Strategic Planning Fundamentals Training Course

Duration 10 days 17 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Unit Managers, Department Heads 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-046

Before you join: Participants should have at least three years of management, specialist leadership, programme delivery or 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

Strategic plans often fail because they are treated as documents rather than a set of choices about direction, markets, services, capabilities, investment and execution. Managers must turn broad ambitions into priorities that can be funded, assigned, measured and reviewed. They also need to challenge assumptions, reconcile competing stakeholder demands and explain why some initiatives will not proceed.

This advanced course develops the practical disciplines used to formulate, test and execute strategy. Participants assess external conditions using PESTLE and Porter’s Five Forces, analyse organisational capability, define strategic choices, build strategic objectives, set performance measures and translate priorities into portfolios, budgets and operating plans. The course also addresses governance, risk, stakeholder alignment, communication and review cycles.

Participants work throughout the programme on a strategic planning case or a live organisational priority. Short instructor briefings are followed by analysis, facilitated group work, decision simulations and structured peer review. By the final module, each participant has built and presented a complete strategic plan package containing a strategic diagnosis, choices, objectives, scorecard, initiative roadmap, risk register and governance arrangements.

The course suits experienced managers, senior specialists, programme leaders and emerging executives who contribute to organisational, business-unit, departmental or public-service planning. It is relevant to commercial firms, banks, government entities, NGOs, infrastructure operators and multinational functions where leaders must connect long-term direction with accountable delivery.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a strategic diagnosis using PESTLE, Five Forces, stakeholder and capability analysis
  • Frame strategic issues, assumptions and decision criteria from qualitative and quantitative evidence
  • Develop strategic options and evaluate them using feasibility, acceptability and suitability criteria
  • Define a strategic intent, objectives and strategic themes linked to organisational priorities
  • Build a Balanced Scorecard with outcome measures, drivers, targets and ownership
  • Translate strategy into an initiative portfolio, roadmap, resource plan and accountability structure
  • Establish governance, risk management and performance review arrangements for strategy execution
  • Present a complete strategic plan package and defend its choices to senior stakeholders

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce a defensible strategic plan rather than a list of disconnected initiatives
  • Lead planning discussions using evidence, explicit assumptions and decision criteria
  • Challenge priorities constructively when resources, risks and delivery capacity conflict
  • Explain strategy through objectives, measures, milestones and accountable ownership
  • Present strategic recommendations confidently to executives, boards and funding stakeholders

For your organisation

  • Creates clearer priorities and reduces low-value initiatives competing for scarce resources
  • Connects corporate direction with business-unit, departmental and programme delivery plans
  • Improves investment decisions through explicit option assessment and sequencing
  • Establishes measurable strategic objectives, performance reviews and escalation routes
  • Strengthens cross-functional alignment around risks, dependencies and delivery accountabilities

Course modules

17 modules over 10 days

Participants can define the purpose, scope, planning horizon and decision rights for a strategic planning process.

  • Strategic planning as choices about direction, focus, capability and resource allocation
  • Distinguishing strategy, policy, business planning, operational planning and project delivery
  • Planning horizons matched to market cycles, mandates and investment commitments
  • Decision rights using RAPID for recommendations, approvals, input and execution
  • Corporate, business-unit and functional strategies linked through strategic intent
  • Planning charters specifying scope, sponsors, stakeholders, outputs and timetable

Participants can assemble a fact base that identifies material strategic issues and evidence gaps.

  • Fact-base design using performance, financial, customer, workforce and market evidence
  • Separating symptoms, root causes, assumptions and verified strategic facts
  • Trend analysis comparing historical performance, peer benchmarks and forecast scenarios
  • Issue trees decomposing complex strategic problems into testable components
  • Evidence quality assessed for source credibility, recency, bias and relevance
  • Strategic issue statements framed with consequences, uncertainty and decision urgency

Participants can assess external forces and convert them into implications for strategic choices.

  • PESTLE analysis identifying political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces
  • Porter’s Five Forces assessing industry attractiveness and competitive pressure
  • Scenario axes built from critical uncertainties and high-impact external drivers
  • Customer and beneficiary needs segmented by jobs, behaviours and unmet demand
  • Regulatory and policy changes translated into obligations, constraints and opportunities
  • External signals prioritised by impact, likelihood, timing and strategic relevance

Participants can map stakeholder interests and assess their organisation’s competitive or service position.

  • Stakeholder mapping using power, interest, influence and potential response
  • Stakeholder salience assessed through power, legitimacy and urgency attributes
  • Voice-of-customer findings converted into service, product and channel priorities
  • Competitor profiles comparing value proposition, capabilities, economics and strategic intent
  • Strategic group maps identifying rivals with similar markets and business models
  • Positioning statements defining target users, distinctive value and credible proof

Participants can identify the capabilities, resources and performance constraints that shape feasible strategy.

  • VRIO analysis testing resources for value, rarity, imitability and organisation
  • Capability maps linking processes, skills, technology, data and governance
  • Value-chain analysis locating cost drivers, bottlenecks and sources of differentiation
  • Performance dashboards revealing gaps between targets, trends and peer results
  • Operating-model assessment covering structure, processes, systems, people and decision rights
  • Critical capability gaps prioritised by strategic importance and development lead time

Participants can synthesise external and internal evidence into a concise statement of strategic position.

  • SWOT analysis separating verified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
  • TOWS matrix generating strategic responses from combined internal and external factors
  • Materiality matrices ranking issues by stakeholder significance and organisational impact
  • Strategic hypotheses stated with assumptions, expected outcomes and disconfirming evidence
  • Core strategic tensions identified between growth, resilience, service and cost
  • Strategic position papers summarising evidence, implications and unresolved questions

Participants can articulate a strategic intent that directs choices without becoming a slogan.

  • Mission, vision and purpose distinguished from measurable strategic intent
  • Ambition statements defined through desired position, beneficiaries and time horizon
  • Strategic themes grouping interdependent priorities around a coherent direction
  • Winning aspiration framed through where to play and how to win
  • Choice cascade connecting aspiration, arenas, advantage, capabilities and management systems
  • Strategic boundaries clarifying activities, markets and commitments excluded from the plan

Participants can create credible strategic options and test their underlying logic.

  • Option generation using adjacent markets, service redesign, partnerships and capability investment
  • Strategic alternatives expressed as distinct choices rather than blended wish lists
  • Assumption mapping separating high-impact uncertainties from established facts
  • Business model canvases testing value creation, delivery channels, costs and revenues
  • Real-options thinking sequencing commitments where uncertainty remains high
  • Option narratives describing beneficiaries, outcomes, operating changes and resource implications

Participants can evaluate strategic options transparently and select a coherent set of priorities.

  • Suitability, acceptability and feasibility criteria applied to strategic alternatives
  • Weighted decision matrices comparing benefits, risks, costs and implementation difficulty
  • Cost-benefit analysis estimating financial, service and non-financial value
  • Sensitivity analysis testing decisions against uncertain demand, cost and timing assumptions
  • Strategic risk appetite defining acceptable exposure by risk category
  • Priority decisions documented with rationale, trade-offs, owners and review triggers

Participants can convert strategic choices into outcome-focused objectives linked by cause and effect.

  • SMARTER objectives specifying outcomes, measures, ownership, deadlines and review
  • Strategy maps linking financial, customer, process and capability objectives
  • Outcome chains connecting activities, outputs, outcomes and long-term impact
  • Leading and lagging indicators selected for each strategic objective
  • Objective statements avoiding activity language, vague ambition and overlapping accountability
  • Cause-and-effect logic tested against evidence, assumptions and operational dependencies

Participants can design a Balanced Scorecard that tracks strategic outcomes and delivery drivers.

  • Balanced Scorecard perspectives adapted for commercial, public-sector and nonprofit settings
  • KPI definitions specifying formula, data source, frequency, owner and threshold
  • Targets set using baselines, benchmarks, capacity limits and strategic ambition
  • Metric trees linking enterprise outcomes with functional and team measures
  • Data-quality controls addressing completeness, consistency, timeliness and audit trails
  • Performance dashboards designed for executive decisions rather than operational reporting

Participants can build a prioritised initiative portfolio and a sequenced strategic roadmap.

  • Initiative charters defining purpose, scope, benefits, sponsor and delivery owner
  • Portfolio matrices comparing strategic value, urgency, cost, risk and complexity
  • Dependency mapping identifying prerequisites, shared resources and critical sequencing
  • Roadmaps aligning initiatives, milestones, capability releases and decision gates
  • Benefits-realisation plans linking initiatives to measurable strategic outcomes
  • Stop, start and continue decisions removing work misaligned with strategy

Participants can align strategy with available funding, workforce capacity and investment choices.

  • Strategic resource allocation matching funding to approved priorities and expected benefits
  • Zero-based review challenging inherited spend against strategic contribution
  • Capacity planning estimating workforce demand, skills gaps and delivery constraints
  • Capital investment appraisal using payback, NPV, IRR and non-financial criteria
  • Funding scenarios showing minimum, expected and accelerated implementation cases
  • Resource trade-offs documented through explicit deferrals, reductions and investment shifts

Participants can establish governance and risk controls that keep strategic delivery under active management.

  • Strategic risk registers recording causes, events, impacts, controls and owners
  • Bow-tie analysis connecting preventive controls, consequences and recovery measures
  • Governance forums defined by mandate, membership, cadence and escalation authority
  • RACI matrices assigning accountability for objectives, initiatives, measures and decisions
  • Stage-gate reviews testing evidence before releasing further investment commitments
  • Exception reporting highlighting threshold breaches, decisions required and corrective actions

Participants can communicate strategic choices and build alignment among affected stakeholders.

  • Stakeholder communication plans matching messages, channels, timing and concerns
  • Strategy-on-a-page formats showing choices, objectives, measures and initiatives
  • Change impact assessments identifying affected roles, processes, systems and behaviours
  • Kotter’s change principles applied to sponsorship, urgency and coalition building
  • Manager cascades translating enterprise priorities into team commitments and conversations
  • Resistance analysis distinguishing legitimate concerns, capability gaps and political interests

Participants can run strategic reviews that support learning, corrective action and informed adaptation.

  • Quarterly business reviews examining outcomes, drivers, risks and decision requirements
  • After-action reviews capturing evidence, lessons, adaptations and accountable follow-up
  • Strategic assumptions reviewed against market signals, performance data and stakeholder feedback
  • Rolling forecasts updating resource needs, benefits expectations and delivery timing
  • Decision logs preserving rationale, evidence, dissenting views and agreed actions
  • Plan refresh triggers defined by material changes in performance, risk or context

Participants can build, review and present a complete strategic plan with justified choices and execution controls.

  • Strategic diagnosis assembled from external, stakeholder, capability and performance evidence
  • Strategic choices tested against ambition, constraints, risks and resource availability
  • Objectives, scorecard measures and targets linked through a strategy map
  • Initiative roadmap sequenced with dependencies, sponsors, milestones and benefits
  • Governance, risk register and review calendar integrated into execution arrangements
  • Executive presentation defended through clear rationale, trade-offs and implementation priorities

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic planning charter template
  2. Strategic diagnosis and TOWS analysis
  3. Strategic option evaluation matrix
  4. Strategy map and Balanced Scorecard template
  5. Initiative portfolio and implementation roadmap
  6. Strategic risk and governance checklist

Who should attend

  • Business Unit Managers — responsible for setting direction and delivering measurable priorities
  • Department Heads — need to connect functional plans with enterprise strategy
  • Programme Directors — must convert strategic commitments into governed change portfolios
  • Senior Policy Managers — need to turn public-policy goals into implementable plans
  • Strategy and Planning Analysts — support evidence-based choices, scorecards and review cycles
  • Emerging Executives — preparing to lead cross-functional planning and execution

Skills and tools covered

Strategic diagnosisOption evaluationStrategic objective designPerformance scorecardsInitiative prioritisationStrategy execution governance

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, SWOT/TOWS matrix, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines concise instructor briefings with case analysis, facilitated group exercises, planning simulations and individual application planning. Participants use realistic cases from public services, financial institutions, NGOs and commercial organisations to test strategic choices under resource, risk and stakeholder constraints. Each module adds a component to a working strategic plan. Trainers provide structured feedback on analyses, objectives, measures and implementation arrangements, while peer review tests whether plans are clear, credible and executable.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of management, specialist leadership, programme delivery or planning experience. They should understand their organisation’s services, customers or beneficiaries, operating model and current performance issues. Familiarity with budgets, KPIs or business cases is useful because the course uses these materials, but formal finance training is not required. No previous strategy qualification, MBA, consulting background or knowledge of a particular planning framework is required. Participants should be ready to discuss a real organisational challenge without disclosing confidential information.

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, programme, specialist leadership or planning experience and understand your organisation’s current priorities. Previous formal strategy training is not required.

Bring non-confidential information about a planning challenge, current objectives, performance measures or an existing plan if available. A laptop is useful for developing your planning materials, particularly on live online delivery.

It is designed for managers, department heads, programme leaders, planning analysts and emerging executives who help shape direction and deliver strategic priorities. It is not aimed at participants seeking only personal productivity or project-management techniques.

This course focuses on choosing strategic priorities before individual projects are approved and delivered. It covers strategic diagnosis, choices, objectives, scorecards, portfolios and governance; project management and business cases are used as supporting disciplines.

Participants leave with reusable templates and a complete planning package developed from a case or their own organisational priority. The methods can be applied to corporate, business-unit, departmental, service or programme plans.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week builds the strategic diagnosis and choices, while the second week develops objectives, execution arrangements, review methods and the final capstone presentation.

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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