Supervisory and Team Leadership Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Supervisors, Team Leaders 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-SM-047

Before you join: Participants should have some workplace experience and regular contact with colleagues, customers, suppliers or internal stakeholders.

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

Supervisors and team leaders sit between operational plans and frontline delivery. They must translate targets into clear work, allocate tasks fairly, maintain standards, address performance issues early and keep people informed when priorities change. Weak supervision creates missed handovers, inconsistent decisions, unresolved conflict, avoidable rework and disengaged staff. Strong supervision creates reliable routines, clear accountability and a team that can solve routine problems without constant escalation.

This course develops the practical management skills expected of an effective supervisor or team leader. Participants learn to set SMART objectives, organise daily work, delegate with appropriate control, lead briefings, give feedback using the SBI model and hold productive one-to-one conversations. They examine coaching, performance management, conflict resolution, motivation, change communication, risk control and decision-making boundaries. The course also addresses how to distinguish a capability issue from a conduct issue, when to resolve matters informally and when to escalate.

Training combines short instructor briefings with realistic cases, group exercises, role-play simulations and structured reflection on participants' own teams. Scenarios reflect common supervisory situations such as delayed service delivery, declining quality, workload pressure, difficult conversations and resistance to procedural change. Participants leave with a practical supervisory toolkit, including templates for delegation, one-to-one meetings, performance notes, team routines and a workplace action plan. The course is delivered over five days in the classroom or live online and includes a certificate of completion.

It is designed for current supervisors, team leaders and professionals preparing for their first formal people-management role. It is also suitable for technical specialists who now coordinate colleagues, shifts, service teams or operational workstreams.

What you will be able to do

  • Set SMART team objectives linked to operational measures, deadlines and service requirements
  • Delegate work using clear outcomes, decision rights, checkpoints and completion evidence
  • Conduct daily briefings and one-to-one meetings using structured agendas and questioning techniques
  • Deliver reinforcing and corrective feedback using the SBI feedback model
  • Coach employees through GROW conversations and individual development plans
  • Address performance shortfalls using evidence, root-cause questioning and documented follow-up
  • Resolve routine conflict through interest-based discussion, behavioural boundaries and agreed actions
  • Produce a supervisory action plan with measurable workplace leadership commitments

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading daily briefings, one-to-ones and difficult conversations
  • A repeatable method for delegating without losing control of delivery
  • Clearer judgement on when to coach, correct, document or escalate
  • Practical language for addressing poor performance and workplace conflict
  • A focused action plan for improving personal supervisory routines

For your organisation

  • More consistent task allocation, handovers and follow-up across frontline teams
  • Earlier identification and resolution of performance, conduct and workload issues
  • Improved employee clarity on standards, priorities, responsibilities and decision rights
  • Reduced rework through clearer instructions, quality checks and escalation criteria
  • Stronger internal capability pipeline for first-line management positions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define their supervisory responsibilities, decision rights and escalation boundaries.

  • Supervisor accountabilities translated into daily standards, decisions and escalation boundaries
  • Distinguishing leadership, management and supervision within a defined reporting structure
  • Role clarity using RACI for recurring cross-functional operational hand-offs
  • Managerial authority, accountability and delegation limits documented before assignment
  • Balancing production targets, people needs, safety and service commitments
  • Personal leadership values tested against difficult supervisory decisions

Participants can convert operational goals into clear daily and weekly team priorities.

  • SMART objectives linked to team measures, customer requirements and deadlines
  • Converting departmental goals into visible weekly team priorities
  • Daily huddles structured around results, risks, resources and commitments
  • Visual task boards used to control work-in-progress and blocked tasks
  • Escalation criteria distinguish local resolution from manager intervention
  • End-of-shift reviews capture handover facts, actions and owners

Participants can delegate work with appropriate authority, support, control and follow-up.

  • Task selection based on risk, capability, authority and development value
  • Delegation brief specifies outcome, constraints, checkpoints, resources and decision rights
  • Match direction and support to employee competence and commitment
  • Checkpoints prevent reverse delegation while preserving employee ownership
  • Follow-up questions test understanding without retaking assigned responsibilities
  • Delegation log records task owner, milestones, support and completion evidence

Participants can communicate expectations clearly and check for accurate understanding.

  • SBI feedback separates situation, observable behaviour and operational impact
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, probing questions and accurate summarising
  • Briefing messages identify purpose, required action, deadline and confirmation
  • Question funnels move from open exploration to precise fact checking
  • Non-verbal signals assessed before responding to resistance or confusion
  • Written instructions use plain language, sequence and acceptance criteria

Participants can manage performance through clear expectations, evidence-based feedback and follow-up.

  • Performance expectations translated into observable standards, measures and evidence
  • One-to-one meetings follow an agenda covering results, support and development
  • Feedback distinguishes reinforcement from corrective conversations using SBI
  • Root-cause questioning separates skill gaps, resource barriers and conduct issues
  • Performance notes record facts, agreements, dates and follow-up actions
  • Recognition methods reinforce specific behaviours linked to team standards

Participants can use coaching and development methods to build employee capability.

  • GROW conversations establish goals, reality, options and committed actions
  • Coaching questions build employee analysis instead of supervisor-provided answers
  • Development needs diagnosed through task observation and performance evidence
  • Individual development plans specify practice opportunities, support and review dates
  • Stretch assignments matched to readiness without exposing operations to avoidable risk
  • Mentoring, training and coaching selected for distinct capability needs

Participants can address routine conflict constructively while recognising formal escalation requirements.

  • Conflict sources mapped across tasks, relationships, resources and priorities
  • Interest-based negotiation separates stated positions from underlying operational needs
  • De-escalation language acknowledges concerns while maintaining behavioural boundaries
  • Structured resolution meetings establish facts, options, agreements and review points
  • Informal resolution distinguished from formal grievance, discipline and safeguarding routes
  • Harassment, discrimination and retaliation concerns escalated under organisational policy

Participants can maintain engagement and communicate effectively during operational change.

  • Change messages explain case, local impact, required actions and support
  • Stakeholder analysis identifies affected groups, influence, concerns and communication needs
  • Motivation diagnosis considers autonomy, mastery, purpose and fair treatment
  • Resistance handled through listening, involvement, clarification and realistic commitments
  • Team norms reset after restructuring, process changes or new membership
  • Recognition and participation sustain adoption after initial change implementation

Participants can control workload, quality, risk and escalation within their team remit.

  • Workload plans balance capacity, competence, deadlines and service-level commitments
  • Priority matrices distinguish urgent disruption from planned high-value work
  • Risk assessments identify hazards, controls, owners and residual exposure
  • Incident reporting preserves facts, immediate controls and escalation requirements
  • Quality checks sample outputs against documented acceptance criteria
  • Resource constraints communicated early with options, consequences and decisions required

Participants can make defensible supervisory decisions and apply a focused workplace improvement plan.

  • Structured decision records state issue, evidence, options, rationale and owner
  • Ethical decisions tested against policy, fairness, safety and stakeholder impact
  • Supervisor boundaries recognised when confidentiality, legal duties or senior approval apply
  • Weekly leadership routines scheduled for planning, communication, coaching and review
  • Personal action plan targets two workplace behaviours with measurable evidence
  • Peer accountability arrangements establish review dates, prompts and progress measures

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

What you take back to work

  1. SMART team objective template
  2. Delegation and accountability checklist
  3. Daily briefing agenda
  4. One-to-one meeting template
  5. SBI feedback and performance notes guide
  6. Personal supervisory action plan

Who should attend

  • Supervisors — to manage daily performance, standards and team accountability
  • Team Leaders — to coordinate people, priorities and operational delivery
  • Newly Appointed Managers — to establish effective management routines from the start
  • Shift Managers — to lead handovers, workload allocation and service continuity
  • Technical Specialists — to supervise colleagues while retaining technical responsibilities
  • Operations Coordinators — to improve task control, communication and issue escalation

Skills and tools covered

Team performance managementDelegation and accountabilityFeedback and coachingConflict resolutionOperational work planningSupervisory decision-making

Tools and standards

SMART objectives, RACI matrix, SBI feedback model, GROW coaching model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce supervisory methods, followed by cases, group analysis, role-play simulations and individual application planning. Participants practise setting expectations, running team briefings, delegating work, giving feedback, coaching employees and handling conflict. Cases address service delays, quality failures, absence pressure, difficult behaviour and operational change. Facilitated peer discussion helps participants compare approaches across functions. Each participant applies the tools to a current workplace situation and develops a practical action plan for use after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have some workplace experience and regular contact with colleagues, customers, suppliers or internal stakeholders. Current responsibility for a small team, shift, workstream or informal coordination role is useful, but not essential. The course assumes participants can discuss workplace situations, read basic performance information and contribute to group problem-solving. No previous management qualification, formal HR training, finance knowledge or specialist leadership model is required. Participants do not need direct reports before attending, although they should expect to apply the methods to real supervisory responsibilities.

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 need general workplace experience and familiarity with working alongside colleagues or stakeholders. Previous management training is not required, and the course is suitable for both current and aspiring supervisors.

Bring examples of current team responsibilities, recurring performance issues or operational challenges, without sharing confidential personal information. These examples will help you apply the templates and action-planning methods to your own work.

The course is designed for supervisors, team leaders, shift managers, operations coordinators and technical specialists with people-coordination responsibilities. It also suits employees preparing for their first formal supervisory appointment.

This course concentrates on first-line management routines: allocating work, setting standards, leading briefings, managing performance and resolving day-to-day issues. General leadership courses usually place greater emphasis on organisational strategy, senior influence and long-term direction.

Participants leave with reusable templates for objectives, delegation, briefings, one-to-ones, feedback and action planning. They identify two workplace behaviours to improve and define evidence, review dates and accountability arrangements.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, discussion, simulations, structured practice and workplace application planning across the ten 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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