Strategic Crisis Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Continuity Managers, HSE Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-BC-027

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in management, operations, HSE, security, risk, business continuity or emergency response.

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

Major incidents test more than emergency procedures. A serious fire, cyber disruption, contamination event, fatality, civil disturbance or supply failure can force leaders to make high-consequence decisions with incomplete information, intense public scrutiny and competing priorities. Organisations need clear command structures, reliable communications, tested continuity arrangements and disciplined recovery processes to protect people, meet legal duties and restore critical services.

This advanced course develops the leadership and management capability required to direct crisis and emergency situations from escalation through recovery. Participants examine crisis governance, incident command, dynamic risk assessment, decision logging, stakeholder communications, business impact analysis, continuity strategies, mutual-aid coordination and post-incident learning. They apply ISO 22301, ISO 22361, ISO 31000 and Incident Command System principles to realistic scenarios involving operational disruption, environmental harm, workforce safety and service interruption.

Delivered over five instructor-led days in a classroom or live online, the course combines concise technical briefings, facilitated case analysis, group decision work, communications simulations and structured planning. Participants receive a certificate of completion and leave with a practical crisis-management toolkit: a governance charter, escalation matrix, crisis communications framework, continuity strategy model, recovery checklist and 90-day improvement plan. The course is particularly valuable for senior managers and specialists responsible for protecting people, assets, operations and organisational credibility during major incidents.

What you will be able to do

  • Design a crisis governance charter defining authority, escalation and accountability
  • Direct incident command structures using Incident Command System principles
  • Apply dynamic risk assessment and bow-tie analysis during major incidents
  • Establish decision logs and escalation thresholds for time-critical crisis actions
  • Build crisis communication message maps for employees, regulators, media and communities
  • Conduct business impact analysis and define continuity recovery objectives
  • Coordinate recovery priorities, stakeholder dependencies and corrective-action ownership
  • Evaluate crisis-management arrangements against ISO 22301 and ISO 22361

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence directing high-consequence decisions under pressure
  • A defensible method for documenting crisis decisions and assumptions
  • Practical scripts for communicating with staff, regulators and media
  • Stronger capability to build and test business continuity arrangements
  • A focused 90-day plan for improving crisis-management readiness

For your organisation

  • Clearer authority and escalation during serious incidents
  • Faster protection of people, critical services and essential assets
  • More consistent communications with regulators, customers and affected communities
  • Reduced downtime through prioritised continuity and recovery arrangements
  • Stronger evidence of preparedness for assurance reviews and audits

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can establish governance, authority and escalation arrangements for major incidents.

  • ISO 22361 principles for crisis leadership, governance and decision authority
  • Distinguishing incident management, emergency response, crisis management and business continuity
  • Board, executive and incident roles defined through a crisis governance charter
  • Escalation thresholds linked to consequence ratings, triggers and notification duties
  • Legal duties, duty of care and regulator expectations during major incidents
  • RACI matrices for command, support, communications and recovery accountabilities

Participants can assess credible crisis scenarios and identify the controls needed for response and recovery.

  • Bow-tie analysis connecting threats, preventive barriers, consequences and recovery controls
  • Scenario planning using credible worst-case and most-likely incident assumptions
  • ISO 31000 risk criteria calibrated for life safety, environment and operations
  • Early-warning indicators drawn from operations, security, weather and supply chains
  • Dynamic risk assessment during fast-moving, uncertain incident conditions
  • Risk registers prioritised through likelihood, consequence, velocity and control effectiveness

Participants can organise command-and-control arrangements during an emergency response.

  • Incident Command System structures: incident commander, operations, planning, logistics and finance
  • Setting incident objectives using the operational period planning cycle
  • Common operating picture built from verified field reports and status boards
  • Emergency action plans for evacuation, shelter, accountability and medical response
  • Mutual-aid arrangements, emergency services liaison and site access control
  • Transfer-of-command briefings preserving decisions, risks, resources and outstanding actions

Participants can make, record and communicate defensible decisions with incomplete information.

  • OODA loop applied to time-critical crisis decisions and changing information
  • Decision logs recording assumptions, alternatives, authorities and rationale
  • Threshold decisions for shutdown, evacuation, product recall and public warning
  • Managing uncertainty through confidence ratings, information gaps and verification tasks
  • Delegation limits aligned with incident severity and executive risk appetite
  • Ethical choices balancing life safety, environmental protection, continuity and reputation

Participants can prepare coordinated communications for internal and external crisis stakeholders.

  • Stakeholder mapping for employees, families, customers, regulators, communities and media
  • Crisis communication objectives matched to audience needs and incident phases
  • Message maps containing facts, empathy, actions and approved holding statements
  • Spokesperson protocols for interviews, press conferences and hostile questioning
  • Rumour control using social listening, correction procedures and response ownership
  • Notification workflows meeting contractual, regulatory and data-protection requirements

Participants can define continuity priorities and select recovery strategies for critical services.

  • Business impact analysis identifying maximum tolerable periods of disruption
  • Recovery time and recovery point objectives set for critical services
  • Continuity strategies for people, premises, technology, suppliers and essential records
  • Service prioritisation using minimum business continuity objective criteria
  • Alternative-site, remote-work and manual-workaround arrangements assessed against dependencies
  • ISO 22301 continuity plans linked to incident command arrangements

Participants can coordinate external dependencies and manage wider impacts during crisis situations.

  • Supplier contingency clauses, contact trees and failure notification requirements
  • Critical dependency mapping across utilities, transport, telecommunications and third parties
  • Joint response protocols with contractors, landlords, authorities and mutual-aid partners
  • Community impact assessment covering vulnerable groups, access, pollution and displacement
  • Cross-border incidents: consular liaison, language needs and jurisdictional responsibilities
  • Resource prioritisation under scarcity: fuel, protective equipment, transport and accommodation

Participants can manage the transition from emergency response to controlled recovery and improvement.

  • Transition criteria from emergency response to stabilisation and recovery
  • Recovery governance separating restoration priorities from ongoing incident command
  • Damage assessment methods for facilities, environmental harm, assets and records
  • Operational restart plans using safety verification, staffing and staged capacity
  • Financial impact tracking for insurance claims, losses and emergency expenditure
  • After-action reviews using observations, root causes, corrective actions and owners

Participants can address human performance, welfare and trust during prolonged crisis operations.

  • Human factors affecting situational awareness, fatigue, stress and decision quality
  • Psychological first aid principles for affected staff, families and responders
  • Team resource management techniques for speaking up and challenge
  • Responder welfare arrangements: rotations, rest, nutrition, transport and family contact
  • Trauma-informed communication following fatalities, injuries, displacement or severe disruption
  • Leadership behaviours that maintain trust, accountability and calm under pressure

Participants can assess crisis readiness, specify improvements and plan implementation actions.

  • Crisis plan assurance using ISO 22301 and ISO 22361 requirements
  • Tabletop, functional and full-scale exercise formats selected by objectives
  • Exercise evaluation criteria measuring decisions, communications, coordination and recovery readiness
  • Corrective-action registers with owners, deadlines, evidence and closure testing
  • Maturity assessment of governance, capability, plans, resources and assurance
  • Personal 90-day implementation plan targeted at identified crisis-management gaps

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

What you take back to work

  1. Crisis governance charter template
  2. Incident escalation and notification matrix
  3. Crisis decision log template
  4. Stakeholder message map framework
  5. Business continuity strategy model
  6. Recovery and corrective-action checklist

Who should attend

  • Business Continuity Managers — responsible for continuity strategies, plans and recovery readiness
  • HSE Managers — lead emergency preparedness and major-incident response arrangements
  • Crisis Management Team Members — require clear roles, decision methods and communications discipline
  • Operations Directors — protect critical services, sites, people and operational capacity
  • Security and Resilience Managers — coordinate threats, protective measures and incident escalation
  • Risk Managers — connect enterprise risk controls with crisis and continuity arrangements

Skills and tools covered

Crisis governanceIncident commandDynamic risk assessmentCrisis communicationsBusiness continuity planningRecovery management

Tools and standards

ISO 22301, ISO 22361, ISO 31000, Incident Command System

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, decision methods and planning tools, followed by facilitated case work based on realistic emergency and disruption scenarios. Participants work in groups to assess risks, set command priorities, prepare communications and select continuity strategies. Simulations test decision-making, information management and stakeholder coordination under time pressure. Structured debriefs identify effective practices and improvement actions. Individual application planning helps participants transfer the methods to their own crisis-management responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in management, operations, HSE, security, risk, business continuity or emergency response. They should be familiar with their organisation's reporting lines, key operational risks and basic emergency procedures. Prior participation in an incident, exercise or continuity-planning activity is useful but not essential. The course does not require prior certification in business continuity, formal incident command training, legal qualifications or technical emergency-services experience. Participants benefit most when they can relate course methods to a real site, service, programme or business unit.

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 experience in management, operations, HSE, security, risk, continuity or emergency response. Previous crisis-management training is useful but not required.

Bring details of your organisation's current crisis, emergency or continuity arrangements if you are permitted to share them. A laptop is useful for live online delivery and for recording personal implementation actions.

It is designed for managers and specialists who may direct, support or advise during a serious incident. It is especially relevant to organisations with critical operations, regulated duties, dispersed sites or significant public exposure.

Emergency response training focuses on immediate operational actions such as evacuation, firefighting or medical assistance. This course addresses leadership, command, business continuity, stakeholder communications and recovery management at organisational level.

Participants can use the templates and methods to review escalation criteria, clarify crisis-team roles, strengthen continuity plans and improve exercise programmes. The final implementation plan identifies priority actions for the next 90 days.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30, with about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group decision work, simulations, debriefs and implementation 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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