Programme overview
Technical depth: Conceptual · Practical mode: Simulation
Introduction
When a crisis strikes, executive teams must decide quickly on incomplete information while customers, staff, investors and the media watch every move. Many organisations hold incident plans but no agreed structure for strategic decisions: who convenes, who holds authority, what triggers escalation and how choices are recorded and reviewed. This Core Concept course equips executives to govern and lead crisis management at the strategic level using ISO 22361 and proven decision methods. Participants test their judgement in realistic crisis simulations and leave with an Executive Crisis Management Framework for their organisation.
Course Objectives
- Evaluate the organisation's crisis readiness and executive accountabilities against ISO 22361
- Define the structure, authority and activation criteria of an executive crisis management team
- Make and record strategic decisions under uncertainty using structured decision methods
- Direct stakeholder, communication and partner priorities while a crisis unfolds
- Guide the transition from response to recovery and embed the lessons learned
- Approve an Executive Crisis Management Framework for the organisation
Target Audience
- Chief executives and executive committee members who form the crisis management team
- Board members responsible for risk and resilience oversight
- Heads of operations, finance, legal and human resources who hold crisis decision authority
- Chief risk, security and resilience officers accountable for crisis capability
- Heads of corporate affairs directing stakeholder and reputation strategy
- Business unit and site leaders who lead crisis response in their own areas
Course Outline
Day 1: The Crisis Landscape and Executive Accountability
- Crisis Typology: Sudden, Smouldering and Systemic Crises
- Board and Executive Accountabilities for Crisis Oversight
- ISO 22361 Crisis Management Principles and Capability Model
- Horizon Scanning and Risk Velocity Mapping for Strategic Scenarios
- Executive Crisis Readiness Self-Assessment
Day 2: Crisis Management Structures and Standards
- Strategic, Tactical and Operational Response Tiers
- Crisis Management Team Charter: Roles, Quorum and Delegated Authority
- Activation and Escalation Criteria from Incident to Crisis
- Interfaces with ISO 22301 Business Continuity and ISO 31000 Risk Management
- Cynefin Framework for Classifying Crisis Conditions
Day 3: Strategic Decision-Making in a Crisis
- Situational Awareness and the Common Operating Picture
- OODA Loop and Recognition-Primed Decision-Making
- Crisis Decision Log and Rationale Recording
- Stakeholder Prioritisation Using the Salience Model
- Crisis Communication Strategy Oversight with SCCT
Day 4: Complex Crises, Bias and Recovery
- Groupthink and Cognitive Bias Countermeasures: Pre-Mortem and Red Teaming
- Partner and Multi-Agency Coordination in Cascading Crises
- Crisis Team Fatigue Management and Rotation Plan
- Response-to-Recovery Transition and Strategic Renewal Agenda
- Post-Crisis Review and Organisational Learning Cycle
Day 5: Executive Crisis Simulation and the Framework
- Cyber Extortion Crisis Simulation: Board-Level Decisions
- Product Contamination Crisis Simulation: Recall and Reputation Trade-Offs
- Hot Debrief and Decision Log Review
- Executive Crisis Management Framework Drafting
- Framework Presentation and Peer Challenge
Skills You Will Gain
- Strategic Crisis Decision-Making
- Crisis Governance
- Situational Awareness
- Stakeholder Prioritisation
- Decision Bias Mitigation
- Recovery Leadership
- Crisis Capability Oversight
Why Attend This Course
- Leave with an Executive Crisis Management Framework ready for board review, already tested in simulation
- Practise the decisions an executive team faces in the first hours of a crisis, with feedback on timing and rationale
- Recognise how bias, fatigue and poor information distort executive judgement, and how to counter each
- Benchmark crisis arrangements with executives from different sectors and countries
Conclusion
An organisation's response to a crisis is judged by the decisions its leaders take in the first hours and days. This course moves from executive accountability and crisis readiness, through the structure and activation criteria of a crisis management team, to strategic decision methods, stakeholder priorities, bias control and recovery. The final day places participants in realistic simulations and turns the lessons into an Executive Crisis Management Framework, giving leaders a clear and tested basis for governing the next crisis.