Course Overview

Crisis management is a process by which an organisation deals with an emergency situation or a disruptive, unexpected event. Crisis management gained importance after some organisations suffered large-scale industrial and environmental disasters. Crises come as a threat to an organisation, with an element of surprise and demanding quick action with little decision-making time.

Crisis management is distinctly different from risk management in that risk management involves the study and prediction of risks and the decision of next steps to prevent the occurrence, while crisis management involves handling and managing threats immediately before, during and after the occurrence. There are specific skills and techniques required to identify, assess, understand and cope with a serious situation.

Crisis management involves clear, situation-based management systems including roles and responsibilities and process-related organisational requirements. It encompasses methods to respond to the perception and reality of crises, establishing metrics to identify crises and determine communication during the response phase of a crisis.

Crisis management is sometimes also referred to as incident management. Reputation is an intangible concept but can increase corporate worth and provide a sustained competitive advantage.

Reputation management involves efforts and processes undertaken to manage the perception of an organisation or brand in the public eye. Online reputation management includes managing references to the organisation through social media monitoring and carefully crafted search queries.

Social media analytics and other such tools help measure current public opinion of an organisation. Public relation campaigns may be conducted to increase the visibility of positive opinions or decrease the visibility of negative opinions.

Reputation management is extremely important as it is good and helpful to know the views and opinions of internal and external stakeholders.

Issues management is the process by which an organisation manages its policies and identifies potential problems, issues or trends that could impact its future. Overall, the above three concepts are extremely important for organisational growth and development.

This Zoe training course will empower you with in-depth information and understanding about Crisis Management in Public Relations. The knowledge gained through this course will help you effectively manage crises at your organisation, limiting the negative impact they could cause to the growth and success of the organisation.

Further, this Crisis Management in Public Relations training course will help you undertake important roles that will improve and maintain your organisation’s brand image, which in turn will have positive effects on the prospect of the business.

Overall, this Crisis Management in Public Relations training course will provide the complete skill set required to undertake critical and influential roles in your organisation, which involve crisis and issue management and branding, thus increasing opportunities to prove potential and foster career growth and progression.

Course Objectives

The main objective of this Crisis Management in Public Relations training course is to empower professionals with—

• complete knowledge and information of Crisis Management in Public Relations
• the required confidence and understanding to effectively manage crises and take appropriate action in time
• the necessary skills and knowledge to undertake roles and responsibilities involving management of the reputation of the organisation, including online branding
• the preparedness and perspective to handle issues, identify trends and devise action plans to minimise negative impact
• foresight and maturity to predict issues and risks and effectively manage situations to prevent or minimise impact of occurrence
• an enhanced skill set and professional portfolio to progress to senior and influential positions in the organisation, thus contributing to organisational success and career growth and progression
• the required confidence to work with advanced social media tools and analytics to foster better and more positive online presence and keep track of brand perception
• better decision making and problem-solving skills to facilitate faster and more efficient action in the event of crises

Training Methodology

Training courses at Zoe Talent Solutions are created to appeal to a wide audience. It is for this sheer reason that the course content is thoroughly reviewed and amended, if needed, before the initiation of each training program. A highly experienced trainer delivers the course content using simple audio-visual presentations.

The trainer, however, encourages audience participation through group assignments and activities, including debates, presentations, etc. Role-plays and case studies form a major part of the training program to ensure trainee involvement. Experiential learning also receives significant importance.

Like all Zoe Talent Solutions courses, this course follows the very successful Do–Review–Learn–Apply Model.

Organisational Benefits

Organisations whose professionals attend this training course will benefit in the following ways:

• A more informed, educated workforce experienced in Crisis Management in Public Relations
• Better crisis and issues management
• Better organisation branding and online presence
• Increased investments because of better branding and reduced risks
• Organisational growth and development because of better management of all critical aspects—crises, issues and reputation
• Organisation-wide internal training on best practices of crisis and reputation management at no additional cost
• Regular audits to ensure compliance with guidelines and management of positive reviews and presence online
• More trained and equipped employees to assist and help in adverse situations or resource crunches
• Better social media presence and visibility because of the use of advanced tools and techniques to measure the online presence

Personal Benefits

Professionals attending this Crisis Management in Public Relations course will benefit in the following ways:

• Increased understanding and knowledge of Crisis Management in Public Relations
• Enhanced skill set and professional portfolio to undertake critical and influential roles involving authority and ownership in one’s organisation, fostering career growth and progression
• Broadened perspective and additional skills to undertake any role across Crisis Management in Public Relations, facilitating lateral movement and progression
• Increased knowledge and confidence to undertake roles and responsibilities of training other employees of one’s organisation in crisis and reputation management
• Greater knowledge and information to conduct regular internal audits for one’s organisation to check compliance and adherence
• Increased knowledge and skill to work with advanced tools and techniques for online reputation management
• Greater job security because of reduced risks and better organisational branding

Who Should Attend?

• Top management of an organisation who need to thoroughly understand Crisis Management in Public Relations
• Marketing professionals responsible for social media and online reputation management
• Investors and financial advisors who need to understand the importance and scope of Crisis Management in Public Relations to aid in investment decisions
• Policymakers and human resource professionals responsible for framing policies and guidelines and driving adherence to positively impact brand visibility and decrease organisational risks
• Members of branding agencies who support organisations in their branding strategies and plans
• Any other professional interested in knowing more about Crisis Management in Public Relations

Course Outline

The Crisis Management in Public Relations training course will cover the following topics important to understanding crisis, reputation and issues management:

Module 1 – Types of Crises

• Natural disasters
• Technological crises
• Confrontations
• Malevolence
• Organisational misdeeds
• Workplace violence
• Rumours
• Man-made disasters

Module 2 – Phases of Crisis Management

• Crisis prevention
• Crisis assessment
• Crisis handling
• Crisis termination

Module 3 – Crisis Phases Requiring Leadership Competencies

• Signal detection
• Preparation and prevention
• Containment and damage control
• Business recovery
• Learning

Module 4 – Leadership Role in Crisis Management

• Building trust
• Reforming organisational mind-set
• Identifying obvious, obscure organisational vulnerabilities
• Quick decision making
• Application of learning

Module 5 – Components of Corporate Reputation

• Ethics
• Employees
• Financial performance
• Leadership
• Social responsibility
• Customer focus
• Quality
• Reliability
• Emotional appeal

Module 6 – Importance of Reputation Management

• Increase sales
• Build trust and credibility
• Project the best
• Gain online insights
• Facilitate recruitment

Module 7 – Importance of Issues Management

• Identifying and recording issues clearly
• Documenting issues appropriately
• Determining the impact of each issue
• Prioritising issues and reporting their status
• Reviewing issues and deciding the course of action

Module 8 – Steps in Issues Management

• Identify issues and trends
• Evaluate impact and set priorities
• Conduct research and analyses
• Develop a strategy
• Implement the strategy
• Evaluate the progress of the strategy