Strategic Execution Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Executives, Strategy Directors 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-SP-078

Before you join: Participants should have substantial management, programme, transformation, strategy or business planning experience.

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

Strategy fails when executive intent is not converted into clear priorities, funded initiatives, accountable decisions and operating routines. Organisations may approve ambitious plans yet retain inherited budgets, conflicting KPIs, unclear decision rights and overloaded delivery portfolios. The result is predictable: teams pursue activity rather than outcomes, strategic risks emerge late, and leadership meetings become status updates instead of forums for choices and corrective action.

This advanced course examines the management system required to turn strategy into sustained results. Participants build a strategy-to-execution thesis, translate strategic intent into strategy maps and measurable objectives, and design OKRs, KPIs and leading indicators that guide action. They apply Hoshin Kanri, initiative portfolio management, RAPID decision rights, RACI matrices, benefits realisation disciplines and integrated delivery roadmaps. The course also addresses resource reallocation, strategic workforce requirements, governance cadence, stakeholder commitment, change impacts and learning loops that keep execution on course.

Instruction is delivered over five days in a classroom or live online format, combining concise faculty briefings, sector-based cases, group analysis, execution simulations and structured application planning. Participants work with realistic situations such as a bank modernising customer onboarding, a public agency implementing service reform, or a multinational consolidating its operating model. Each participant leaves with a practical strategic execution blueprint: a diagnostic, strategy map, measurement architecture, initiative portfolio, governance design and 90-day action plan. The course is particularly suited to leaders responsible for converting approved strategy into coordinated delivery across functions, business units or programmes.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose execution barriers using an execution-thesis assessment and the 7S framework
  • Construct a strategy map linking strategic objectives through cause-and-effect logic
  • Design OKRs, KPIs and leading indicators with defined baselines, targets and owners
  • Prioritise strategic initiatives using portfolio capacity, dependency and benefit criteria
  • Establish decision rights and accountability using RAPID and RACI matrices
  • Build governance cadences that convert performance evidence into timely management decisions
  • Develop integrated execution roadmaps with milestones, risks, resource needs and decision gates
  • Produce a 90-day strategic execution plan for a current organisational priority

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Frame execution problems as choices about priorities, resources, governance and behaviour
  • Lead strategy reviews that produce decisions rather than descriptive status reports
  • Create credible links between executive objectives and frontline operating measures
  • Strengthen influence across functions through clearer accountabilities and decision rights
  • Present a practical execution plan supported by evidence, milestones and ownership

For your organisation

  • Improved alignment between strategic priorities, funded initiatives and operating plans
  • Earlier identification of delivery risks, dependencies and capacity constraints
  • Faster executive decisions through defined governance forums and escalation thresholds
  • More useful performance reporting through outcome measures and leading indicators
  • Greater benefit realisation from transformation, investment and service-improvement portfolios

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the organisational conditions that prevent approved strategy from becoming coordinated delivery.

  • Strategy-to-execution gap diagnosed through decision rights, resources, incentives and routines
  • Strategic intent translated into a testable execution thesis and priorities
  • Assumptions register separates facts, forecasts, risks and management choices
  • Operating model constraints identified across structure, processes, talent and technology
  • Execution failure modes assessed using the 7S framework
  • Leadership attention mapped against enterprise priorities and critical interdependencies

Participants can convert strategic intent into a coherent set of linked strategic objectives.

  • Strategy maps connect financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Cause-and-effect logic tested for plausibility, ownership and measurable outcomes
  • Balanced Scorecard perspectives adapted for public, commercial and nonprofit mandates
  • Strategic themes grouped into coherent value-creation or mission-delivery portfolios
  • Objectives written with outcome language rather than activity statements
  • Strategy map narrative clarifies trade-offs, sequencing and intended value

Participants can create a measurement architecture that tracks strategic progress and prompts action.

  • OKRs distinguish committed delivery targets from directional aspiration
  • Outcome measures specified with baselines, targets, tolerances and owners
  • Lead indicators selected to predict lagging strategic results
  • KPI definitions standardised through calculation rules, data sources and frequency
  • Metric trees trace operational drivers to enterprise outcomes
  • Goodhart's law addressed through balanced measures and qualitative evidence

Participants can select and sequence the initiatives required to achieve strategic objectives.

  • Hoshin Kanri X-matrix aligns breakthrough objectives, annual priorities and owners
  • Catchball process tests feasibility between executive, business-unit and frontline levels
  • Strategic initiatives prioritised using impact, effort, risk and dependency criteria
  • Portfolio capacity matched against funding, specialist skills and delivery windows
  • Initiative charters define scope, benefits, sponsors, milestones and decision gates
  • Benefits dependencies exposed before commitments enter the delivery portfolio

Participants can design governance arrangements that create accountability and accelerate strategic decisions.

  • RACI matrices assign accountabilities for outcomes, decisions and cross-functional handoffs
  • Decision rights calibrated using RAPID for high-stakes strategic choices
  • Executive governance forums designed around decisions, not status reporting
  • Escalation thresholds distinguish routine variance from intervention-worthy performance risks
  • Meeting cadences connect weekly operations reviews with quarterly strategy reviews
  • Governance charters specify membership, authority, inputs, outputs and records

Participants can align funding, workforce capacity and investment decisions with strategic priorities.

  • Zero-based resource review challenges inherited spending against strategic priorities
  • Resource reallocation scenarios compare benefits, costs, constraints and opportunity losses
  • Strategic workforce plans identify critical roles, capacity gaps and succession risks
  • Capital allocation gates link investment releases to evidence and milestones
  • Funding profiles sequence expenditure around dependencies, procurement and benefits realisation
  • Scenario planning stress-tests execution under demand, regulatory and supply shocks

Participants can build stakeholder commitment and address the people impacts of strategic execution.

  • Stakeholder maps distinguish sponsors, advocates, blockers and affected groups
  • ADKAR assessments identify awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement gaps
  • Change impact assessments connect strategic initiatives to role-level consequences
  • Communication architecture matches messages, channels, senders and decision moments
  • Manager-led conversations convert strategic priorities into local commitments
  • Resistance patterns addressed through listening, participation, capability building and consequence management

Participants can coordinate strategic delivery across initiatives, teams, risks and dependencies.

  • Integrated roadmaps sequence initiatives through dependencies, milestones and critical paths
  • Program increments coordinate cross-team commitments over fixed planning horizons
  • Critical chain buffers protect delivery dates from shared-resource contention
  • Kanban visualisation limits work in progress and exposes bottlenecks
  • Risk registers assign triggers, mitigations, contingencies and accountable owners
  • Delivery assurance reviews test readiness, controls, evidence and benefit risks

Participants can run evidence-based strategy reviews that support learning and corrective action.

  • Strategy review agendas focus on choices, learning and corrective action
  • Variance analysis separates signal from normal operational fluctuation
  • After-action reviews capture assumptions, evidence, decisions and transferable lessons
  • Double-loop learning systematically challenges governing assumptions behind underperformance
  • Leading indicators trigger predefined management responses before target failure
  • Quarterly business reviews reset priorities without abandoning strategic intent

Participants can assemble a practical implementation plan for a current strategic priority.

  • Execution diagnostic consolidates gaps across strategy, governance, measures and delivery
  • 90-day action plan specifies priorities, owners, milestones and review dates
  • Personal leadership commitments address decision quality, follow-through and accountability
  • Stakeholder engagement plan schedules critical conversations and sponsor interventions
  • First review pack combines outcomes, risks, decisions and resource requests
  • Implementation assumptions documented with validation actions and escalation points

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategy-to-execution diagnostic template
  2. Strategy map and objective hierarchy
  3. OKR and KPI definition sheet
  4. Strategic initiative portfolio matrix
  5. Governance and decision-rights charter
  6. 90-day strategic execution action plan

Who should attend

  • Senior Executives — translate enterprise strategy into accountable cross-functional delivery
  • Strategy Directors — establish the management system linking plans, measures and initiatives
  • Business Unit Leaders — align local priorities, resources and operating commitments
  • Programme Directors — coordinate strategic initiatives, dependencies and benefit delivery
  • Transformation Leaders — govern complex change portfolios and remove execution barriers
  • PMO Leaders — strengthen portfolio governance, reporting and decision support

Skills and tools covered

Strategy execution designPerformance measurement architectureInitiative portfolio managementDecision rights governanceBenefits realisationExecution risk management

Tools and standards

Balanced Scorecard, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), Hoshin Kanri, RAPID decision rights

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines short faculty briefings with case analysis, facilitated group work, execution simulations and structured application planning. Participants examine strategy execution cases from banking, public services, infrastructure, consumer businesses and international organisations. They assess execution breakdowns, construct strategy maps, define measurement systems, prioritise initiatives and test governance choices. Simulations use realistic constraints such as competing priorities, limited capacity, weak data and stakeholder resistance. Faculty feedback helps participants adapt each method to a current organisational strategy or transformation programme.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial management, programme, transformation, strategy or business planning experience. They should understand how their organisation sets objectives, allocates budgets and monitors performance, and should be able to discuss a current strategic priority or delivery challenge. Prior exposure to KPIs, project governance or strategic planning is useful, but formal qualifications in strategy, finance or project management are not required. The course does not require advanced spreadsheet modelling, specialist software, or prior use of Balanced Scorecard, OKRs, Hoshin Kanri or agile delivery methods.

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

The course is designed for experienced managers, strategy professionals, programme leaders and senior functional specialists. Participants should understand their organisation's planning and performance processes, but do not need formal strategy or project management qualifications.

Bring a current strategy, transformation programme, business plan or execution challenge that you can use as a reference point. Participants may also bring existing KPIs, initiative lists, governance papers or performance reports where organisational policy permits.

It is best suited to leaders accountable for moving strategy into delivery across business units, functions or major programmes. It is also relevant for PMO, transformation and performance-management leaders who support executive decision-making.

Strategic planning courses focus primarily on analysis, strategic choices and plan formulation, while project management courses focus on individual project delivery. This course focuses on the management system between them: objectives, measures, portfolios, governance, resources, behaviour and review routines.

Participants leave with reusable templates and a 90-day action plan linked to a live organisational priority. They can use these materials to improve strategy reviews, clarify decision rights, reset initiative portfolios or strengthen performance reporting.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours, excluding breaks and lunch. Time is divided across ten linked modules, with faculty instruction, case work, group analysis, simulations and application planning throughout.

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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