Crisis Management & Leadership
Overview
Crises test leaders under pressure, uncertainty and public scrutiny. This course develops the skills leaders need to manage crises: recognising a crisis early, setting up crisis teams, making decisions with incomplete information, communicating with stakeholders and leading recovery.
Who should attend
Senior leaders, crisis team members, emergency and risk managers, and heads of departments in public and private organisations.
Training methodology
Interactive presentations, practical exercises, case studies, group discussions, role-plays where relevant, and a personal action plan that participants apply in their own work.
Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Distinguish crises from incidents and recognise early warning signs
- Set up and run a crisis management team
- Make sound decisions under pressure and uncertainty
- Communicate with staff, media and authorities during a crisis
- Lead recovery and organisational learning
Course outline
Day 1Understanding Crises
- Crisis versus emergency and incident
- Types of crises
- Crisis life cycle
- Early warning signals
- Lessons from real crises
- Discussion: crises in your sector
Day 2Crisis Organisation
- Crisis management framework
- Crisis team roles
- Crisis room and information flow
- Escalation and activation
- Links to emergency and continuity plans
- Workshop: design your crisis team
Day 3Decision Making Under Pressure
- Situation awareness
- Decision-making models
- Cognitive biases in crises
- Dilemmas and trade-offs
- Decision logs
- Exercise: crisis decision scenarios
Day 4Crisis Communication and Leadership
- Stakeholder mapping in a crisis
- Key messages and statements
- Media and social media
- Caring for staff and families
- Leadership presence
- Simulation: press statement
Day 5Recovery and Resilience
- Transition to recovery
- Post-crisis review
- Organisational resilience
- Training and exercising crisis teams
- Building a crisis-ready culture
- Full crisis simulation and action plan
