Strategic Planning and Goal Setting Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Strategy Directors, Business Unit Leaders 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-SP-052

Before you join: Participants should have experience managing a function, programme, business unit or major initiative, and should understand their organisation's planning and budgeting cycle.

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

Strategic plans fail when leadership teams confuse aspirations with choices, set goals without measures, fund too many initiatives, or review performance too late to intervene. This course addresses the practical work of turning a strategic mandate into a focused plan: analysing the situation, making defensible choices, defining measurable goals, assigning resources and establishing governance for delivery.

Participants work through the full strategic planning cycle, from mandate and stakeholder analysis to strategic intent, option assessment, objective setting, initiative portfolios and execution control. They use PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, scenario planning, strategy maps, Balanced Scorecard measures, OKRs, KPI dictionaries, portfolio matrices and risk registers. By the end, participants can connect enterprise priorities with business-unit and functional plans, distinguish outcomes from activities, and set review arrangements that keep strategy under active management.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with sector-based cases, group analysis, decision simulations and structured application planning. Participants test planning methods against realistic challenges such as public-service reform, banking growth targets, infrastructure investment, market entry and operating-model change. Each participant leaves with a reusable strategic planning pack, including templates for strategic choices, objectives, measures, initiative prioritisation, governance and a 90-day application plan. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online, with a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct external and internal analysis using PESTLE, Five Forces, SWOT and value chain methods
  • Formulate strategic intent, vision statements and strategic themes that guide decisions
  • Evaluate strategic options using scenarios, decision criteria and weighted decision matrices
  • Translate strategic choices into strategy maps, objectives and cause-and-effect logic
  • Design SMART goals, OKRs, KPIs and target-setting methods for strategic performance
  • Prioritise initiatives through portfolio analysis, benefits mapping, roadmaps and resource estimates
  • Build governance, risk and review arrangements that support disciplined strategy execution
  • Produce a practical strategic planning pack and 90-day application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead planning discussions with clearer decision criteria and evidence
  • Turn broad leadership priorities into measurable objectives and accountable actions
  • Challenge weak assumptions, unfocused goals and unsupported initiative proposals
  • Present strategic choices and trade-offs credibly to senior decision-makers
  • Apply a repeatable planning method to live business-unit or functional priorities

For your organisation

  • Creates stronger links between strategic choices, budgets, initiatives and performance measures
  • Reduces duplicated initiatives and poorly justified resource commitments
  • Improves executive visibility of strategic risks, assumptions and delivery dependencies
  • Establishes clearer ownership for goals, measures, review forums and corrective actions
  • Produces planning outputs that support consistent decisions across business units and functions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can establish a clear planning mandate, decision structure and stakeholder approach.

  • Planning mandate, decision rights and sponsor expectations defined through a charter
  • Distinguishing strategic choices from annual budgeting, operational planning and project delivery
  • Strategic planning cycle aligned with fiscal calendars and governance milestones
  • Stakeholder mapping using power-interest grids and influence assumptions
  • Planning assumptions documented with owners, evidence sources and review dates
  • Decision criteria established before options are generated or evaluated

Participants can diagnose strategic position using structured external and internal analysis.

  • PESTLE analysis identifies external forces, trends, uncertainties and constraints
  • Porter's Five Forces tests industry attractiveness, power and substitution threats
  • Customer journey evidence separates stated needs from unmet demand
  • SWOT converts validated findings into strategic implications and priority questions
  • Value chain analysis locates cost drivers, bottlenecks and differentiation sources
  • Competitor hypotheses tested against public data, customer signals and field intelligence

Participants can frame, compare and select strategic choices using explicit criteria.

  • Strategic intent expressed through purpose, ambition, scope and non-negotiables
  • Vision statements tested for specificity, direction and decision usefulness
  • Scenario planning compares plausible futures, signposts and contingent responses
  • Strategic options framed as choices about customers, offerings and capabilities
  • Ansoff Matrix assesses market-product growth paths and associated risk
  • Weighted decision matrices rank options against agreed strategic criteria

Participants can translate strategic choices into coherent objectives and strategic themes.

  • Strategy maps link financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Balanced Scorecard perspectives translate strategic choices into measurable objectives
  • Cause-and-effect logic tests whether objectives support intended outcomes
  • Strategic themes group objectives around a few distinct value propositions
  • Outcome statements distinguish ends achieved from activities completed
  • Objective hierarchy resolves conflicts between enterprise, business-unit and functional goals

Participants can create measurable goals and performance measures that support strategic control.

  • SMART criteria sharpen goal statements, deadlines, ownership and evidence
  • OKRs connect ambitious objectives with measurable key results
  • KPI dictionaries define formulas, data sources, frequency and accountable owners
  • Leading and lagging indicators balance prediction, control and outcome measurement
  • Target-setting methods use baselines, benchmarks, thresholds and tolerance ranges
  • Metric trees reveal drivers behind revenue, service, risk and productivity

Participants can prioritise strategic initiatives and sequence them into an achievable roadmap.

  • Initiative charters specify outcomes, scope, dependencies, owners and milestones
  • Benefits maps trace projects to strategic objectives and measurable value
  • Portfolio matrices compare initiatives by value, risk, urgency and feasibility
  • Resource demand estimates expose capacity conflicts and funding requirements
  • Roadmaps sequence initiatives around decision gates, releases and dependencies
  • Stop-doing lists release attention and resources from low-value work

Participants can align structures, resources and capabilities with strategic priorities.

  • Operating model choices align structure, processes, technology and governance
  • RACI matrices clarify accountable executives, delivery owners and consulted stakeholders
  • Capability assessments identify maturity gaps, critical roles and development actions
  • Budget envelopes connect strategic priorities with multi-year financial commitments
  • Workforce plans translate capability needs into hiring, redeployment and training
  • Policy constraints and regulatory obligations incorporated into implementation design

Participants can identify strategic risks and prepare proportionate contingency responses.

  • Risk registers capture strategic threats, opportunities, causes and consequences
  • Scenario stress tests examine plan resilience under adverse assumptions
  • Premortem analysis surfaces failure modes before major commitments are made
  • Risk appetite statements guide escalation, investment limits and contingency choices
  • Early-warning indicators trigger reviews when critical assumptions change
  • Contingency actions assign thresholds, owners, resources and response timelines

Participants can establish review routines and governance mechanisms for strategy execution.

  • Quarterly business reviews test progress, decisions, risks and corrective actions
  • Performance dashboards present exceptions, trends, forecasts and management actions
  • Governance calendars schedule board, executive and delivery-level decision forums
  • Escalation protocols distinguish informational reporting from decisions requiring intervention
  • After-action reviews convert delivery evidence into planning adjustments
  • Strategy refresh triggers define when assumptions, goals or initiatives require revision

Participants can communicate a strategy clearly and prepare a focused implementation plan.

  • Executive narratives connect strategic choices, evidence, trade-offs and expected outcomes
  • Stakeholder communication plans tailor messages, channels, timing and feedback routes
  • One-page strategy documents summarise priorities, measures, initiatives and accountabilities
  • Decision logs preserve rationale, assumptions, approvals and unresolved issues
  • 90-day action plans assign immediate decisions, owners and review points
  • Personal application plans identify a live planning challenge and next steps

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic planning charter template
  2. External and internal analysis workbook
  3. Strategy map and objective hierarchy template
  4. OKR and KPI dictionary template
  5. Initiative portfolio and roadmap model
  6. 90-day strategic application plan

Who should attend

  • Strategy Directors — need to lead structured planning cycles and convert choices into delivery commitments
  • Business Unit Leaders — need to align commercial or service plans with enterprise priorities
  • Senior Managers — need to turn strategic direction into measurable objectives and funded initiatives
  • Programme Directors — need to connect transformation portfolios with strategic outcomes
  • Public Sector Managers — need to develop accountable plans under policy, budget and stakeholder constraints
  • Functional Heads — need to translate corporate strategy into departmental goals, measures and actions

Skills and tools covered

Strategic analysisGoal architectureStrategic option evaluationPerformance measurementInitiative prioritisationExecution governance

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces, Balanced Scorecard, Objectives and Key Results

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce planning methods, followed by case analysis, group exercises, decision simulations and individual application planning. Participants assess evidence, compare strategic options, build objective hierarchies, define measures and prioritise initiatives. Cases reflect issues faced by banks, public bodies, multinationals and large service organisations. Facilitated discussions focus on trade-offs, assumptions, governance and implementation barriers. Participants apply each major method to a current planning challenge and assemble reusable templates for their own workplace.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience managing a function, programme, business unit or major initiative, and should understand their organisation's planning and budgeting cycle. Familiarity with basic performance measures, budgets and stakeholder management is helpful. The course assumes that participants can interpret business information and contribute to management-level discussions. Prior formal study of strategy, finance or project management is not required. Participants do not need specialist analytical software, prior use of Balanced Scorecard methods, or responsibility for an organisation-wide strategy.

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 management, programme or functional leadership experience and familiarity with their organisation's planning process. No prior formal strategy qualification is required.

Bring a current planning challenge, such as a business-unit plan, transformation programme, service improvement target or growth priority. Participants may also bring non-confidential performance data, planning documents or initiative lists.

It is designed for leaders who shape, sponsor or translate strategy into operational commitments. It is particularly relevant for strategy teams, business-unit leaders, functional heads and transformation leaders.

This course focuses on making strategic choices, setting measurable goals and aligning initiatives, resources and governance. It does not teach project scheduling techniques in depth or provide a broad introduction to management theory.

Participants receive reusable templates for analysis, objective setting, measures, initiative prioritisation and reviews. The final application plan identifies immediate actions for a live workplace planning issue.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days move from strategic diagnosis and choices through goals, portfolios, risk, governance and 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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