Programme overview
Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Simulation
Introduction
Most crises are either issues that were visible for months before they broke, or incidents where the first hours of communication decided the outcome. Organisations that lack a tested approach respond late, contradict themselves across channels, or choose a response that does not match their level of responsibility. This Core Concept course prepares executives to anticipate emerging issues and to direct the communication response when a crisis breaks, drawing on international crisis management standards and research. Through timed simulations, participants build a Crisis Communication Playbook for their organisation's crisis team.
Course Objectives
- Distinguish issues, incidents and crises and judge when an emerging issue needs executive attention
- Establish an issues management process that detects and tracks emerging risks before they become crises
- Select crisis response strategies that match the organisation's level of responsibility, using SCCT and image repair research
- Direct the first hours of a crisis response: severity rating, holding statements, stakeholder sequence and approvals
- Oversee social media, misinformation and internal communication during a crisis, and lead the post-crisis review
- Produce a Crisis Communication Playbook ready for adoption by the organisation's crisis team
Target Audience
- Senior executives who sit on or lead an organisation's crisis management team
- Senior leaders of communications and corporate affairs functions accountable for the crisis response
- Heads of operations, safety and risk functions whose incidents may escalate into public crises
- Senior leaders responsible for business continuity and resilience programmes
- Senior public sector and non-profit leaders who must communicate during service disruptions
Course Outline
Day 1: Issues, Crises and the Communication Challenge
- Issue, Incident and Crisis Definitions in ISO 22361
- Issue Lifecycle Analysis with the Chase-Jones Issues Management Model
- Issues Horizon Scanning and Issue Register Design
- Crisis Typology Using the SCCT Victim, Accidental and Preventable Clusters
- Crisis Communication Readiness Assessment Against an ISO 22361 Checklist
Day 2: Crisis Communication Frameworks and Standards
- ISO 22361 Crisis Communication Strategy and Message Consistency Principles
- Situational Crisis Communication Theory: Matching Response to Responsibility
- Benoit's Image Repair Strategies
- ISO 22320 Incident Management Coordination and Information Sharing
- ISO 22301 Business Continuity Linkage with Crisis Communication
Day 3: Leading the Communication Response
- Crisis Severity Matrix and Escalation Triggers
- Holding Statement and First-Hour Message Templates
- Stakeholder Notification Sequence: Staff, Customers, Partners, Authorities and Media
- Crisis Communication Team Roles and Approval Protocol
- Dark Site and Pre-Approved Content Library
Day 4: Social Media, Misinformation and Recovery
- Social Media Monitoring and Escalation Using ISO 22329 Guidance
- Misinformation and Rumour Response Decision Tree
- Apology Decision Framework: Legal Exposure Versus Stakeholder Expectation
- Staff Briefing Cascade for Internal Crisis Communication
- Post-Crisis Review and Lessons-Learned Report Structure
Day 5: Crisis Simulation and the Crisis Communication Playbook
- Product Safety Crisis Simulation with Timed Media and Social Injects
- Data Breach Crisis Simulation with Executive Decision Points
- Simulation Debrief Using a Response Timeline Review
- Crisis Communication Playbook Assembly: Matrix, Templates and Sequence
- Peer Challenge Panel and Playbook Defence
Skills You Will Gain
- Issues Anticipation
- Crisis Severity Assessment
- Response Strategy Selection
- Crisis Message Approval
- Stakeholder Sequencing
- Misinformation Response
- Post-Crisis Learning
Why Attend This Course
- Leave with a Crisis Communication Playbook, tested under simulated time pressure, for your organisation's crisis team
- Take the first-hour decisions on what to say, to whom and in what order with a rehearsed method
- Recognise the emerging issues most likely to become your next crisis while there is still time to act
- Learn from executives in other sectors who have faced product, data, safety and service crises
Conclusion
Crisis communication is decided largely before the crisis, in the issues an organisation chooses to watch and the playbook it prepares. This course moves from the lifecycle of issues and the types of crisis, through international standards and response research, to the severity ratings, statements, social media and recovery decisions that executives must take under pressure. The final day tests each approach in timed simulations, and the Crisis Communication Playbook each participant completes gives their crisis team a rehearsed starting point for the next event.