Practical Leadership Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends First-line Managers, Middle Managers 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-LD-273

Before you join: Participants should have some experience supervising staff, coordinating a workstream, leading projects or influencing colleagues without direct authority.

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

Managers are expected to produce results through other people while maintaining standards, service levels, risk controls and morale. The difficult moments are rarely technical: a capable employee needs more autonomy, priorities conflict across functions, a performance issue persists, or a team avoids a necessary decision. Without practical leadership methods, managers can over-direct, delay difficult conversations, retain too much work or create unclear accountability.

This course develops the day-to-day leadership skills needed to set direction, adapt leadership style, delegate with control, communicate clearly and build accountable teams. Participants use Situational Leadership II to match support to individual needs; SMART objectives, OKRs and RACI to clarify priorities and ownership; and SBI, GROW and interest-based negotiation to handle feedback, coaching and conflict. The course also addresses team norms, psychological safety, stakeholder communication, performance conversations and leading change through ADKAR.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic management cases, group analysis, role-based simulations and structured reflection. Cases reflect common situations in banks, public agencies, NGOs, project environments and corporate functions: missed delivery commitments, cross-functional hand-offs, customer complaints, resistant staff and competing stakeholder demands. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with a personal leadership operating plan, delegation and feedback templates, a team charter structure and practical conversation guides they can use immediately with their teams.

The course suits managers who already supervise people or work through project teams and now need a repeatable approach to leadership decisions, conversations and team performance.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose employee readiness and select an appropriate Situational Leadership II response.
  • Set SMART objectives, OKRs and RACI responsibilities for team delivery.
  • Delegate work using clear outcomes, authority boundaries, control points and review dates.
  • Conduct feedback and performance conversations using the SBI model and evidence.
  • Coach employees through the GROW model and individual development plans.
  • Build team working agreements that improve accountability, inclusion and decision-making.
  • Resolve workplace conflict using interest-based negotiation and Thomas-Kilmann modes.
  • Create a 30-day leadership operating plan with measurable behavioural commitments.

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Handle difficult feedback without avoiding, softening or personalising the message
  • Delegate more work while retaining appropriate oversight of risk and quality
  • Run clearer one-to-ones, team meetings and priority-setting conversations
  • Recognise when to direct, coach, support or delegate to each employee
  • Build evidence of leadership capability for management and promotion discussions

For your organisation

  • Clearer ownership reduces duplicate work, delayed decisions and upward escalation
  • Better performance conversations address delivery gaps before they become formal cases
  • Consistent delegation develops bench strength and reduces manager bottlenecks
  • Team charters and working agreements improve cross-functional coordination
  • Structured leadership routines strengthen delivery, service and control discipline

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define their leadership responsibilities and establish credible authority with their teams.

  • Leadership accountabilities distinguished from management, specialist and project responsibilities
  • Personal leadership purpose linked to team mandate and stakeholder needs
  • Leadership values translated into observable behavioural commitments at work
  • Credibility built through competence, consistency, care and candid communication
  • Power bases assessed using French and Raven's five-source model
  • Authority, accountability and responsibility clarified before delegating work

Participants can select leadership responses that match employee competence, commitment and task risk.

  • DiSC-style preferences treated cautiously; observable behaviour remains the primary evidence
  • Situational Leadership II matched to competence and commitment levels
  • Directive, coaching, supporting and delegating responses selected deliberately
  • Readiness conversations test confidence, capability and task-specific experience openly
  • Manager assumptions checked through questions before choosing leadership style
  • Adapted communication avoids inconsistent standards and unclear ownership

Participants can translate organisational priorities into measurable team objectives and clear responsibilities.

  • SMART objectives connected to service, risk, financial and people measures
  • Outcome, output and activity measures distinguished before setting targets
  • OKR structure used where priorities require measurable quarterly alignment
  • Line-of-sight conversations connect individual work with departmental commitments
  • RACI matrix resolves decision rights, consultation requirements and hand-offs
  • Weekly priorities protected using Eisenhower Matrix and time-blocking

Participants can delegate work with appropriate authority, support, review points and risk controls.

  • Delegation diagnosis separates tasks to retain, delegate, develop or stop
  • Delegation brief specifies outcome, boundaries, authority, resources and review points
  • Levels of delegation calibrated using the Tannenbaum-Schmidt continuum
  • Decision rights documented to prevent upward delegation and duplicate approvals
  • Control points matched to risk, capability and consequence
  • Follow-up conversations maintain accountability without taking work back

Participants can communicate decisions, priorities and expectations clearly to teams and stakeholders.

  • Message maps structure purpose, key points, evidence and requested action
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, probing questions and accurate summarising
  • Stakeholder analysis identifies influence, interest, concerns and communication channels
  • SCARF model anticipates status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness reactions
  • Meeting agendas establish decisions required, contributions and time boundaries
  • Written updates separate facts, interpretation, decisions, risks and next actions

Participants can address performance and recognise contribution through clear, evidence-based conversations.

  • SBI model frames feedback around situation, behaviour and observable impact
  • Feedforward requests focus on future choices rather than personal criticism
  • Performance conversations distinguish capability gaps, motivation and system barriers
  • Expectations reset using evidence, agreed standards and dated commitments
  • Recognition links specific contribution to customer, control or team outcomes
  • Documentation records factual observations, support offered and review dates

Participants can coach employees towards stronger capability, ownership and development action.

  • GROW model structures coaching from goal through options to commitment
  • Questions shift ownership from manager advice to employee thinking
  • Coaching boundaries separate development support from formal performance management
  • Skills diagnosis identifies knowledge, practice, feedback and resource needs
  • Individual development plans specify target capability, actions, evidence and dates
  • Career conversations connect aspirations with realistic organisational opportunities

Participants can establish team conditions that support trust, inclusion, coordination and delivery.

  • Tuckman's stages explain predictable shifts in team relationships and output
  • Team charter sets purpose, roles, working agreements and escalation routes
  • Psychological safety built through inquiry, fallibility and respectful challenge
  • Inclusion practices reduce meeting dominance and untested consensus
  • Cross-functional hand-offs mapped to expose delays, rework and ownership gaps
  • Remote team rhythms balance synchronous decisions with asynchronous updates

Participants can address conflict constructively and lead staff through required change.

  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to stakes, relationships and time
  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions from underlying needs and constraints
  • Conflict conversations use facts, impact, requests and agreed next steps
  • Resistance diagnosed as information, capability, incentive or trust problem
  • ADKAR model frames awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement
  • Escalation decisions distinguish constructive disagreement from conduct concerns

Participants can establish a practical leadership routine and 30-day improvement plan.

  • Leadership operating rhythm combines priorities, meetings, reviews and stakeholder contact
  • Personal triggers identified through reflection on pressure, assumptions and habits
  • After-action reviews capture intended results, actual results and lessons
  • Decision log records rationale, owner, deadline and review conditions
  • Thirty-day leadership plan prioritises two behaviours and measurable evidence
  • Peer accountability arrangements schedule check-ins, feedback and progress review

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

What you take back to work

  1. Leadership style diagnostic and response guide
  2. SMART objective and OKR planning template
  3. Delegation brief and control-point checklist
  4. SBI feedback and performance conversation guide
  5. Team charter and working-agreement template
  6. 30-day leadership operating plan

Who should attend

  • First-line Managers — need practical methods for leading former peers and direct reports
  • Middle Managers — translate departmental priorities into accountable team delivery
  • Team Leaders — coordinate workloads, standards and communication across operational teams
  • Project Managers — lead contributors without relying solely on formal authority
  • Technical Specialists — prepare for people-management or workstream leadership responsibilities
  • Programme Officers — manage stakeholders, partner teams and delivery commitments

Skills and tools covered

Adaptive leadershipPerformance conversationsDelegation controlTeam accountabilityCoaching skillsConflict resolution

Tools and standards

Situational Leadership II, GROW model, SBI feedback model, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case analysis, group exercises, simulations and structured application planning. Participants work with realistic leadership situations involving missed targets, competing priorities, employee development, stakeholder pressure and team conflict. Facilitated practice focuses on the wording of objectives, delegation briefs, feedback messages and coaching questions. Peer observation and instructor feedback help participants test alternative responses. Each participant develops materials for a current workplace situation and a 30-day action plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have some experience supervising staff, coordinating a workstream, leading projects or influencing colleagues without direct authority. They should be familiar with normal workplace performance expectations, meetings and reporting lines. The course assumes participants can reflect on real management situations and discuss them professionally. No prior leadership qualification, psychometric assessment, coaching certification or formal HR training is required. Participants do not need to manage a large team; responsibility for even one employee, project contributor or recurring team process provides useful context.

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 some responsibility for people, projects or recurring team processes. No previous leadership course, coaching qualification or HR training is required.

Bring examples of current leadership situations, such as a delegation challenge, a performance concern or a difficult stakeholder relationship. You may use these examples during planning and discussion, without sharing confidential details.

The course is designed for first-line and middle managers, team leaders, project managers and technical professionals moving into leadership responsibilities. It is also suitable for managers leading hybrid or cross-functional teams.

This course focuses on daily management actions: setting expectations, delegating, coaching, giving feedback and resolving conflict. Strategic leadership courses place greater emphasis on organisational direction, transformation and senior-level decision-making.

You will leave with templates and a 30-day leadership operating plan based on a real workplace priority. The plan identifies behaviours to change, conversations to hold and evidence to review with your manager or peer.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case work, group exercises, simulated conversations 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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