Every organization risks facing a crisis that threatens its reputation and business operations. When a crisis unfolds, it often does so with overwhelming force. The sudden flood of events can easily impair judgment and make strategic thinking difficult. A systematic guideline on how to act in a crisis is extremely helpful.
Assessing the situation – do we move into crisis mode or not?
When faced with a critical situation, the priority is to quickly analyze the risks and the consequences they might have. Have you reached the critical threshold for activating crisis management? Does the situation meet the criteria for a communications crisis?
When assessing the situation, consider asking the following questions:
- Is the situation real?
- Is the source of the negative claims or facts credible?
- Have people been injured?
- Does the situation pose a threat to people's well-being?
- Does the situation affect multiple stakeholders? How many?
- Does it impact multiple customers? How many?
- Could the situation disrupt our organization’s operations?
- Does it concern multiple units within our organization? How many?
- Does it significantly affect my unit’s ability to function?
- Has data been compromised? If so, what kind of data?
- Is the topic something that the media might pick up?
- Could publicity lead to negative media attention?
- Could someone else leak the information if we don’t communicate about it?
- Could someone from within the organization disclose the issue externally?
The more questions you give an affirmative answer to, the more critical the situation is.
However, major crises are sure to become public and evolve into scandals. Burying your head in the sand is never a viable strategy. The crisis will play out in the public eye, whether you want it to or not. The only way to handle it effectively is to engage with the situation and manage it proactively.
Crisis management – Progress comes with well-planned steps
Once a crisis is, indeed, confirmed to be a crisis, it’s time to start managing it as one. The first steps are to inform the organization’s management and to set up a crisis team. At the same time, make sure that everyone knows their role in the team. Together, they decide how often the crisis management team will meet.
After that, the real work begins. The crisis team must gather as much information about the situation as possible. They determine who is affected and how to reach them. Tactical decisions are made, such as whether external resources are needed (e.g. forensic scientists in cyber crises) and the timeframe for informing stakeholders.
From a communication perspective, one of the most critical tasks is preparing key materials such as the holding statement, core messaging, and Q&A documents. If a crisis communication plan has been properly prepared, the organization will already have a generic Q&A document and pre-prepared statement templates for different crisis scenarios. When a crisis unfolds, these materials must be quickly updated to reflect the specific situation.
Communication expertise is essential in determining when and how to inform different stakeholders. Communicating too early can amplify negative attention and "add fuel to the fire," while communicating too late can allow others to control the narrative, filling the public space with misinformation.
Once a negative media storm gains momentum, stopping it is extremely difficult.
Be honest, show empathy, and apologize
Most people value honesty, transparency, and accountability in communication. This is especially true in crises. Suppose your organization has clearly made a mistake. In that case, it is best to issue a sincere apology, express genuine empathy for those affected, and clearly explain the steps you’re taking to prevent similar errors in the future.
During a crisis, the focus should not be on the organization or its representative but on the external individuals who have suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm. Stakeholders need to see that the organization’s empathy is genuine and free of self-interest. A conditional apology—such as "We apologize if anyone was offended"—never works as well as a straightforward "We sincerely apologize."
Long-term crises require persistence and systematic action
In prolonged crises, the crisis team must continue working with persistence and a structured approach. The team should focus on collaboration, communication, background analysis, and anticipating future developments.
Practical crisis management becomes significantly easier when the team maintains active communication within agreed channels and holds regular status meetings. If new members join the team later, a detailed log helps them onboard quickly.
One key aspect of crisis communication is ensuring that all materials are kept up to date. As the crisis evolves, messages need to be refined and adjusted. It is also crucial to anticipate future developments and communicate proactively. The public remains calmer if they know when to expect the next update.
Background analysis and foresight mean trying to predict the next possible developments. A dynamic situational overview should be maintained, considering media coverage, legal implications, and other relevant factors.
Crises are great learning opportunities
Once the immediate crisis has passed, the crisis team should set aside time to review the event—what worked well, and what could be improved?
During a crisis, many aspects must be handled quickly, and some issues may not receive thorough consideration. Conducting a post-crisis review is crucial for improving the crisis team’s effectiveness and ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into the organization’s future crisis capabilities.
Organizations that handle crises best have prepared for them in advance. If you want to improve your crisis preparedness, feel free to contact us! We are happy to assist with, for example, developing a comprehensive crisis communication plan, training spokespersons, and conducting crisis communication simulations.
