Crisis Communication: Planning, Response, and Recovery
About this course
Chaos is predictable — if you know what to look for. This course gives you the framework to see it coming, prepare before it arrives, and respond with clarity when it does.
Based on Christine Townsend's book The Frontline Communicator, this course covers the full crisis lifecycle: from horizon scanning and risk assessment through to response, continuity, and recovery. The communicators who handle crises well aren't the ones who are naturally calm — they're the ones who prepared.
Read a sample from this course
Why Crises Are More Predictable Than They Feel
Once you realize that crises follow a predictable cycle, they become significantly less chaotic. Not easy — but manageable. Every crisis, whether it lasts an hour or months, moves through the same phases. Understanding those phases tells you what to do at each point and, critically, where to focus your preparation energy before anything happens.
The Olympic sprinter trains for eight years only to be judged on nine seconds of performance. In crisis communication, the same principle applies: the work you do during normal operations determines everything about how you perform when the crisis hits.
What you'll learn
Course Curriculum
Full access upon enrollment- 1.Why Crises Are More Predictable Than They Feel
- 2.The Six Phases of a Crisis
- 3.Where the Real Work Happens: Business as Usual
- 4.Speed, Sequence, and Why Early Phases Determine Outcomes
- 5.Post-Incident: Where Trust Is Rebuilt
Course Resources
Available after enrollment
Course details
- Self-paced
- Certificate of completion
- Lifetime access
- 6 lessons · 30 sections
- 2 downloadable resources