Crisis Management
Escalation matrices, holding statements, dark-hour playbooks and post-mortems — calm under fire.
6 lessons · about 1 hours
Read it instead
Not every angry thread is a fire. Some are. Module 24 is knowing the difference, and what to do next.
A crisis is decided in the first hour, by decisions you should have made in peacetime. This module writes them down: the severity test, who gets woken up, what you say while you find out, and the drill for the hour itself.
Lesson 1 is issue or crisis: a severity framework. Lesson 2 builds the escalation matrix. Lesson 3 is holding statements and the template library. Lesson 4 is the first-hour playbook, minute by minute, including the paid-ads kill switch. Lesson 5 is spokespeople and monitoring under fire. And lesson 6 runs a realistic UK crisis end to end, and the post-mortem after it.
By the end, you'll have a severity test, an escalation matrix with names in it, and a first-hour drill your team has actually read.
6 lessons. About 60 minutes. Level 4, module 24. Start with Issue or Crisis? Knowing the Difference.
What’s inside
- 01Issue or Crisis? Knowing the Difference
A severity framework that stops teams treating every angry thread as a five-alarm fire — and stops real fires being treated as threads. · 9 min
- 02Building the Escalation Matrix
Who gets woken up, who decides, and how fast — written down before you need it. · 9 min
- 03Holding Statements and the Template Library
Pre-approved language for the worst days — what a holding statement must do, and the scenario library to draft in peacetime. · 10 min
- 04The First Hour Playbook
A minute-by-minute drill for the hour that decides how the whole crisis goes — including the paid-ads kill switch and dark-site preparation. · 10 min
- 05Spokespeople and Monitoring Under Fire
Who speaks, who never speaks, and how to run the listening operation that tells you whether the crisis is growing or dying. · 9 min
- 06A Worked UK Crisis, and the Post-Mortem
A realistic 72-hour scenario run end-to-end through the playbook, and the blameless post-mortem that turns a bad weekend into a better system. · 12 min
