Senior Leadership Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Newly appointed senior managers, Heads of function and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-EM-077

Before you join: Participants should have at least three years of management experience and current responsibility for a team, function, programme, budget or significant operational area.

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

Senior leaders are expected to turn strategic direction into decisions, priorities and results while managing competing stakeholder demands, financial constraints, operational risk and organisational change. The difficulty is rarely a lack of activity. It is choosing what matters, setting clear accountabilities, communicating difficult choices and maintaining control without becoming the bottleneck. This course addresses the transition from managing a function to leading across an enterprise.

Participants build practical senior leadership capability in strategy, governance, financial management, operating performance, people leadership, influence, change and risk. They use PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, RAPID, RACI, Balanced Scorecard, stakeholder analysis and ADKAR to assess issues and structure action. The course also develops executive judgement: framing decisions for boards and executive committees, weighing evidence and trade-offs, challenging assumptions, and communicating a credible direction under scrutiny.

Instructor-led teaching combines concise briefings with cases drawn from public services, banking, infrastructure, multinational operations and mission-led organisations. Participants work through realistic leadership decisions, operating reviews, stakeholder negotiations, change scenarios and crisis communications. They receive a certificate of completion and leave with a senior leadership action plan, decision-rights framework, stakeholder engagement map, operating review structure and practical templates ready for workplace use.

The course suits experienced managers moving into senior roles, recently appointed heads of function, directors and leaders responsible for cross-functional outcomes. It is also appropriate for senior technical specialists whose recommendations, programmes or services require executive sponsorship and broad organisational support.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose strategic pressures using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces and scenario planning
  • Translate strategic intent into measurable priorities, initiatives and accountable ownership
  • Structure senior decisions using RAPID, evidence thresholds and pre-mortem analysis
  • Interpret financial statements, cash forecasts and investment proposals for executive decisions
  • Design operating reviews using RACI, leading indicators and portfolio prioritisation
  • Conduct performance, talent and stakeholder conversations using defined communication methods
  • Plan organisational change using ADKAR, impact assessments and benefits realisation measures
  • Produce a 90-day senior leadership action plan with milestones and review measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence framing recommendations for boards and executive committees
  • Stronger financial judgement when assessing budgets, forecasts and investment requests
  • A clearer method for setting priorities across competing initiatives and stakeholder demands
  • More effective conversations about performance, conflict, change and accountability
  • A practical 90-day plan for succeeding in a senior leadership role

For your organisation

  • Better alignment between strategy, operating priorities, measures and accountable owners
  • Faster, better-documented decisions on cross-functional issues and investment proposals
  • Improved executive oversight of financial performance, capacity and delivery risks
  • More consistent leadership communication during organisational change and uncertainty
  • Stronger succession readiness among managers moving into enterprise-level responsibilities

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define their senior leadership mandate and assess enterprise-wide leadership responsibilities.

  • Mandate, authority and accountability mapped through a senior leadership role charter
  • Systems thinking identifies feedback loops, delays and unintended consequences
  • Distinguishing operational management from enterprise leadership decisions and behaviours
  • Personal leadership principles tested against organisational purpose and public commitments
  • Power-interest mapping clarifies formal authority, informal influence and political constraints
  • Executive presence through concise positioning, listening and disciplined meeting contributions

Participants can analyse strategic conditions and convert direction into focused enterprise priorities.

  • PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces diagnose strategic pressures and choices
  • Strategic intent translated into few measurable enterprise-level priorities
  • Scenario planning tests assumptions, trigger points and contingent responses
  • Balanced Scorecard links strategic objectives, measures, initiatives and accountable owners
  • Resource allocation weighs strategic fit, capacity constraints and opportunity cost
  • Strategy narrative aligns board messages, leadership teams and frontline decisions

Participants can structure high-stakes decisions and prepare clear governance submissions.

  • Decision rights defined using RAPID for recurring cross-functional decisions
  • Board papers frame recommendations, alternatives, risks and required approvals
  • Evidence thresholds distinguish reversible choices from high-consequence commitments
  • Pre-mortem analysis exposes failure modes before major decisions proceed
  • Governance calendars sequence board, committee, executive and operational reviews
  • Escalation protocols specify decision owner, deadline, evidence and communication route

Participants can interpret financial information and make financially informed leadership decisions.

  • Income statements connect revenue, margin, overheads and operating profit
  • Balance-sheet drivers reveal liquidity, capital structure and working-capital exposure
  • 13-week rolling cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Capital proposals assessed with NPV, payback, sensitivity and non-financial benefits
  • Unit economics separates volume, price, mix and cost-to-serve effects
  • Financial narratives explain variances, corrective actions and forecast confidence

Participants can organise execution through clear accountabilities, performance measures and review routines.

  • Operating model choices align customer promise, capabilities, structure and governance
  • RACI clarifies accountabilities for priority processes and cross-functional handoffs
  • Value-stream mapping exposes queues, rework, bottlenecks and service failure points
  • OKRs connect enterprise priorities with team commitments and measurable outcomes
  • Weekly operating reviews use leading indicators, exceptions and recovery actions
  • Portfolio reviews stop, start, sequence or reshape initiatives against capacity

Participants can create the conditions for accountable performance, talent growth and constructive challenge.

  • Psychological safety behaviours make challenge, dissent and learning discussable
  • Situational leadership matches direction, coaching, support and delegation to readiness
  • Talent reviews assess performance, potential, mobility and successor readiness
  • Performance conversations use SBI feedback, expectations and documented follow-through
  • Reward, recognition and consequences reinforce stated values and required behaviours
  • Team charters establish purpose, decision rules, conflict norms and commitments

Participants can build stakeholder support and communicate decisions with clarity and credibility.

  • Stakeholder salience assesses power, legitimacy and urgency before engagement
  • Audience analysis identifies interests, concerns, evidence needs and preferred channels
  • Message houses organise core proposition, proof points and anticipated objections
  • Negotiation preparation defines BATNA, reservation point, interests and trade-offs
  • Executive briefings present decisions, implications, options and explicit asks
  • Media and employee communications maintain candour without speculative commitments

Participants can sponsor change through clear impact analysis, communication and adoption measures.

  • Change case connects strategic rationale, operational impact and stakeholder consequences
  • ADKAR diagnoses awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Change impact assessments identify role, process, system and capability shifts
  • Sponsor coalitions assign visible leadership actions, messages and decision responsibilities
  • Resistance conversations surface losses, concerns, misinformation and practical barriers
  • Benefits realisation tracks adoption, performance measures, owners and corrective action

Participants can govern risk, make defensible ethical choices and lead initial crisis responses.

  • Risk appetite statements distinguish acceptable exposure from escalation thresholds
  • Risk registers record causes, controls, indicators, owners and treatments
  • Three Lines Model clarifies management, oversight and independent assurance roles
  • Crisis leadership sets command roles, facts, cadence and stakeholder updates
  • Ethical decision tests examine duties, consequences, rights and public scrutiny
  • After-action reviews convert incidents into control improvements and leadership lessons

Participants can convert course learning into a prioritised leadership plan for their current role.

  • Leadership diagnostic prioritises strengths, constraints and immediate development needs
  • Stakeholder map identifies sponsors, blockers, allies and engagement priorities
  • 90-day plan sequences decisions, communications, milestones, measures and review dates
  • Personal commitments link leadership behaviours to observable workplace evidence
  • Peer accountability arrangements establish check-ins, challenge and progress reporting
  • Manager briefing translates learning into agreed priorities and support requests

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

What you take back to work

  1. Senior leadership role charter
  2. Strategic priority and Balanced Scorecard model
  3. RAPID decision-rights template
  4. Executive financial review checklist
  5. Stakeholder engagement map
  6. 90-day senior leadership action plan

Who should attend

  • Newly appointed senior managers — need to lead beyond functional delivery and direct reports
  • Heads of function — need clearer enterprise priorities, financial control and executive influence
  • Directors — need to govern performance, risk and strategic initiatives across multiple teams
  • Senior programme leaders — need to align sponsors, resources and change adoption
  • Regional or country managers — need to balance local delivery with corporate direction
  • Senior technical specialists — need to frame recommendations for executive decisions and approval

Skills and tools covered

Strategic decision-makingExecutive financial literacyOperating model designStakeholder influenceChange leadershipRisk governance

Tools and standards

PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, RAPID, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by facilitated case work, group analysis, simulations and individual application planning. Cases require participants to make choices on strategy, budget allocation, operating performance, stakeholder conflict, change resistance and crisis response. Participants practise writing executive recommendations, interpreting management information and conducting senior-level conversations. Trainers use sector-relevant examples where possible and provide structured feedback against clear decision, communication and leadership criteria.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of management experience and current responsibility for a team, function, programme, budget or significant operational area. They should be familiar with basic business planning, performance reporting and workplace decision-making. Experience presenting to senior colleagues is useful but not essential. No prior MBA, finance qualification, formal leadership assessment or knowledge of named frameworks is required. This is not an introductory course for first-time supervisors; participants should bring a current leadership challenge they can apply throughout 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 several years of management experience and responsibility for a team, function, programme, budget or major workstream. You do not need an MBA, finance qualification or prior knowledge of the frameworks used.

Bring a current leadership issue, such as a strategic initiative, performance concern, change programme or stakeholder challenge. You may also bring non-confidential examples of plans, reports or governance papers you want to improve.

It is designed for experienced managers entering senior roles, heads of function, directors and senior programme leaders. It also suits technical leaders who need to influence executive decisions beyond their specialist area.

This course focuses on enterprise-level judgement, governance, strategic priorities, financial choices and cross-functional leadership. It assumes participants already manage work and people, rather than teaching basic supervision skills.

You will leave with a role charter, stakeholder map, decision-rights template and 90-day action plan linked to a real workplace challenge. These materials can be reviewed with your manager or sponsor after the programme.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, balancing instructor input with cases, simulations, group analysis 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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