Crisis Leadership and Decision-Making Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Senior Managers, Operations Managers 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-LD-133

Before you join: Participants should have management, supervisory, operational, risk, security, continuity or communications responsibilities, and experience making decisions with colleagues or stakeholders.

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 events force leaders to make consequential decisions before all facts are known. A cyberattack, industrial accident, service outage, security threat, product safety issue or public allegation can rapidly affect people, operations, customers, regulators and reputation. Leaders must establish command, obtain reliable information, set priorities, communicate with credibility and maintain decision discipline while teams face uncertainty, time pressure and fatigue. Poorly defined authority, delayed escalation, inconsistent messages and undocumented decisions can deepen the original event.

This course develops practical leadership decision-making for emergency and crisis situations. Participants learn to assess the first hour, create a common operating picture, establish strategic and tactical command roles, and apply decision methods suited to urgency and uncertainty. The course addresses information validation, action logs, stakeholder communications, media pressure, ethical choices, business continuity priorities and recovery governance. Participants also examine cognitive bias, groupthink, stress responses and cross-functional conflict that can weaken judgement during a live incident.

Instructor-led sessions combine short briefings with sector-based case work, facilitated group analysis, command simulations and structured reflection. Cases can reflect the pressures faced by public agencies, banks, infrastructure operators, manufacturers, NGOs and multinational employers. Participants leave with a personal crisis leadership plan and a set of reusable templates for command activation, decision logging, stakeholder messaging and post-incident improvement. The course is particularly valuable for managers who may lead, support or brief a crisis management team, but who are not full-time emergency responders.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess an unfolding crisis using a first-hour fact, assumption and consequence framework
  • Establish crisis command roles, decision rights and escalation routes using RACI principles
  • Apply the OODA loop and Cynefin framework to decisions under uncertainty
  • Maintain a common operating picture through validated situation reports and action logs
  • Make time-bounded decisions using RAPID roles, pre-mortem analysis and review triggers
  • Deliver credible stakeholder messages using message maps, holding statements and briefing structures
  • Set recovery priorities using business impact analysis, recovery objectives and continuity triggers
  • Produce a crisis leadership action plan with personal decision disciplines and improvement actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading briefings when facts remain incomplete
  • A repeatable method for recording and defending urgent decisions
  • Clearer communication under media, executive and stakeholder pressure
  • Stronger awareness of stress, bias and groupthink in command teams
  • A practical leadership plan for future crisis responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Faster escalation and clearer authority during significant incidents
  • More consistent decisions recorded with evidence, rationale and ownership
  • Reduced confusion between strategic, tactical and operational responsibilities
  • Credible stakeholder communications during service disruption or public scrutiny
  • Actionable post-incident improvements linked to continuity and governance controls

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish a crisis from routine incident management and establish appropriate leadership accountabilities.

  • Crisis types, escalation pathways and leadership accountabilities under pressure
  • Distinguishing urgent incidents from crises requiring strategic command decisions
  • ISO 22361 principles for crisis management structures and leadership
  • Cynefin domains and appropriate responses to certainty, complexity and chaos
  • Decision rights mapped through RACI, delegation thresholds and legal duties
  • Recognising normalcy bias, groupthink and stress-induced cognitive errors

Participants can create an evidence-based initial assessment and maintain a common operating picture.

  • Initial 60-minute assessment using facts, assumptions, gaps and consequences
  • Build a common operating picture from verified operational intelligence
  • Situation reports structured with METHANE and incident-status updates
  • Apply the OODA loop to changing threats and actions
  • Information requirements prioritised by life safety, service continuity and reputation
  • Establishing reporting cadence, source validation and version control disciplines

Participants can establish command arrangements that coordinate strategic, tactical and operational activity.

  • Incident command roles: strategic, tactical and operational responsibilities
  • Gold-Silver-Bronze coordination model adapted for corporate crisis teams
  • Set command-cell membership, alternates, authority limits and meeting rhythm
  • Span of control and handover protocols during prolonged incidents
  • Use ISO 22320 concepts to coordinate multi-agency response structures
  • Document decisions, owners, deadlines and unresolved escalations in action logs

Participants can make and document defensible decisions despite urgency, uncertainty and competing priorities.

  • Time-bounded decisions using RAPID roles and explicit decision criteria
  • Compare options through impact, reversibility, urgency and confidence assessments
  • Pre-mortem analysis to expose failure modes before committing resources
  • Red-team challenge against assumptions, blind spots and optimistic forecasts
  • Apply satisficing when delay creates greater harm than imperfect action
  • Decision logs recording rationale, evidence, dissent and review triggers

Participants can manage personal pressure and communicate direction clearly to crisis teams.

  • Psychological stress responses affecting attention, memory, judgement and communication
  • Recognise fight-flight-freeze patterns within leaders and team members
  • Controlled breathing, grounding and pause techniques before consequential decisions
  • Use closed-loop communication to confirm messages, tasks and understanding
  • Brief teams with intent, priorities, constraints and escalation thresholds
  • Manage fatigue through rotations, rest rules and workload triage

Participants can prepare timely, credible communications for affected internal and external audiences.

  • Stakeholder mapping by impact, influence, information needs and timing
  • Message maps linking known facts, empathy, action and uncertainty
  • Draft holding statements without speculation, blame or premature assurances
  • Media interview discipline: bridging, flagging and correcting misinformation
  • Employee communications addressing safety, work expectations and support channels
  • Regulator, customer and partner notifications aligned with reporting obligations

Participants can evaluate crisis choices against ethical duties, legal constraints and defensible criteria.

  • Ethical decision tests for life safety, fairness, privacy and harm
  • Legal counsel integration without transferring leadership accountability or delaying action
  • Apply proportionality and necessity when restricting services or access
  • Safeguarding vulnerable people during evacuation, displacement and service disruption
  • Resource allocation decisions documented against transparent, defensible criteria
  • Address conflicts of interest, whistleblowing concerns and political pressure

Participants can lead the transition from immediate response to prioritised operational recovery.

  • Business impact analysis outputs used to set recovery priorities
  • Minimum business continuity objectives for people, premises, technology and suppliers
  • Recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives interpreted for leaders
  • Activate continuity plans using trigger points and escalation criteria
  • Supplier failure scenarios, workarounds and contractual notification requirements
  • Transition from response command to recovery governance and ownership

Participants can coordinate specialist functions and resolve conflict within a crisis management team.

  • Team decision dynamics during cyberattack, safety incident and reputational crisis scenarios
  • Cross-functional coordination between security, operations, legal, communications and human resources
  • Conflicting priorities resolved through stated objectives and decision rights
  • Escalation conversations conducted with concise options, risks and recommendations
  • Operational briefings adapted as evidence changes and uncertainty persists
  • Remote crisis coordination using shared logs, channels and meeting protocols

Participants can turn crisis lessons into assigned improvements and a personal leadership action plan.

  • After-action review using what, so what, now what questions
  • Root-cause analysis distinguishing proximate causes, systemic conditions and controls
  • Corrective action registers with owners, deadlines, evidence and assurance checks
  • Lessons learned converted into revised plans, training and governance changes
  • Personal crisis leadership plan covering triggers, habits and support network
  • Board reporting that separates confirmed facts, decisions, risks and next steps

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

What you take back to work

  1. First-hour crisis assessment template
  2. Crisis command RACI matrix
  3. Common operating picture situation report
  4. Time-critical decision log
  5. Stakeholder message map and holding statement template
  6. Personal crisis leadership action plan

Who should attend

  • Senior Managers — they may carry strategic accountability during a major incident
  • Operations Managers — they coordinate people, facilities, suppliers and service restoration
  • Business Continuity Managers — they connect response decisions with continuity and recovery plans
  • Risk and Resilience Professionals — they strengthen escalation, governance and incident learning
  • Communications Leaders — they prepare accurate internal, public and stakeholder messaging
  • Security, Safety and IT Leaders — they advise command teams during specialist incidents

Skills and tools covered

Crisis commandTime-critical decisionsSituation assessmentStakeholder communicationContinuity leadershipAfter-action learning

Tools and standards

ISO 22361, ISO 22320, OODA Loop, Cynefin Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce crisis leadership methods, followed by realistic cases, facilitated group analysis and command-team simulations. Participants practise interpreting incomplete information, setting priorities, briefing stakeholders and recording decisions as conditions change. Cases address incidents such as cyber disruption, safety events, supplier failure and reputational pressure. Structured debriefs connect decisions to recognised frameworks, organisational procedures and individual leadership habits. Participants then prepare an application plan for their own role, escalation arrangements and crisis management team.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have management, supervisory, operational, risk, security, continuity or communications responsibilities, and experience making decisions with colleagues or stakeholders. Familiarity with their employer's incident escalation process, business continuity plan or emergency contacts is useful but not essential. Participants should be prepared to discuss realistic workplace scenarios without disclosing restricted information. No prior crisis command qualification, emergency-services background, technical cyber expertise or formal business continuity certification is required. The course focuses on leadership judgement and coordination rather than specialist incident response tactics.

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

You should have some management, supervisory, operational, risk, continuity, security or communications responsibility. No emergency-services qualification or formal crisis management certification is required.

Bring a laptop or tablet if possible, plus any non-sensitive information about your escalation process, continuity arrangements or crisis team structure. Do not bring confidential incident records, personal data or restricted security information.

It suits managers who may lead, support or brief a crisis management team during a significant event. It is relevant to public bodies, financial institutions, NGOs, infrastructure operators, manufacturers and large corporate employers.

Business continuity training focuses on maintaining priority activities, while incident management often addresses operational response procedures. This course focuses on leadership judgement, authority, coordination and communications when a situation becomes a crisis.

Participants can review command roles, escalation thresholds, decision logs and stakeholder message arrangements with their existing crisis team. The templates and application plan can also inform exercises, plan reviews and post-incident actions.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from crisis assessment and command through decision-making, communications, continuity, team coordination and improvement planning.

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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