Leadership Skills for Change Managers
Senior Management and Executive Level – designed for leaders responsible for strategic planning, investment decisions, portfolio oversight, transformation initiatives, and organisational performance.
Portfolio Managers, Portfolio Directors, PMO Leaders, Transformation Directors, Senior Responsible Owners (SROs), Executive Sponsors, Business Leaders, Change Leaders, and senior professionals responsible for delivering strategic outcomes through portfolios, programmes, and projects.
Typically delivered as a one or two-day masterclass, either virtually or face-to-face, with optional organisational tailoring, portfolio diagnostics, and continued support through the CITI Beyond Method. Leadership and portfolio management have long been established as core elements within CITI’s executive and portfolio development offerings.
Effective portfolio management is about much more than governance, reporting, and prioritisation. It requires strong leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to navigate ambiguity while balancing competing demands across multiple initiatives. Successful leaders must ensure investments remain aligned to organisational objectives while creating the conditions for sustainable delivery and long-term value.
The Leadership and Portfolio Management course provides practical insight into how leaders can build and guide effective portfolios that support organisational strategy, maximise benefits, and improve decision-making. Participants explore how portfolio leadership influences resource allocation, governance, change delivery, stakeholder confidence, and organisational performance. Portfolio leaders are increasingly required to combine strategic awareness, decision-making, influence, and the ability to operate comfortably in complex environments.
The programme helps leaders move beyond process-driven portfolio management and develop the leadership capability required to create clarity, make difficult prioritisation decisions, optimise investments, and maintain focus on outcomes. The emphasis is on enabling participants to become leaders who connect strategy, change, delivery, and value creation across the organisation.
Beyond Method is learning constructed using our own best practice created from our inception as a specialist university institute in 1983; fusing the expertise of Cranfield University with the interests of six major users of change management: British Aerospace, British Gas, British Petroleum, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless and Longman.
A significant amount of research and investment was made into Cranfield Information Technology Institute (shortened to CITI in 1988) to take change professionals beyond methodologies – and learn how to successfully implement change!
This course explores the principles, responsibilities, and leadership capabilities required to manage portfolios successfully. Participants examine how strategic objectives are translated into investment decisions, how portfolios should be governed, and how leaders can maintain alignment between organisational priorities, delivery capability, and expected benefits.
Delegates learn practical techniques for portfolio prioritisation, decision-making, benefits realisation, investment governance, resource optimisation, stakeholder engagement, and risk management. The programme also explores leadership behaviours that support collaboration, influence, resilience, innovation, and organisational agility. Portfolio management is increasingly recognised as requiring both technical excellence and strong people-focused leadership skills.
Using practical scenarios, executive discussions, case studies, and portfolio-based exercises, participants develop a deeper understanding of how successful portfolio leaders create visibility, manage complexity, balance competing priorities, and make informed decisions that maximise organisational value. Topics include strategic portfolio leadership, benefits management, governance, stakeholder influence, portfolio maturity, and leading change across multiple initiatives.
The Leadership and Portfolio Management course is delivered using the CITI Beyond Method, an outcome-focused approach that goes beyond portfolio frameworks and governance models to focus on achieving measurable business value. Rather than simply understanding processes, participants learn how to apply leadership principles and portfolio thinking within their own organisational context.
Through facilitated discussion, leadership diagnostics, portfolio simulations, real-world case studies, collaborative exercises, and reflective learning, participants explore the practical challenges associated with balancing strategy, delivery, benefits, resources, and organisational capability. CITI’s Beyond Method approach is built on blending knowledge, experience, practical application, coaching, and capability development to drive lasting organisational performance.
The Beyond Method encourages leaders to focus not only on portfolio performance, but also on culture, collaboration, capability, and sustainable outcomes. Delegates leave with enhanced strategic awareness, stronger leadership capability, practical portfolio management techniques, and a personalised action plan that can be applied immediately to improve portfolio effectiveness and organisational success.
Contact us today to discover how the Leadership and Portfolio Management course can help your leaders connect strategy, delivery, and benefits to achieve sustainable organisational success.
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