Art of Stakeholder Collaboration

This course is for you if you work across organizational boundaries—leading teams, partnerships, or multi-stakeholder initiatives where getting people to pull in the same direction is both essential and hard.

You’ll benefit most if you are a:

• Project Manager,
• Leader
• Strategist

working in civil society, the public sector, the private sector, or academia.

This course is especially relevant if you:

• Are navigating complex collaborations with multiple partners or stakeholders
• Need to design or lead a stakeholder dialogue across its full lifecycle—from initial engagement to sustaining long-term impact
• Feel that your team or partnership has more potential than it is currently realizing

The core methodology you will learn in this course is the © Dialogic Change Model (DCM), a result-oriented, structured approach to planning and implementing a Stakeholder Dialogue. It helps you plan when, how, and with whom to partner, while guiding you through the non-linear, multi-level realities of stakeholder collaboration.

By using structured dialogue to create a space for collective intelligence, the model facilitates a process design that can be owned by all stakeholders.

At the end of the course, you will receive a certification, marking your newly learned ability to use the Dialogic Change Model and navigate change collectively.
This certificate can be used to continue the learning journey of CLI’s Certification Programme to become a Collective Leadership Specialist.

The Certification Programme is designed for practitioners who want to develop recognized expertise in collective leadership and create meaningful, lasting change in their working context. Through a structured journey of three modules, two foundational and one advanced, you will deepen your practice and apply it in real-world contexts.

Self-paced module: The Role of Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations in SDG Implementation for Sustainability Transformations (online, before the course starts, ca. 70 min)

1. The What and Why of Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration — Who are Stakeholders? What are Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations? Why is it a promising approach? (ca. 30 min)
2. Different Formats of Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations that Fit Purpose — How do multi-stakeholder collaborations look like? What is your experience with different formats? (ca. 40 min)

Day 1 (live): The © Dialogic Change Model to design and implement high quality engagement

1. Understanding the needs of engagement
2. Analyzing your current collaboration with the interest/influence grid
3. Developing/deepening engagement plans
4. The Four Approaches to Change

Day 2 (live): Building commitment — designing roadmaps for successful stakeholder collaboration

1. Building and Formalizing of Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations
2. Designing results-oriented dialogic processes
3. Preparing for ‘going live’ events in Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration
4. From Thinking Alone to Thinking Together
5. The Dialogic Practices – Navigating Communication

Real learning doesn’t happen in a straight line. It happens when you step into unfamiliar territory, make mistakes, try again, and suddenly see things differently. Our courses are designed to create exactly that kind of space, where experimentation is encouraged, failure is part of the process, and genuine breakthroughs become possible.

We offer a (new) blended learning format: three days of live training combined with self-paced learning components.
This approach allows you to benefit from structured group sessions while having dedicated time for personal reflection and integration.

Do you want to learn more about the way our academy works? Read more on our Academy page.

This training is planned as a hybrid event–both in-person participation in Potsdam, Germany, and online participation at Central European Time (CET) are possible. Please choose your format when you register.

CLI reserves the right to change an in-person participation into an online participation if you do not get your visa on time or other short-term notice reasons prevent you from coming to the course venue. Furthermore, the same applies if new pandemic situations occur that do not allow your participation on-site. Registrations remain valid in any of the cases given. We will come back to you individually in such situations and find the best possible solutions together.

Does my time zone matter?
The live sessions run from 9:00am to 4:00pm CET. If you’re joining online, please make sure this works for your time zone before registering. The self-paced pre-course module is flexible and can be completed at any time.

How does the self-paced material work?
Before the live course begins, you’ll get access to an online module called “Explore Leadership Paradigms” via a Mural board, sent to you 3–4 weeks before the course starts. It consists of five short units you can complete at your own pace. We recommend finishing it before Day 1 so you can get the most out of the live sessions.

Do you offer discounts?
Yes. We offer group rates for two or more participants, early-bird pricing, alumni discounts, and solidarity rates for students and grassroots organizations. Contact us for details.

Can I take the course with my team?
Yes! Taking the course as a team can deepen the impact significantly—you’ll be able to apply the tools directly to your shared context. Group discounts are available for two or more participants from the same organization. Contact us to discuss options.

How do I purchase this course?
Click “Register here” at the top of this page. Fill out the registration form and send it to our Head of Academy, Cholpon Aitakhunova, at cholpon.aitakhunova@collectiveleadership.com. After registration you’ll receive an invoice, due within 10 days of receipt—and at the latest two weeks before the course starts. Tuition is €2,000 in person or €1,500 online (7% VAT where applicable).

I can see the registration form when I click on register, but I cannot fill it in. What shall I do?

The registration form is provided as a PDF. Please download it first, then fill it in—either digitally or by hand after printing it out.
Once completed, send the form back to us by email to Cholpon Aitkahunova: cholpon.aitakhunova@collectiveleadership.com.

What is the cancellation or refund policy?
We understand that plans change. If you need to cancel:

• Up to 8 weeks before the course: 30% of the tuition is charged
• Up to 4 weeks before: 50% is charged
• After that, 100% is charged

Charges are waived if you find a replacement participant. If circumstances beyond your control prevent your in-person attendance—such as illness or visa issues—we’ll work with you to find the best solution, including switching to online participation.