Crisis Communication Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Public Relations Manager, Corporate Communications Manager and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PRC-040

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in corporate communications, public relations, media relations, customer communications, risk, resilience or a related management role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Crisis communication is the disciplined management of information, relationships and public expectations when an organisation faces harm, disruption, allegations or intense scrutiny. Poorly timed statements, unverified facts, inconsistent spokespeople and neglected employees can turn an operational incident into a lasting trust problem. Communications teams must work alongside incident leaders, legal counsel, regulators and customer-facing teams while decisions are still incomplete and pressure is high.

This course develops the methods required to prepare for, lead and assess crisis communications. Participants distinguish issues, incidents and crises; identify escalation triggers; establish communications roles and approvals; map affected stakeholders; and prepare holding statements, message houses, Q&A banks and update schedules. The course covers Situational Crisis Communication Theory, ISO 22361 terminology, media handling, social media misinformation, employee communications, regulatory disclosure and post-incident recovery. Participants learn how to communicate concern and action without speculation, premature blame or commitments that operations cannot meet.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with realistic cases drawn from cyber incidents, service outages, product safety events, executive misconduct, industrial accidents and public-sector disruptions. Small-group analysis, statement drafting, spokesperson practice, decision scenarios and facilitated feedback are used throughout. Each participant leaves with a tailored crisis communication readiness pack containing a stakeholder map, escalation criteria, holding statement, message framework, Q&A structure and 90-day preparedness plan.

The course is suited to communications and public relations professionals who contribute to incident response, as well as managers whose decisions affect public, employee, customer or regulator communications. It is particularly relevant where reputation depends on public trust, service continuity, safety, confidentiality or regulatory accountability.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess crisis severity using escalation triggers, risk matrices and stakeholder exposure criteria
  • Design a crisis communication governance structure using RACI roles and approval protocols
  • Map affected stakeholders by impact, influence, information needs and trust
  • Draft holding statements, message houses and Q&A banks from verified information
  • Conduct media interviews using bridging, flagging and hostile-question handling techniques
  • Coordinate employee, customer, regulator and media communications during an active incident
  • Manage misinformation and online scrutiny through monitoring, correction and update procedures
  • Build a post-incident recovery plan using after-action review findings and communication metrics

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence drafting first statements when facts remain incomplete
  • A repeatable method for advising senior leaders under public scrutiny
  • Practical interview techniques for difficult media questions
  • Clearer judgement on when to escalate communications risks
  • Reusable materials for strengthening workplace crisis readiness

For your organisation

  • Faster release of accurate, approved communications during incidents
  • Reduced risk of contradictory statements across channels and teams
  • Better protection of customer, employee and community trust
  • Stronger coordination between communications, legal and incident leadership
  • Documented communication improvements from post-incident reviews

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish crisis communication requirements from routine issues management and operational response.

  • Crisis, issue and incident distinctions using ISO 22361 terminology
  • Reputation damage pathways from operational failure, misconduct and misinformation
  • Acute crisis lifecycle: detection, escalation, response, recovery and learning
  • SCCT attribution categories and matching response posture decisions
  • Risk appetite, duty of care and public-interest tests
  • Communication objectives separated from operational containment and legal defence

Participants can identify emerging communication risks and apply defensible escalation criteria.

  • Signal detection through media monitoring, complaints, whistleblowing and frontline reports
  • Risk matrices scoring likelihood, impact, velocity and stakeholder exposure
  • Issue registers with owners, triggers, controls and review dates
  • Escalation thresholds tied to harm, visibility, uncertainty and regulatory duties
  • Horizon scanning using PESTLE, stakeholder intelligence and emerging narratives
  • Distinguishing manageable issues from incidents requiring crisis activation

Participants can establish communications roles, decision rights and information controls during a crisis.

  • Crisis management team roles: incident lead, communications lead, legal counsel
  • RACI matrix for approvals, drafting, monitoring and spokesperson decisions
  • Activation protocols, call trees and alternates for unavailable decision-makers
  • Information-validation logs separating facts, assumptions, rumours and unknowns
  • Decision logs recording rationale, authority, timing and unresolved risks
  • Golden-hour priorities: safety, facts, empathy, action and update cadence

Participants can prioritise stakeholders and tailor communication without altering verified facts.

  • Stakeholder mapping by impact, influence, information needs and trust
  • Prioritising affected people before media, investors and political audiences
  • Audience personas built from concerns, language, channels and decision rights
  • Message adaptation without changing verified facts or commitments
  • Community liaison arrangements for local disruption and affected families
  • Regulator notification requirements aligned with communications release timing

Participants can produce clear, empathetic and defensible crisis messages from incomplete information.

  • Message house construction: core statement, proof points and supporting detail
  • First holding statements acknowledging impact without speculation or premature blame
  • CERC principles: be first, be right, be credible, express empathy
  • Bridging techniques that answer questions without evasion or defensiveness
  • Q&A banks addressing causation, victims, accountability, remedy and timing
  • Plain-language drafting for grieving families, customers and employees

Participants can prepare and support spokespeople for high-pressure media encounters.

  • Spokesperson selection based on authority, empathy, expertise and availability
  • On-camera preparation: opening statement, bridging, flagging and closing
  • Hostile-question handling using acknowledge, answer, bridge and return interview steps
  • Interview boundaries for legal privilege, personal data and ongoing investigations
  • Body language, pace and vocal control under sustained pressure
  • Press conference formats, moderator roles and live correction protocols

Participants can manage crisis updates across news media, websites and social channels.

  • Newsroom workflows: media lists, deadlines, exclusives, briefings and corrections
  • Social listening triage for misinformation, coordinated attacks and impersonation
  • Platform-specific responses for websites, social channels and messaging applications
  • Rumour-control pages using timestamps, evidence links and update histories
  • Influencer and third-party commentary assessed for reach, credibility and risk
  • Media monitoring reports separating volume, sentiment, themes and harmful claims

Participants can coordinate internal and customer-facing communications during disruptive events.

  • Employee-first communication principles during safety incidents, layoffs and service failures
  • Manager briefing packs with facts, scripts, escalation routes and wellbeing support
  • Union, contractor and supplier communications aligned with employee announcements
  • Confidentiality controls balancing transparency, privacy, security and investigation integrity
  • Call-centre scripts for complaints, vulnerable customers and media referrals
  • Two-way feedback channels capturing workforce concerns and local intelligence

Participants can align communications with operational, legal, regulatory and multi-agency requirements.

  • Joint information centre principles for multi-agency incident communications
  • Operational briefings translated into public updates without technical distortion
  • Legal review protocols preserving accuracy without creating approval bottlenecks
  • Regulatory disclosure, market-sensitive information and notification sequencing decisions
  • Data breach notifications coordinated with cyber, legal and customer teams
  • Cross-border messaging checked for language, culture and local legal requirements

Participants can evaluate crisis communications and prepare targeted readiness improvements.

  • Update cadence matched to incident tempo, audience anxiety and verified facts
  • Apology decisions using responsibility, remorse, remedy and restitution criteria
  • Reputation recovery plans linking operational fixes, evidence and stakeholder dialogue
  • After-action reviews using timelines, decisions, outcomes and communication metrics
  • Measurement dashboard: response time, message pull-through, sentiment and trust
  • Personal 90-day preparedness plan with owners, deadlines and review points

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Crisis communication escalation matrix
  2. Stakeholder prioritisation map
  3. Holding statement template
  4. Crisis message house template
  5. Spokesperson Q&A bank
  6. 90-day communication preparedness plan

Who should attend

  • Public Relations Manager — leads external communications during reputational or operational incidents
  • Corporate Communications Manager — coordinates messages across leadership, employees and external audiences
  • Media Relations Manager — prepares spokespeople and manages press scrutiny under pressure
  • Customer Communications Lead — protects customer trust during outages, recalls or service failures
  • Risk or Resilience Manager — integrates communications into incident and crisis management arrangements
  • Public Affairs Manager — manages political, regulatory and community attention during sensitive events

Skills and tools covered

Crisis message developmentStakeholder prioritisationMedia interview handlingIssue escalationDigital rumour controlRecovery planning

Tools and standards

ISO 22361, Situational Crisis Communication Theory, CERC, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by case analysis, group decision work, message drafting and facilitated review. Participants examine realistic crisis materials including incident updates, media enquiries, social posts, employee questions and regulator communications. Spokesperson simulations build interview discipline and response control under pressure. Trainers adapt cases to the cohort’s sector and risk profile while maintaining practical attention to approvals, evidence, timing and stakeholder expectations. Application planning converts course methods into actions for participants’ own organisations.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in corporate communications, public relations, media relations, customer communications, risk, resilience or a related management role. They should be comfortable drafting professional messages, working with senior stakeholders and discussing reputational risk. Familiarity with their organisation’s incident response, business continuity or approval processes is useful but not essential. No previous crisis management certification, media spokesperson experience, legal training or technical emergency-management background is required. The course explains the communications methods and terminology used throughout.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have experience in communications, public relations, customer communications, risk, resilience or a related role. No previous crisis management qualification or spokesperson training is required.

Participants may bring their organisation’s crisis plan, incident escalation process, communications policy or approved message templates if permitted. These documents are useful for application planning, but they are not required.

It is best suited to professionals who draft, approve, coordinate or advise on communications during incidents. It also benefits risk, resilience and operational managers who work with communications teams during major disruptions.

Media training concentrates on interview performance, while business continuity focuses on maintaining critical operations. This course connects governance, stakeholder priorities, messaging, channels, spokesperson preparation and recovery communications.

Participants can review escalation criteria, update holding statements, clarify approval roles and improve stakeholder contact arrangements. The course materials support structured discussions with communications, legal, operational and leadership colleagues.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided across ten modules covering preparation, active response, media handling, digital channels, internal communications and recovery.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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