Strategic Leadership and Critical Thinking Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Directors, Senior Managers 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-LD-180

Before you join: Participants should have several years of management experience and current responsibility for a function, programme, business unit, budget, major initiative or senior stakeholder group.

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 make consequential choices with incomplete information, competing stakeholder demands and limited resources. The challenge is not simply generating ideas; it is distinguishing strategic issues from operational noise, testing assumptions before commitment, and converting a preferred direction into decisions, measures, governance and action. Poorly framed choices can consume capital, weaken trust and delay responses to market, regulatory or operational change.

This course develops the judgement and analytical discipline required of directors, senior managers and high-potential leaders with enterprise responsibilities. Participants examine external forces using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces and scenario planning; diagnose strategic issues through SWOT, VRIO and value-chain analysis; and apply critical-thinking methods to challenge evidence, cognitive bias and weak arguments. They evaluate options using weighted criteria, multi-criteria decision analysis, financial appraisal and risk appetite, then translate chosen priorities into OKRs, scorecards, initiative charters and operating rhythms.

Delivery combines instructor briefings, sector-based cases, facilitated analysis, decision simulations and structured peer challenge. Cases can reflect public-sector reform, banking investment decisions, NGO programme portfolios, multinational market entry and corporate transformation. Participants leave with a practical strategy-on-a-page, an evidence-based decision framework, a strategic risk view and a 90-day action plan that can be adapted to a current leadership priority. The course is available as a five-day classroom programme in 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day and a certificate of completion.

It is best suited to leaders who already manage significant functions, budgets, portfolios or stakeholder relationships and now need to contribute credibly to enterprise strategy and board-level decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose strategic issues using SWOT, VRIO, value-chain analysis and root-cause methods
  • Assess external change using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, scenario planning and signposts
  • Challenge strategic assumptions using argument maps, premortems, red-team review and decision journals
  • Evaluate strategic options using weighted criteria, multi-criteria decision analysis and opportunity-cost analysis
  • Build investment cases using cash-flow forecasts, net present value and benefits maps
  • Set risk appetite and treatment actions using ISO 31000, risk registers and bow-tie analysis
  • Translate strategic choices into OKRs, scorecards, initiative charters and governance rhythms
  • Present strategic recommendations using SCQA, stakeholder influence plans and decision-ready narratives

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence challenging unsupported strategic claims in executive discussions
  • A repeatable method for framing ambiguous, high-consequence decisions
  • Stronger ability to present trade-offs without oversimplifying risk or uncertainty
  • Practical financial language for assessing investments, benefits and resource commitments
  • A personal 90-day plan for applying strategic leadership behaviours

For your organisation

  • Better quality strategic decisions supported by explicit assumptions and evidence
  • Earlier identification of external threats, competitive shifts and execution dependencies
  • More consistent investment choices across competing initiatives and constrained budgets
  • Clearer links between strategic priorities, performance measures and accountable owners
  • Stronger challenge culture that reduces groupthink and unmanaged strategic risk

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish strategic leadership responsibilities from operational management and define value-focused decision rights.

  • Director accountabilities translated into enterprise outcomes, choices and decision rights
  • Strategic intent expressed through purpose, ambition, boundaries and measurable outcomes
  • Value creation logic links customer needs, capabilities, economics and risk
  • Stakeholder mapping distinguishes owners, regulators, customers, employees and partners
  • Corporate, business-unit and functional strategy roles separated using strategy hierarchy
  • Governance cadence connects board oversight, executive decisions and operating reviews

Participants can assess external forces and identify plausible changes requiring strategic response.

  • PESTLE signals assessed for materiality, uncertainty, timing and strategic relevance
  • Porter's Five Forces diagnoses industry profit pools and competitive pressure
  • Scenario planning separates predetermined elements, critical uncertainties and signposts
  • Assumption mapping tests confidence levels against impact on strategic choices
  • Early-warning indicators convert external change into monitored management information
  • Competitor intelligence distinguishes stated intent, capability evidence and probable moves

Participants can identify the strategic issue beneath visible symptoms and define the decision required.

  • SWOT synthesis converts internal evidence and external conditions into strategic issues
  • VRIO analysis tests resources for value, rarity, imitability and organisational support
  • Value chain analysis locates cost drivers, differentiation sources and bottlenecks
  • Strategic issue statements specify tension, evidence, consequence and decision required
  • Root-cause analysis separates symptoms from structural constraints and recurring failure
  • Problem framing uses the six-question Kipling method before solution design

Participants can test strategic reasoning, expose bias and improve the quality of decision evidence.

  • Paul-Elder elements clarify purpose, questions, information, inference and implications
  • Cognitive bias checks address confirmation, anchoring, availability and sunk-cost effects
  • Red-team challenge tests strategic claims, evidence quality and downside exposure
  • Argument maps distinguish claims, reasons, assumptions, objections and supporting evidence
  • Premortem analysis identifies failure modes before committing resources and reputation
  • Decision journals record hypotheses, confidence, evidence and expected outcomes

Participants can generate credible options and recommend a course of action using explicit criteria.

  • Strategic options generated through Ansoff Matrix, adjacencies and business-model alternatives
  • Decision criteria weighted for value, feasibility, risk, timing and stakeholder acceptance
  • Multi-criteria decision analysis compares options using explicit scored assumptions
  • Real-options thinking stages commitments under uncertainty and preserves future choices
  • Opportunity cost quantified against capital, talent, management attention and foregone returns
  • Recommendation narratives state choice, rationale, trade-offs, conditions and rejected alternatives

Participants can assess financial implications and allocate resources against strategic priorities.

  • Financial drivers connect strategic initiatives to revenue, margin, cash and capital
  • Business cases distinguish incremental benefits, one-off costs, recurring costs and disbenefits
  • Net present value and internal rate of return inform investment choices
  • 13-week rolling cash forecasts expose funding pressure and execution dependencies
  • Resource allocation tests capacity, critical skills, sequencing and portfolio balance
  • Benefits maps connect outputs, outcomes, owners, measures and enabling assumptions

Participants can set strategic risk boundaries and define proportionate controls, contingencies and escalation routes.

  • ISO 31000 principles frame risk ownership, treatment, monitoring and communication
  • Risk appetite statements set thresholds for financial, operational and reputational exposure
  • Risk registers distinguish causes, events, consequences, controls and accountable owners
  • Bow-tie analysis maps preventive controls, recovery controls and escalation triggers
  • Strategic resilience considers concentration, dependencies, contingencies and recovery priorities
  • Escalation protocols define decision thresholds, authorities, evidence and response timing

Participants can convert strategic choices into measurable priorities, owned initiatives and review routines.

  • OKRs translate strategic priorities into measurable objectives and key results
  • Strategy maps link financial outcomes, customers, processes and organisational capability
  • Balanced Scorecard measures combine leading indicators, lagging indicators and targets
  • Initiative charters specify scope, sponsor, milestones, dependencies, benefits and risks
  • Operating rhythms align quarterly reviews, monthly decisions and weekly delivery control
  • RACI matrices assign accountability for cross-functional strategic initiatives and decisions

Participants can build support for strategic choices while encouraging constructive challenge and dissent.

  • Adaptive leadership distinguishes technical problems from adaptive challenges and losses
  • Stakeholder salience prioritises engagement by power, legitimacy and urgency
  • Influence plans match messages, messengers, channels, objections and decision moments
  • Constructive dissent protects challenge while maintaining accountability and respectful debate
  • Conflict diagnosis separates interests, positions, emotions, process and relationship issues
  • Executive communication structures strategic recommendations using the SCQA framework

Participants can assemble a focused plan for applying strategic leadership methods to a live priority.

  • Strategy-on-a-page consolidates ambition, choices, measures, initiatives, risks and governance
  • 90-day action plans sequence decisions, sponsorship, resources, milestones and reviews
  • Personal leadership commitments identify behaviours, stakeholders, feedback and accountability
  • Decision review protocols compare expected outcomes, evidence updates and course corrections
  • After-action reviews capture lessons, assumptions, results and required adjustments
  • Implementation commitments specify first actions, decision owners, deadlines and evidence

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategy-on-a-page template
  2. Strategic issue-framing worksheet
  3. Weighted option appraisal matrix
  4. Investment case and benefits-map template
  5. Strategic risk and bow-tie analysis checklist
  6. 90-day strategic leadership action plan

Who should attend

  • Directors — need disciplined methods for enterprise choices, oversight and strategic challenge
  • Senior Managers — need to connect functional priorities with business strategy and resource decisions
  • Business Unit Heads — need to assess markets, competitive position and growth options
  • Programme Directors — need to convert strategic priorities into governed portfolios and measurable outcomes
  • High-Potential Leaders — need credibility in executive discussions, evidence testing and recommendation development
  • Chiefs of Staff — need to structure strategic decisions, board materials and leadership follow-through

Skills and tools covered

Strategic issue diagnosisCritical thinkingOption appraisalInvestment case developmentStrategic risk managementExecutive decision communication

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces, ISO 31000, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case analysis, group work, decision simulations and structured challenge discussions. Participants apply tools to realistic leadership situations involving investment, market positioning, transformation, public value and stakeholder conflict. Facilitators use questioning, evidence review and peer feedback to strengthen reasoning rather than reward quick answers. Individual application planning connects the methods to a current organisational priority, decision or portfolio issue.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have several years of management experience and current responsibility for a function, programme, business unit, budget, major initiative or senior stakeholder group. They should be familiar with routine planning, performance reporting and business decision-making, and able to discuss a live strategic issue from their work. Prior formal study of strategy, finance or critical thinking is not required. The course introduces each analytical method before applying it, but it is not designed for first-time supervisors or participants without management 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

You should have management experience and responsibility for decisions, budgets, programmes, functions or senior stakeholders. Prior formal training in strategy, finance or critical thinking is not required.

Bring a current strategic issue, investment decision, transformation priority or portfolio challenge you can discuss without sharing confidential information. A laptop is useful for live online delivery and helpful for classroom participants, but not essential.

The course is designed for directors, senior managers, business-unit heads, programme leaders, chiefs of staff and high-potential leaders moving into enterprise responsibilities. It is not intended as an introductory supervision or team-leadership programme.

This course concentrates on the decision work expected of senior leaders: diagnosis, evidence testing, option appraisal, financial judgement, risk and execution governance. It combines strategy methods with critical-thinking disciplines rather than focusing mainly on leadership style or motivation.

Participants can use the issue-framing worksheet, decision criteria matrix, risk analysis and strategy-on-a-page for an active business priority. The final application plan identifies first decisions, stakeholders, measures and review dates.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, analytical work, simulations, group discussion and application planning across the ten teaching modules.

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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