Session 1: Spotting the Crisis
This session will cover risk identification, the differences and similarities of operational and reputational risks, creating a risk management framework for communication, developing a risk matrix and using the information to be crisis ready.
Assignment: Create a risk management matrix
Session 2: Developing a Crisis Communications Plan
The session will include what should a crisis communication plan cover, the principles of crisis communication, building the plan into organisational processes, stakeholder management and will include examples of best practice.
Assignment - Create a crisis communications plan
Session 3: When and How to Implement a Crisis Communications Plan
The session will cover how to test and exercise your crisis communication plan, how frequently you should refresh it and how to develop it. It will look at personal resilience, focusing your attention on the people affected and managing the consequences.
Assignment - a scenario will be given and the students asked to provide a short outline of what the key actions would be in the first 24 hours.
Session 4: Buiding a Strong Recovery
The session will look at when is the right time to move to recovery, how to balance managing the crisis and developing the recovery, and the 4 R's of recovery and what they mean for communicators. It will cover how to identify and prepare for trigger points and building for the future.
Assignment - students will be asked to write 1,000 words to answer the question How can crisis communication support the business response?
