Relationship Management Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Account 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 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-IS-038

Before you join: Participants should have at least one year of experience working with colleagues, customers, suppliers or other professional stakeholders.

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

Professional relationships determine how quickly work moves, how honestly issues are raised and whether agreements hold under pressure. Managers, client-facing specialists and project leaders often need cooperation from people they do not directly manage: customers, suppliers, regulators, senior colleagues and cross-functional peers. Poor expectation-setting, unclear communication, unaddressed tension and weak follow-through can damage trust, delay decisions and turn manageable disagreements into persistent conflict.

This course develops the communication and relationship management skills required to build credible working relationships and sustain them through routine delivery, change, negotiation and conflict. Participants assess stakeholder needs, adapt their communication style, establish working agreements, conduct purposeful conversations and give feedback that improves performance without damaging rapport. They practise listening for interests and concerns, managing difficult behaviour, resolving conflict using structured methods and rebuilding trust after service failures or misunderstandings.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic cases, group analysis, paired simulations and structured reflection. Scenarios include managing a demanding corporate client, gaining support from a resistant internal stakeholder, resolving a supplier performance issue and addressing friction between project teams. Participants receive targeted feedback on their communication choices and prepare a relationship management action plan for a live workplace relationship.

The course suits professionals who already communicate regularly with colleagues, customers or partners and now need a more deliberate method for managing influential relationships. It is particularly useful where delivery depends on cooperation across reporting lines, organisational boundaries or competing priorities.

What you will be able to do

  • Map stakeholders using influence, interest and relationship-strength criteria
  • Plan relationship strategies using stakeholder maps and working agreements
  • Apply active listening and purposeful questioning during high-stakes conversations
  • Adapt communication approaches using behavioural style and audience analysis
  • Conduct feedback conversations using the SBI model and agreed next steps
  • Resolve interpersonal conflict using interest-based negotiation and BATNA preparation
  • Manage difficult conversations through structured opening, exploration and closure techniques
  • Create a relationship management action plan for priority professional relationships

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Handle demanding stakeholder conversations with greater preparation and composure
  • Build a repeatable approach for maintaining trust after mistakes or delays
  • Recognise communication preferences and adjust messages without losing authenticity
  • Give corrective feedback clearly while preserving professional respect
  • Resolve recurring tensions before they affect reputation or delivery

For your organisation

  • Improved stakeholder cooperation on cross-functional projects and service delivery
  • Earlier resolution of customer, supplier and internal relationship issues
  • Clearer expectations, ownership and follow-up across important working relationships
  • Reduced escalation caused by misunderstandings, unspoken concerns and poor feedback
  • Stronger client retention and partner confidence through consistent relationship management

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define relationship priorities and identify the behaviours that build professional credibility.

  • Relationship value assessed through trust, mutual benefit, reliability and communication quality
  • Professional credibility built through competence, consistency, integrity and appropriate boundaries
  • The relationship lifecycle from initial contact through maintenance, recovery and renewal
  • Trust deposits and withdrawals identified in everyday stakeholder interactions
  • Psychological contracts clarified through explicit expectations and reciprocal commitments
  • Relationship risks distinguished from task, technical and organisational delivery risks

Participants can analyse stakeholder relationships and prepare proportionate engagement strategies.

  • Stakeholder maps built using influence, interest, attitude and relationship strength
  • Priority stakeholders segmented by impact, dependency, risk and growth potential
  • Power-interest grids used to select engagement frequency and communication channels
  • Relationship objectives translated into measurable commitments and review points
  • Mutual value propositions defined from stakeholder needs, constraints and success measures
  • Contact plans scheduled around decisions, milestones, risks and relationship maintenance

Participants can adapt communication to stakeholder preferences, context and decision needs.

  • Communication preferences recognised through observable pace, detail, risk and interaction cues
  • DISC style language applied cautiously without stereotyping stakeholder behaviour
  • Messages structured around audience priorities, evidence requirements and decision authority
  • Channel choice matched to urgency, sensitivity, complexity and required response
  • Executive briefings framed with recommendation, rationale, risk and requested decision
  • Technical detail translated into business implications, options and practical consequences

Participants can uncover stakeholder interests through active listening and purposeful questioning.

  • Active listening demonstrated through attending, paraphrasing, summarising and checking meaning
  • Open, probing and closed questions selected for different conversation purposes
  • Ladder of Inference used to separate observations, assumptions and conclusions
  • Stakeholder interests distinguished from stated positions, demands and preferred solutions
  • Silence used deliberately to create thinking time and encourage fuller responses
  • Rapport strengthened through appropriate acknowledgement, curiosity and reliable follow-through

Participants can prepare and lead focused conversations that produce clear agreements.

  • Conversation purpose defined before meetings involving sensitive or contested issues
  • Outcome agendas distinguish information sharing, consultation, decision and commitment conversations
  • Opening statements establish context, intent, time boundaries and respectful tone
  • Meeting contracts agree participation, confidentiality, challenge and decision-making expectations
  • Key messages prioritised using headline, evidence, implication and requested action
  • Closing techniques confirm decisions, owners, deadlines and communication responsibilities

Participants can give and receive feedback that supports accountability and relationship quality.

  • SBI feedback frames observable situations, behaviours and resulting impacts clearly
  • Feedforward requests focus discussion on future choices and practical support
  • Corrective feedback separated from assumptions, labels and unverified motives
  • Receiving feedback uses clarification, reflection, acknowledgement and response commitments
  • Performance concerns addressed promptly before patterns become relationship problems
  • Follow-up conversations review evidence, progress, barriers and revised agreements

Participants can gain commitment from stakeholders when authority and priorities are dispersed.

  • Influence sources assessed through expertise, relationships, information, credibility and reciprocity
  • Stakeholder motivations connected to personal, operational and organisational priorities
  • Coalition building identifies supporters, blockers, persuaders and decision influencers
  • Reciprocity managed through appropriate exchanges of information, support and access
  • Objections explored before responding with evidence, alternatives or risk mitigation
  • Commitment tests distinguish polite agreement from confirmed ownership and action

Participants can address conflict constructively while protecting respect and working relationships.

  • Conflict sources diagnosed as data, process, relationship, values or resource issues
  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to importance, urgency and relationship consequences
  • Interest-based negotiation separates people, interests, options and objective criteria
  • BATNA prepared before discussions where agreement may not be achievable
  • Difficult behaviour addressed through boundaries, factual language and consequence statements
  • De-escalation techniques reduce defensiveness through pacing, acknowledgement and choice

Participants can restore confidence after mistakes, unmet commitments and relationship damage.

  • Trust breaches assessed by impact, intent, recurrence, visibility and stakeholder vulnerability
  • Effective apologies acknowledge harm, accept responsibility and avoid defensive qualification
  • Service recovery plans specify immediate containment, correction, communication and prevention
  • Expectation resets clarify changed scope, timing, ownership and acceptable trade-offs
  • Recovery conversations invite stakeholder input on remedies and future safeguards
  • Reliability rebuilt through visible commitments, regular updates and documented follow-through

Participants can maintain priority relationships through structured review and personal action planning.

  • Relationship reviews assess value delivered, satisfaction, risks and future opportunities
  • Stakeholder intelligence recorded ethically, accurately and with appropriate confidentiality
  • Working agreements refreshed after role changes, delivery issues or shifting priorities
  • Early warning indicators tracked through responsiveness, tone, missed commitments and escalation
  • Relationship portfolios balanced between maintenance, development, recovery and exit decisions
  • Personal action plans assign relationship objectives, behaviours, milestones and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. Stakeholder mapping template
  2. Relationship strategy canvas
  3. Purposeful conversation planning sheet
  4. SBI feedback conversation guide
  5. Conflict preparation and BATNA worksheet
  6. Personal relationship management action plan

Who should attend

  • Account Managers — sustain client confidence, manage expectations and protect commercial relationships
  • Project Managers — secure cooperation from sponsors, teams, suppliers and operational stakeholders
  • Team Leaders — address performance concerns while maintaining constructive working relationships
  • Business Development Managers — build credibility and progress complex stakeholder conversations
  • Procurement and Supplier Managers — handle supplier issues, negotiations and service recovery discussions
  • Cross-functional Specialists — influence decisions without direct reporting authority

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder relationship planningActive listeningInfluential communicationFeedback conversationsConflict resolutionTrust repair

Tools and standards

Power-Interest Grid, DISC behavioural styles, SBI Feedback Model, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to introduce relationship management models, followed by case analysis, group discussion and paired communication practice. Participants prepare for stakeholder meetings, conduct feedback and conflict conversations, and receive structured peer and instructor feedback. Simulations reflect client, supplier, project and internal stakeholder situations. Individual reflection identifies communication patterns, relationship risks and practical changes. Each participant develops an application plan for selected workplace relationships, using course templates that can be reused after the programme.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least one year of experience working with colleagues, customers, suppliers or other professional stakeholders. They should be comfortable contributing to discussions, reflecting on their own communication habits and applying course methods to a current work relationship. Experience of managing people is helpful but not required; the course is suitable for individual contributors who need to influence without formal authority. No formal qualification, psychometric assessment, prior negotiation training or specialist sales knowledge is required. Participants should bring examples of relationships they want to strengthen.

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 regular professional contact with colleagues, customers, suppliers or stakeholders. No management qualification, sales background or previous negotiation course is required.

Bring examples of one or two working relationships that matter to your role, such as a client, supplier, project sponsor or internal partner. You do not need to share confidential names or documents.

It suits account managers, project managers, team leaders, specialists and professionals who depend on cooperation from others. It is useful for people with or without formal line-management responsibility.

General communication courses focus mainly on presenting ideas and expressing messages clearly. This course concentrates on managing ongoing professional relationships, including stakeholder strategy, trust, feedback, influence, conflict and service recovery.

You will use the planning tools for live stakeholder meetings, feedback discussions and relationship reviews. The final action plan identifies specific relationships, behaviours and follow-up dates for workplace application.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from relationship foundations and communication through influence, conflict, trust repair and action 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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