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Crisis Management & Leading Under Pressure

Introduction

Crisis Management & Leading Under Pressure 

Course Objectives

At the end of this crisis management training for leadership, the participants will be able to:

• Understand and better appreciate the importance of managing stress and pressure.
• Build and develop leadership skills for handling stress, pressure, and crisis.
• Become familiar with how the different personality styles respond to stress and pressure and identify their style in coping with stress.
• Learn how to cultivate a positive mindset in times of crisis.
• Learn how to lead others during times of crisis.
• Acquire an in-depth knowledge of the critical aspects of Strategic Crisis Management.
• Understand the anatomy of a crisis and what should be in place before, during, and after an event.
• Learn how to generate ownership and responsibility by all stakeholders to ensure the organization responds efficiently and effectively.

Targeted Competencies

• Leadership skills during a crisis
• Communication skills during times of tremendous pressure
• Stress management
• Crisis management

Course Content

Unit 1: Personal Leadership Skills for Handling Pressure & Stress

• Stress and its effects on the body, mind, and spirit
• Holistic response to stress
• Relationship between mind and body
• Personality styles and response to stress
• Understanding Introvert and Extravert responses to stress

Unit 2: Enhancing Communication Skills In Times of Stress

• Passive & aggressive responses
• Assertive communication during stressful times
• Managing conflicts during times of stress
• Giving and receiving criticism during stressful moments
• Resolving conflicts constructively during times of pressure

Unit 3: Leading with Confidence During Challenging Times

• Coping with sudden change
• Leading others during sudden changes
• Recognizing the symptoms of short-term and long-term effects of stress
• Motivating yourself and others under pressure
• Building confidence during stressful times

Unit 4: Improving Leadership Effectiveness in Managing Crisis

• Utilizing creativity in crisis
• Recognizing opportunities for change in a crisis
• Helping the team look for creative opportunities
• Practicing creative leadership in facing a crisis
• Removing blocks to innovative solutions in a crisis

Unit 5: Developing & Training Your Team to Handle Pressure, Stress, and Crisis

• Training and developing employees to handle stress and pressure
• Stress handling techniques for you and your employees
• Helping the team to see the positive side of change in the workplace
• Implementing creative problem-solving skills for your team when facing a crisis
• Developing a personal action plan

Unit 6: Strategic Crisis Management, What Should Be in Place Before The Event?

• Understanding Crisis Management
• How to manage a crisis?
• Virtually every crisis contains the seeds of success and the roots of failure.
• The Rationale of the Crisis Manager
• Consider the range of risks: Natural/Environmental Hazards, Technological - loss of utilities/product/process/plant, Human Error Sabotage, and Terrorism.
• Crisis Managers - Roles & Responsibilities - manage the issue before it becomes a Crisis
• Who else inside and outside the organization should be involved?
• Evaluating your risks and vulnerabilities: Consider the worst-case scenarios.
• Understanding denial-curve and group-think syndromes
• Who decides who sits in the hot seat?
• Case Studies: why do some companies fail and others survive?

Unit 7: Pre-Planning

• Who and what else should be considered?
• Who owns the mitigation process?
• Self-evaluating questionnaires
• Developing and Implementing emergency plans
• Twelve points checklist covering the whole planning process
• Mutual aid arrangements
• Company-wide strategic contingency plans
• Service or departmental plans
• Building evacuation plans
• Crisis management and communications emergency centers
• Developing and implementing a Business Continuity Management (BCM) strategy
• Business Impact Analysis

Unit 8: Dealing With a Crisis - The Communications Perspective

• Command and Control Issues
• Operational (at the scene)
• Tactical (at the forward control point/incident command)
• Strategic (boardroom level/emergency operations center)
• On-scene crisis management, essential elements for success
• Reputation Management - Managing the Media.
• Organizing a press conference
• Conducting radio and television interviews
• Exercise: Crisis Communications Strategy.

Unit 9: Incident Management & Aftermath

• Alerting and Warning: What can go right and what can go wrong
• Case Studies - Texas City Disasters 1947 and April 2005
• Primary Incident Simulation - Role Playing Workshop
• Syndicate selection
• Reporting back
• Potential Psychological & Welfare Problems in Crisis Management
• How to improve staff morale and confidence in the process
• The psychological effects during and after an incident involving injuries - and worse
• Looking after yourself and your staff
• Questionnaire: are your batteries in good condition?

Unit 10: Leadership Behaviour and Behavioural Safety

• Validating plans and procedures
• Discuss the four types of exercise.
• How to get the most out of an exercise
• Post Incident evaluations
• Debriefing skills - managing the debriefs - hot and cold
• How to keep all stakeholders informed
• Prioritizing the Recommendations
• Examples of critique questionnaires
• Critique report writing, executive summaries, and recommendations
• Closing the loop. How to continue the process
• Case Study - Buncefield Oil Depot, Hertfordshire UK, 2005