitor standards and correct performance deviations

Skills and tools covered

Operational planningWorkload prioritisationTeam organisationPerformance controlCorrective actionDelegation management

Tools and standards

SMARTER objectives, RACI matrix, PDCA cycle, Eisenhower Matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses concise instructor briefings followed by cases drawn from service operations, projects, manufacturing, public services and administrative teams. Participants build objectives, schedules, RACI matrices, dashboards and corrective-action plans using supplied templates. Group work tests choices about competing priorities, staffing constraints, missed targets and delegation boundaries. Simulations require participants to interpret performance data, decide interventions and communicate escalation messages. Facilitated review links each method to participants' current responsibilities, ending with individual application planning.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience coordinating people, tasks, shifts, services or project activities, or be preparing for a supervisory role. They should be comfortable reading simple operational data such as volumes, hours, deadlines, budgets or service measures. No formal management qualification is required. Prior knowledge of project management software, statistics, finance or performance-management systems is not required. Participants will benefit most if they bring a current work area, team objective or recurring operational problem to use when completing their planning and control materials.

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

Experience coordinating tasks, people, shifts or services is useful, but no formal management qualification is required. The course starts with core supervisory responsibilities and then applies structured planning and control methods.

Bring details of a current team objective, recurring workload issue, service target or operational problem if possible. You will use course templates to develop materials relevant to your own responsibilities.

It is designed for frontline supervisors, team leaders, operations supervisors, project coordinators and newly appointed managers. It is especially useful for people responsible for converting targets into daily work and monitoring results.

This course focuses on the supervisor's recurring management cycle: planning work, allocating resources, setting controls and correcting deviations. Leadership courses focus more heavily on influence and people development, while project management courses address temporary projects with formal project governance.

Participants leave with reusable planning, delegation, dashboard and corrective-action templates. These can be used in weekly meetings, shift handovers, performance reviews and improvement discussions immediately after the course.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The programme progresses from objectives and planning through organising, communication, performance control, corrective action and a 90-day application plan.

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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