Raising awareness for emergencies

Crisis simulation training sessions offer participants a unique opportunity to test their behaviour under pressure in a so-called ‘war room’ and to develop essential skills for a real-life emergency. These simulations recreate real crisis situations, complete with an information overload, enquiries from journalists and TV interviews. The aim is to successfully navigate these challenges and gain important insights for the future from every situation.

The War Room focuses primarily on the following:

Gaining an overview: Before taking action, it is crucial to gain a comprehensive overview of the situation.

Keeping a cool head: In stressful situations, it is important to take a deep breath and act calmly.

Ensuring everyone is onthesamepage: It is essential that the crisis management team is all on the same page.

Communicating clearly and precisely: In interviews and public statements, clear and concise messages are essential.

Scientific basis: Timothy Coombs’ theory

Crisis prevention workshops are ideal for thoroughly assessing the crisis resilience of companies and organisations. Here, participants learn to identify and analyse potential crisis scenarios in order to develop a sound understanding of the nature of crises.

We examine the objectives and basic principles of effective crisis communication and work together to develop strategies for dealing with various stakeholders, clarify roles and responsibilities, and define efficient reporting chains. Participants gain insights into different types of crises and develop the skills to assess and prioritise them.

Our training courses are based on the academic theory of crisis communication developed by Timothy Coombs from the USA. Coombs emphasises the importance of the ‘ascribed’ responsibility of organisations and their ethical conduct in crisis situations. This theory guides our approaches and tactics in crisis management.

This year, we have already held numerous crisis prevention workshops and war rooms at our various sites as well as on-site at companies. These training sessions have enabled us to update existing crisis plans and develop new ones. The focus is on raising awareness of crisis situations and selecting appropriate responses. After all, crisis management is about managing emotions.

We will be offering training sessions again in the first quarter of 2024. Anyone interested can put their name down and register with our “Taskforce” at: help[@]kaltwasser.dehelp[@]kaltwasser.de