Effective Crisis Management and Communications
Course overview
The course provides a comprehensive insight into the challenges of crisis management and, especially, those faced in dealing with a 24/7 media environment. The course will examine the building blocks of effective crisis management and how excellent planning and good media management can mitigate any reputational damage that might come from a major crisis incident.
The course is designed for
Senior managers and heads of department from the corporate communications, public affairs, marketing, media relations, human resources and health & safety disciplines across all industries but particularly those industries with perceived exposure to major potential crisis situations resulting from:
- industrial unrest
- transport issues
- terrorism
- equipment malfunction
- natural disasters
- product failure
- personnel incompetence or malpractice
Course outline
The role of the leader in a crisis
Is leadership the key differentiator in a crisis?
Helpful and unhelpful leadership styles during a crisis
What should the leader actually do?
Communications in a crisis
Understanding conventional and new media
Determining the best communication channels to pass key messages to all stakeholders
The importance of the holding statement and ‘fast facts’
Drafting further statements and information injects
Facilitating and managing press conferences: When, where, what, how and why
Major exercise
This session will involve practical role plays that will enable the delegates to gather first hand feel of the situation and design appropriate response plans
Understanding reputation management
What do we mean by 'reputation management'?
What factors influence it?
How do you measure it?
Key aspects of reputation management?
Who is responsible?
The world we live and operate in - the hostility climate
Issues management
What constitutes a ‘crisis’?
Identifying threats and risks
Social media - the end of business as usual?
What do we mean by ‘social’ media?
The empowerment of customers
Developing a social media strategy
Practical crisis management
Differentiating between crisis management and business continuity
Understanding where crisis communications contributes to the retention of good reputation
Planning the initial response to the crisis
Ongoing management of the crisis
When does the crisis finish?
"It was a valuable workshop for me and very interesting."
- Htay Lwin, Myanmar
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