Strategic Project Leadership Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Project Managers, Programme Managers 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-PM-115

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience managing projects, workstreams or programmes with defined scope, budgets, stakeholders and delivery milestones.

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 projects rarely fail because teams cannot create schedules or track tasks. They fail when leaders lose sight of intended benefits, make slow decisions amid uncertainty, underestimate political and operational dependencies, or continue funding work that no longer supports organisational priorities. Senior project leaders must connect delivery choices to strategy while managing shifting regulation, funding constraints, supplier exposure, public scrutiny, technology change and competing executive interests.

This course develops the judgement and leadership practices required to direct major projects under uncertain conditions. Participants examine strategic alignment, scenario planning, systems thinking, governance design, decision rights, stakeholder influence, adaptive delivery, risk appetite, resilience, benefits realisation and resource trade-offs. They learn to frame choices for steering committees, test assumptions early, distinguish useful escalation from routine reporting, and maintain delivery momentum without concealing emerging problems.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic cases, facilitated group analysis, decision simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect challenges common to government programmes, bank transformation, infrastructure delivery, NGO portfolios and multinational change initiatives. Participants build a Strategic Project Leadership Pack containing a strategic alignment assessment, governance map, uncertainty register, stakeholder plan, benefits realisation plan and 90-day leadership action plan. The five-day course is available in classroom locations across 50+ cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is intended for experienced project, programme and transformation professionals who already manage significant delivery responsibilities and now need stronger strategic influence. It is particularly relevant where projects have material investment, executive oversight, multiple delivery partners or uncertain external conditions.

What you will be able to do

  • Align project objectives, benefits and delivery priorities with organisational strategy
  • Diagnose uncertainty using scenario planning, systems mapping and assumption testing
  • Design governance structures with clear decision rights, escalation thresholds and stage gates
  • Lead stakeholder engagement using political mapping, executive narratives and interest-based negotiation
  • Apply hybrid delivery methods to manage changing requirements, dependencies and resource constraints
  • Quantify project exposure using risk appetite, bow-tie analysis and Monte Carlo forecasting
  • Build benefits realisation plans with owners, baselines, target measures and review points
  • Produce a 90-day strategic project leadership action plan for a live initiative

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence presenting project choices and trade-offs to senior decision-makers
  • A structured method for leading projects when assumptions and priorities change
  • Stronger ability to identify political risks before they become delivery barriers
  • Practical techniques for connecting project reporting to benefits and strategic value
  • A documented leadership action plan for an active project or programme

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of strategic misalignment, dependency risks and failing assumptions
  • Clearer governance decisions with defined accountabilities and escalation criteria
  • Better protection of investment through active benefits tracking and risk-based contingencies
  • More credible executive reporting focused on choices, exposure and required decisions
  • Improved delivery resilience during regulatory, supplier, funding or operational disruption

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can translate strategic intent into project objectives, benefits and decision criteria.

  • Project purpose translated into measurable strategic objectives and outcome hypotheses
  • Benefits maps linking deliverables, capabilities, outcomes and enterprise value
  • OKRs distinguish project outputs from strategic outcomes and performance measures
  • Strategic assumptions logged with owners, evidence thresholds and review dates
  • Portfolio fit assessed using weighted scoring, dependencies and opportunity cost
  • Project charters frame intent, constraints, authority and decision rights

Participants can assess uncertainty and select proportionate leadership responses.

  • PESTLE signals converted into project scenarios, triggers and response options
  • Cynefin domains guide leadership responses to clear, complicated and complex work
  • Scenario planning tests strategic choices against plausible external disruptions
  • Systems maps expose feedback loops, delays and unintended consequences
  • Assumption-to-knowledge plans target uncertainty through research, prototypes and pilots
  • Leading indicators distinguish emerging threats from lagging project performance data

Participants can establish governance that accelerates informed decisions and accountability.

  • RACI matrices clarify accountabilities without replacing executive decision ownership
  • Governance cadence separates working decisions, stage gates and strategic reviews
  • Decision rights mapped using RAPID for cross-functional project choices
  • Escalation paths specify thresholds, evidence requirements and response times
  • Steering committee papers present choices, recommendations, trade-offs and decisions
  • Stage-gate criteria balance evidence, investment exposure and strategic optionality

Participants can build influence strategies for powerful, diverse and resistant stakeholders.

  • Stakeholder salience analysis identifies power, legitimacy and urgency
  • Political mapping reveals informal influence, alliances and potential resistance
  • Interest-based negotiation separates positions, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Communication architecture matches messages, channels, frequency and decision needs
  • Executive narratives connect project choices to institutional priorities and risks
  • Conflict protocols address disagreements before they impair delivery commitments

Participants can adapt delivery controls while preserving strategic direction and commitments.

  • Hybrid delivery models combine predictive governance with iterative product learning
  • Rolling-wave planning refines near-term commitments while preserving strategic direction
  • Kanban flow metrics expose bottlenecks, work-in-progress and delivery predictability
  • Critical chain buffers protect commitments against resource contention and variability
  • Integrated master schedules reveal interfaces, milestones, dependencies and schedule risk
  • Change control evaluates value, urgency, impact and funding implications

Participants can manage project exposure using structured risk and resilience controls.

  • ISO 31000 principles structure risk governance, ownership and treatment decisions
  • Risk appetite statements distinguish acceptable exposure from escalation conditions
  • Bow-tie analysis links threat controls, top events and consequence barriers
  • Monte Carlo schedules quantify completion confidence and contingency requirements
  • Contingency plans assign triggers, actions, reserves and recovery authorities
  • Resilience reviews test critical dependencies, single points and fallback arrangements

Participants can manage projects as investments with measurable benefits and ownership.

  • Benefits realisation plans assign measures, owners, baselines and target dates
  • Logic models trace inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and intended impacts
  • Business cases separate sunk costs from forward-looking investment decisions
  • Cost-benefit analysis tests options using discounted cash flow and sensitivities
  • Outcome dashboards combine financial, operational, customer and public-value measures
  • Post-implementation reviews validate benefits, lessons and corrective actions

Participants can create conditions for candour, accountability and disciplined collaboration.

  • Situational leadership matches direction, coaching, support and delegation to readiness
  • Psychological safety practices surface weak signals, dissent and delivery concerns
  • Sensemaking conversations turn ambiguous data into shared working interpretations
  • Team operating agreements establish behaviours, meeting rules and response norms
  • Constructive challenge tests assumptions without eroding trust or accountability
  • Leadership presence communicates calm, candour and purpose during disruption

Participants can make defensible resource, cost and commercial trade-off decisions.

  • Resource capacity plans reconcile strategic priorities, skills constraints and sequencing
  • Earned value management integrates scope, schedule and cost performance indicators
  • Estimate at completion forecasts funding needs using current performance trends
  • Should-cost analysis challenges supplier estimates, contingencies and change claims
  • Procurement strategies allocate risk through contract type and incentive design
  • Resource trade-off decisions document impacts on benefits, timing and exposure

Participants can consolidate course methods into a focused leadership plan for a live project.

  • Integrated leadership plans align strategy, governance, delivery, risk and benefits
  • Project health reviews synthesise evidence into focused executive decision requests
  • 90-day action plans sequence stakeholder, governance and delivery interventions
  • Personal leadership commitments identify behaviours, triggers and accountability partners
  • Peer review strengthens plans through challenge, alternatives and practical feedback
  • Follow-through measures track adoption, decision quality and benefit progress

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic project alignment assessment template
  2. Project governance and decision-rights map
  3. Uncertainty, assumptions and scenario register
  4. Stakeholder influence and communication plan
  5. Benefits realisation plan template
  6. 90-day strategic leadership action plan

Who should attend

  • Senior Project Managers — need to connect delivery decisions with strategic outcomes
  • Programme Managers — coordinate interdependent projects, benefits and executive governance
  • Transformation Leaders — lead change initiatives with uncertain scope and competing priorities
  • Project Directors — require stronger influence with sponsors, boards and delivery partners
  • PMO Leaders — design governance, assurance and portfolio reporting arrangements
  • Functional Directors — sponsor strategic projects and make investment or escalation decisions

Skills and tools covered

Strategic project alignmentUncertainty managementGovernance designStakeholder influenceBenefits realisationExecutive decision-making

Tools and standards

PMI The Standard for Project Management, ISO 31000, Cynefin framework, RAPID

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short briefings to introduce methods, followed by case work, group exercises, decision simulations and facilitated reflection. Participants analyse strategic project situations involving conflicting priorities, incomplete information, stakeholder resistance and delivery disruption. They apply named frameworks to their own project context where appropriate, compare alternative responses and receive instructor feedback on governance, communication and risk decisions. Each participant develops practical materials that can be adapted for immediate use with sponsors, steering committees and delivery teams.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience managing projects, workstreams or programmes with defined scope, budgets, stakeholders and delivery milestones. Familiarity with basic project planning, risk registers, status reporting and business cases is assumed. Participants should be comfortable discussing a current or recent project with senior stakeholders, suppliers or cross-functional teams. Formal project management certification is not required. Advanced statistics, specialist scheduling software, financial modelling expertise and prior portfolio-management experience are not required.

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 experience managing projects, workstreams or programmes with stakeholders, milestones and delivery risks. The course assumes familiarity with basic project controls but does not require formal certification or advanced technical tools.

Bring information about a current or recent project that involves material uncertainty, senior stakeholders or cross-functional dependencies. You may use this as the basis for your leadership pack, but confidential information should be anonymised.

It is designed for senior project managers, programme managers, project directors, transformation leaders, PMO leaders and project sponsors. Participants gain most value when they have responsibility for decisions beyond task coordination.

Standard project management courses often focus on planning, scheduling, scope, cost and basic risk controls. This course concentrates on strategic judgement, executive governance, uncertainty, stakeholder influence, benefits and leadership behaviour.

Participants leave with practical templates and a 90-day action plan linked to an active project or programme. The materials can support steering committee papers, governance reviews, risk discussions and stakeholder engagement planning.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided among instructor input, case analysis, group work, decision simulations, discussion 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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