Lead Crisis Manager study plan

Define the crisis life cycle (pre-incident, acute response, recovery, post-incident learning) and map at least five real public incidents onto each stage in writing

Distinguish crisis from incident, emergency, and business continuity disruption using explicit criteria you can defend

Classify the main crisis typologies (sudden vs. smoldering, internal vs. external, physical vs. reputational) and give two examples of each from public record

Identify the decision biases that degrade crisis judgment (normalcy bias, anchoring, groupthink, escalation of commitment) and describe one countermeasure for each

Explain how early-warning signals differ from the acute trigger and describe how weak signals get filtered out by organizational routines

Build a candidate indicator list for at least three crisis families (operational, financial, reputational, safety, cyber) with lead-time estimates for each indicator

Analyze two documented failures where ignored warning signs preceded a major crisis and extract the specific organizational cause

Draft threshold logic that converts a monitored indicator into an escalation decision

Structure a crisis management program charter covering scope, mandate, authority, and reporting line to the executive body

Define the roles of crisis management team, incident command, business continuity, communications, and legal, and resolve the overlaps in writing

Write decision-rights rules specifying who can declare a crisis, who can escalate, and who authorizes external statements

Compare centralized and decentralized crisis governance models and justify a choice for a stated organizational profile

Design a risk assessment method that scores likelihood, impact, velocity, and detectability for crisis scenarios

Produce a prioritized scenario list of at least eight crises with rationale for each ranking

Map policy, training, exercise, and audit activities onto an annual crisis readiness calendar

Define the metrics and audit evidence that would prove the program is functioning rather than merely documented

Build a crisis playbook for one top-ranked scenario with trigger conditions, first-hour actions, role assignments, and decision checkpoints

Specify the composition and rotation of a 24/7 crisis notification and call-out process including fallback channels

Design a tabletop exercise with objectives, injects, evaluation criteria, and a debrief template

Identify single points of failure in the crisis response chain (facilities, systems, key people) and propose redundancy

Draft a stakeholder communication matrix mapping audiences, information needs, channels, frequency, and approved spokespeople

Write holding-statement templates for at least three crisis types that remain accurate before facts are confirmed

Define a message approval workflow with target turnaround times that does not stall under legal review

Plan the cadence and content of internal communication during the first 24 hours of a crisis

Sequence the first 72 hours of a response into time-boxed phases with named owners and required outputs per phase

Design a common operating picture and situation-report format that decision-makers can consume in under five minutes

Specify criteria for de-escalation and transition from crisis mode to recovery mode

Draft a post-incident review process that produces corrective actions with owners and due dates

Synthesize all prior deliverables into a single integrated crisis management framework document

Self-assess against each domain's objectives and list remaining knowledge gaps with a remediation plan

Complete a timed practice set across all four domains and review every missed item to root cause

Prepare a one-page executive summary that defends the program design to a skeptical board