Strategic Planning and Execution Training Course

Duration 10 days 18 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Chief Strategy Officers, Strategy Directors and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SP-047

Before you join: Participants should have substantial management experience and current responsibility for a business unit, function, transformation programme, strategic initiative or planning process.

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 broad ambitions into choices that direct capital, people, technology and operational attention. Yet many strategy processes produce lengthy plans without clear priorities, credible economics, accountable owners or mechanisms for delivery. Chief strategy officers and senior planning teams must reconcile competing stakeholder demands, uncertain market conditions, regulatory obligations and organisational capacity while maintaining a disciplined route from strategic intent to measurable results.

This course develops the methods used to design, test, communicate and govern enterprise strategy. Participants assess strategic position using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT and stakeholder analysis; define strategic choices and scenarios; build value propositions and business models; set strategic objectives; allocate resources; and establish performance management arrangements. The course also addresses board engagement, strategy communication, portfolio management, operating-model alignment, transformation governance and execution risk.

Instructor-led sessions combine focused briefings, cases from public services, banking, infrastructure, healthcare and multinational business, group analysis and facilitated planning work. Participants progressively develop a strategy package based on their own organisation or a realistic case, then refine it through peer and instructor review. They leave with a board-ready strategic planning and execution pack containing a strategic diagnosis, choice architecture, objectives, initiatives, scorecard, governance model and implementation roadmap.

The course is suited to senior managers with responsibility for enterprise, business-unit, functional or public-sector strategy. It is particularly relevant for chief strategy officers, transformation leaders, planning directors, corporate development managers and senior executives preparing to lead a major strategic planning cycle.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a strategic diagnosis using PESTLE, Five Forces, SWOT and stakeholder analysis
  • Frame strategic choices through mission, ambition, strategic boundaries and choice cascades
  • Develop scenarios, assumptions and early-warning indicators for uncertain strategic conditions
  • Design value propositions, business models and strategic initiatives linked to measurable outcomes
  • Build a Balanced Scorecard with strategic objectives, measures, targets and accountable owners
  • Prioritise investment portfolios using strategic fit, value, risk, capacity and dependency criteria
  • Establish strategy governance, performance reviews and escalation routes for execution decisions
  • Present a board-ready strategic plan and implementation roadmap supported by evidence

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead strategic planning discussions with clearer choices, evidence and decision criteria
  • Produce board papers that connect strategic intent, investment and delivery accountability
  • Challenge weak initiatives using explicit assumptions, benefits logic and execution evidence
  • Manage strategic uncertainty through scenarios, signposts and contingency actions
  • Build credibility as a senior adviser on enterprise strategy and transformation

For your organisation

  • Creates clearer strategic priorities and reduces competing, unfunded initiatives
  • Improves alignment between corporate strategy, business-unit plans, budgets and operating models
  • Strengthens board oversight through defined measures, review cadences and escalation routes
  • Improves investment decisions by comparing strategic fit, value, risk and delivery capacity
  • Accelerates execution through accountable initiatives, dependencies and implementation roadmaps

Course modules

18 modules over 10 days

Participants can define the strategic planning mandate, decision rights and planning boundaries for an enterprise.

  • Chief strategy officer accountabilities across strategy, portfolio, performance and transformation
  • Strategic mandate clarified through board intent, shareholder expectations and statutory duties
  • Decision rights mapped between board, executive committee, business units and functions
  • Planning horizons distinguished across corporate strategy, annual plans and operating budgets
  • Enterprise strategy office operating model, roles, cadences and core deliverables
  • Strategic planning failure modes: activity lists, vague priorities and unowned outcomes

Participants can frame a coherent strategic intent and define the choices required to achieve it.

  • Mission, vision, purpose and ambition separated using practical decision tests
  • Playing to Win choice cascade: aspirations, arenas, advantage, capabilities, management systems
  • Strategic boundaries set through customer segments, geographies, channels and offerings
  • Non-negotiables identified from risk appetite, regulation, values and capital constraints
  • Strategic questions converted into testable choices requiring executive decisions
  • Choice statements written with explicit trade-offs, assumptions and intended outcomes

Participants can assess external forces and identify implications for strategic choices.

  • PESTLE analysis prioritised through impact, uncertainty and time-horizon assessment
  • Porter's Five Forces applied to industry profitability and competitive pressure
  • Market segmentation tested using needs, economics, behaviour and accessibility criteria
  • Competitor intelligence structured around intent, capabilities, positions and likely moves
  • Regulatory and policy developments translated into opportunities, obligations and threats
  • External signals ranked by strategic relevance rather than information volume

Participants can evaluate internal capabilities, resources and constraints against strategic ambition.

  • SWOT analysis converted from lists into prioritised strategic implications
  • VRIO assessment distinguishes valuable, rare, inimitable and organised capabilities
  • Core capabilities mapped across people, processes, technology, data and partnerships
  • Value chain analysis identifies cost drivers, control points and differentiation sources
  • Resource constraints assessed through capital, skills, capacity and management attention
  • Capability gaps linked directly to strategic choices and investment requirements

Participants can analyse stakeholder interests and develop an engagement approach for strategy approval and delivery.

  • Stakeholder mapping assesses influence, interest, legitimacy and potential resistance
  • Power-interest matrix identifies engagement priorities for critical stakeholder groups
  • Board, regulator, customer and employee expectations reconciled within strategic choices
  • Strategic narrative tailored for investors, ministers, unions and delivery teams
  • Conflict points surfaced between financial targets, service outcomes and risk controls
  • Engagement plans assign sponsors, messages, forums and decision milestones

Participants can develop plausible scenarios and use them to test strategic resilience.

  • Critical uncertainties selected through impact and unpredictability assessment
  • Scenario matrix constructed from two high-impact uncertain external drivers
  • Scenario narratives describe market conditions, stakeholder behaviour and operating implications
  • Wind-tunnelling tests strategic choices against contrasting plausible future conditions
  • Early-warning indicators defined for scenario shifts and assumption failure
  • Contingency actions distinguish no-regrets moves from trigger-based responses

Participants can generate, compare and select strategic options using explicit decision criteria.

  • Strategic options generated across growth, efficiency, partnership, divestment and transformation
  • Option screens assess attractiveness, feasibility, acceptability and strategic fit
  • Real options thinking values staged commitments under material uncertainty
  • Decision criteria weight financial returns, mission outcomes, risk and capability requirements
  • Assumption logs document evidence gaps, owners and planned validation actions
  • Recommendation papers distinguish preferred options, alternatives and rejected choices

Participants can define strategic value propositions and assess the viability of supporting business models.

  • Customer value propositions specify jobs, pains, gains and differentiated offers
  • Business Model Canvas maps customers, activities, partners, costs and revenues
  • Revenue logic tested through pricing, volume, retention and channel assumptions
  • Public-value propositions connect service outcomes, equity, access and fiscal sustainability
  • Partnership models assess incentives, governance, control and shared value
  • Value leakage identified across handoffs, service failures, rework and customer attrition

Participants can connect strategic choices to financial logic, investment requirements and resource allocation decisions.

  • Strategic financial model links initiatives, benefits, costs, cash and funding
  • Value-driver trees connect operational measures to revenue, margin and capital
  • Investment cases separate recurring costs, one-time costs and benefit timing
  • Capital allocation criteria compare returns, strategic fit, risk and reversibility
  • Benefits profiles identify owners, baselines, measurement methods and realization dates
  • Resource allocation reviews challenge inherited budgets and low-value expenditure

Participants can translate strategic choices into linked objectives and causal hypotheses.

  • Strategy maps connect financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Strategic objectives written as outcome statements rather than activity descriptions
  • Cause-and-effect logic tested between capability investments and enterprise results
  • Strategic themes organise objectives around a limited set of priorities
  • Objective owners assigned with authority, dependencies and reporting responsibilities
  • Logic models connect inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and intended impact

Participants can design a Balanced Scorecard with useful measures, targets and review arrangements.

  • Balanced Scorecard measures selected for outcomes, drivers, risks and capability
  • KPI definitions specify formula, source, frequency, owner and data limitations
  • Targets set using baselines, benchmarks, capacity and strategic ambition
  • Leading indicators distinguished from lagging indicators and activity measures
  • Metric gaming risks reduced through balanced measure sets and assurance checks
  • Performance thresholds trigger intervention, escalation and management review

Participants can convert strategic objectives into accountable initiatives with measurable benefits.

  • Strategic initiatives defined through scope, outcomes, sponsor, owner and milestones
  • Benefits dependency networks show relationships between projects, capabilities and outcomes
  • Initiative charters specify assumptions, resources, risks and decision gates
  • Benefits realization plans assign accountable owners beyond project closure
  • Theory of change tests how interventions produce intended outcomes
  • Duplicate initiatives identified through objective, benefit and dependency comparison

Participants can prioritise a strategic initiative portfolio within realistic resource and delivery constraints.

  • Portfolio heat maps compare strategic value, risk, cost and delivery confidence
  • Prioritisation scoring weights urgency, benefits, dependencies, affordability and capacity
  • Capacity planning identifies bottlenecks in specialist roles and decision forums
  • Roadmap sequencing accounts for prerequisites, regulatory deadlines and benefits timing
  • Stop, start, continue decisions release resources for higher-priority commitments
  • Portfolio reviews address cumulative change burden and operational disruption

Participants can identify operating-model changes required to support strategic execution.

  • Target operating model aligns processes, people, technology, governance and locations
  • Organisation design tests spans, layers, accountabilities and decision speed
  • RACI matrices clarify responsibility, accountability, consultation and information requirements
  • Process architecture identifies critical end-to-end journeys requiring redesign
  • Data and technology capabilities linked to strategic objectives and service models
  • Sourcing choices compare internal delivery, shared services, outsourcing and partnerships

Participants can establish governance arrangements that maintain strategic control while enabling timely decisions.

  • Strategy governance defines forums, membership, authority, cadence and decision thresholds
  • Three Lines Model clarifies management, oversight and assurance responsibilities
  • Strategic risk registers connect uncertainties to objectives, indicators and responses
  • Risk appetite statements guide choices involving growth, capital and operational exposure
  • Stage-gate reviews test evidence before major investment or implementation commitments
  • Escalation routes distinguish delivery issues from strategic decisions requiring executive action

Participants can run execution reviews that identify variance, remove barriers and adjust strategic actions.

  • OKR cycles align quarterly commitments with longer-term strategic objectives
  • Strategy review agendas distinguish performance insight from status reporting
  • Variance analysis investigates causes, consequences, owners and corrective actions
  • After-action reviews capture learning from decisions, pilots and implementation setbacks
  • Adaptive planning updates assumptions, priorities and resource commitments using evidence
  • Management dashboards present exceptions, trends, decisions and unresolved dependencies

Participants can communicate strategy credibly to boards, executives and delivery stakeholders.

  • Board papers structure context, decision, evidence, risks and requested approvals
  • Strategy-on-a-page formats connect ambition, choices, objectives and initiatives
  • Executive narratives explain trade-offs, uncertainty and consequences of inaction
  • Visual management uses maps, roadmaps, scorecards and portfolio views effectively
  • Challenge sessions prepare sponsors for difficult board and stakeholder questions
  • Communication calendars sequence approval, mobilisation, reporting and renewal messages

Participants can build, review and present a complete board-ready strategic plan and execution roadmap.

  • Strategic diagnosis synthesised from market, capability, stakeholder and financial evidence
  • Choice architecture states ambition, strategic boundaries, trade-offs and selected options
  • Scenario tests demonstrate resilience against critical uncertainties and assumption changes
  • Strategy map and scorecard connect objectives, measures, targets and owners
  • Initiative portfolio prioritised with benefits, dependencies, capacity and investment requirements
  • Governance model and roadmap define decisions, reviews, milestones and escalation routes

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic diagnosis template
  2. Scenario planning matrix
  3. Strategy-on-a-page model
  4. Balanced Scorecard template
  5. Strategic initiative portfolio
  6. Board-ready execution roadmap

Who should attend

  • Chief Strategy Officers — responsible for enterprise strategy, planning cycles and board reporting
  • Strategy Directors — required to translate strategic choices into coordinated programmes
  • Business Unit Leaders — accountable for competitive position, growth and delivery performance
  • Transformation Directors — leading initiatives that must realise strategic outcomes
  • Corporate Development Managers — assessing growth options, partnerships and investment cases
  • Public Sector Planning Heads — aligning statutory objectives, budgets and service priorities

Skills and tools covered

Strategic diagnosisScenario planningPortfolio prioritisationStrategy executionPerformance governanceBoard communication

Tools and standards

Balanced Scorecard, OKR, Business Model Canvas, Playing to Win

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by cases, facilitated group analysis, planning simulations and individual application work. Participants examine strategic choices from regulated, commercial and public-service settings, test assumptions against evidence and practise senior-level decision discussions. Templates are introduced in sequence and applied to an organisation-specific challenge or realistic case. Peer critique and instructor feedback focus on the quality of choices, logic, measures, governance and implementation arrangements. The final sessions are structured around review and presentation of each participant's strategy package.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have substantial management experience and current responsibility for a business unit, function, transformation programme, strategic initiative or planning process. They should be comfortable interpreting financial, operational and market information and contributing to senior management discussions. Experience of annual planning, budgeting, performance reporting or project governance is useful. No previous chief strategy officer role, MBA, consulting background, formal strategy qualification or advanced financial modelling expertise is required. Participants may bring an existing strategy, planning challenge or business case for application during the course.

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 significant management experience and exposure to planning, performance management, transformation or business-unit leadership. A formal strategy qualification or MBA is not required.

Bring an active strategic issue, current plan, business case, performance pack or transformation challenge where possible. Sensitive information can be anonymised, and a realistic case can be used instead.

It is designed for senior leaders responsible for enterprise, business-unit, functional or public-sector strategy. It is also suitable for experienced transformation, corporate development and planning professionals moving into broader strategy roles.

This course focuses on making strategic choices and creating the mechanisms that connect those choices to investment, portfolios, operating models and performance reviews. Project management addresses delivery control for individual projects rather than enterprise strategic direction.

Participants build reusable planning materials throughout the course, including a diagnosis, choice framework, objectives, measures and roadmap. These can be adapted for a live planning cycle, executive workshop or board paper.

The first week establishes diagnosis, choices, scenarios, value logic and strategic objectives. The second week develops scorecards, portfolios, operating models, governance, execution reviews and the final capstone presentation, with about 6.5 contact hours each day.

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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