CRISIS READINESS
The time to prepare is before anyone is watching.
No organization chooses its crisis. What you can choose is whether your team already knows its roles, its first words and who signs off when the pressure hits.
GOVERNMENT • PUBLIC LEADERS • ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE PUBLIC
Facing a situation right now? We can help you steady the message and coordinate your response right away.
Get urgent supportThree ways we help.
Plan
A crisis communications plan your team will actually use, not a binder on a shelf.
Practice
Hands-on training and tabletop exercises for leaders and spokespeople.
Partner
Experienced counsel standing by when a real situation unfolds.
Why readiness matters
Preparation turns a scramble into a sequence.
Many public organizations have an emergency operations plan but no clear plan for communicating during one. When the moment comes, the response is improvised, messages conflict and public confidence drops quickly.
What we build with you.
A crisis communications plan
- Roles, approvals and escalation paths
- An audience map: residents, staff, elected officials, partners, media
- Pre-approved holding statements and templates
Leadership and spokesperson training
- Media interview and press briefing practice
- Tough-question drills and staying on message
- Keeping public, social and internal messages aligned
Tabletop exercises
- Realistic scenarios built around your likely risks
- The people who will carry out the plan, in the room
- Gaps found in a conference room, not on the evening news
Can your team answer these today?
If any answer is “we’d figure it out,” we can help you build the plan.
- If your top executive is unreachable, who approves a public statement?
- Who is authorized to speak to the media, and who is not?
- How quickly will employees hear the news, and from whom?
- Do you have holding statements drafted for your most likely scenarios?
- Who is watching social media and correcting false information?
Principles that hold up under pressure.
Plain language wins
Experts inform the message. A clear, confident spokesperson delivers it.
Speak before others speak for you
Silence leaves room for critics and rumors to set the narrative.
Facts and empathy belong together
People who are afraid, angry or grieving need both to trust what they hear.
Fit the message to the channel
Visuals for television, clean audio for radio, quotes for print and captions on social video.
Share early, and name the next update
A slow trickle of details erodes trust. Say what you know, what you’re confirming and when you’ll speak again.
Build the plan before you need it
The middle of a crisis is the hardest time to decide who does what.