September 29, 2026
It’s 9:15 on a Tuesday morning. An employee calls a supervisor about a troubling incident. By 9:30, someone has texted a member of the leadership team. At 9:45, a partial account appears on social media. At 10:00, a reporter leaves a voicemail.
Nothing has been verified. The CEO is in a meeting. A key decision-maker is traveling. The receptionist wants to be helpful. Someone begins drafting a response. Someone else suggests saying nothing until the attorney calls back.
The organization does not yet know whether it is facing a serious incident, a misunderstanding, or something in between. It does know one thing: people are asking questions, and they expect an answer.
This is how many communications crises begin—not with television cameras at the door, but with an ordinary call, an incomplete account, and several well-intentioned people trying to respond at once.
What happens in the first hour can shape what happens for years.
That is why organizations need to be prepared to respond with clarity, integrity and care.
The Issue Is Not Always the Crisis
Organizations manage sensitive issues every day: personnel matters, financial questions, leadership transitions, safety concerns, customer or constituent complaints, regulatory issues, operational disruptions, and public controversies. Many can be resolved quietly and responsibly.
An issue becomes a communications crisis when the demand for information moves faster than the organization’s ability to verify facts, align leaders, and respond clearly.
A delayed response can create suspicion. Conflicting responses can create confusion. A defensive response can deepen concern. And silence, even when intended to be prudent, can be interpreted as indifference or avoidance.
That does not mean every difficult situation requires a public statement.
It means every organization should know how it will make that decision.
Different Audiences. Different Expectations. One Organization.
Whether you lead a business, nonprofit, government entity, educational institution, association, or faith-based organization, a crisis rarely involves just one audience.
Employees may want to know what happened and what it means for them. Customers, donors, constituents, or community members may have different questions. A board may need more detailed information. Regulators or public officials may become involved. Reporters may be looking for immediate answers. Social media may be filling the information gap before leadership has established the facts.
And each audience brings different expectations.
That is why a response can be factually accurate and still fall short.
Legal caution may be necessary, but insufficient. A message written for the media may not address the concerns of employees or people directly affected. An internal memo may not withstand public scrutiny if it is shared outside the organization. And a statement focused entirely on protecting the institution can damage the trust the organization hoped to preserve.
Good crisis communication does not compete with executive leadership, legal counsel, human resources, or operations. It helps coordinate them—so the organization can make sound decisions, communicate truthfully, and respond appropriately without speculating or making promises it cannot keep.
Five Decisions to Make Before Pressure Arrives
A useful crisis plan does not need to anticipate every possible event. It needs to establish how your organization will think and act when information is incomplete and time is limited.
1. Who convenes the response team? Identify who brings together leadership, operations, legal counsel, human resources, and communications—and who serves as backup if that person is unavailable.
2. Who has decision authority? Determine who can approve an internal update, public statement, social media response, or response to a reporter. A draft is not useful if no one knows who has the authority to release it.
3. Who speaks for the organization? Name a primary spokesperson and alternatives. Make sure employees who may receive inquiries know where to direct them. In a crisis, an organization cannot afford to have multiple people providing different answers.
4. Who needs to hear from you first? In many situations, employees, customers, donors, constituents, partners, or people directly affected should not learn important news from social media or a reporter. Map the order of communication before it matters.
5. What can be said while facts are still developing? Prepare flexible holding statements that acknowledge the situation, communicate what the organization is doing, and set an expectation for the next update—without guessing or getting ahead of the facts.
Prepared Does Not Mean Alarmed
Some leaders resist crisis planning because it can feel pessimistic or unnecessary. But organizations routinely prepare for circumstances they hope will never happen: fires, severe weather, cyber incidents, workplace accidents, operational disruptions, and other emergencies.
Communications readiness deserves the same attention.
Preparation helps protect people from misinformation. It gives leaders space to make sound decisions. It reduces confusion about roles and authority. And it helps an organization communicate in a way that is consistent with its values when the pressure is greatest.
Preparation must also be practical.
A plan is only useful if leaders understand their roles, decision-makers can be reached, messages can be approved quickly, and employees know what to do when questions begin.
It should be reviewed, practiced, and updated—not placed in a binder or saved on a shared drive and forgotten.
The goal is not to script every possible crisis. It is to give leaders a clear, workable system they can rely on when time is limited, information is incomplete, and the pressure is real.
Start With One Practical Question
If something happened at 10 a.m. tomorrow, would your leadership team know who gathers the facts, who makes the decisions, who speaks—and what everyone else should do?
If the answer is “not entirely,” that is not a reason for alarm.
It is a reason to prepare.
Riggs Creative Group developed the complimentary Protecting Trust: Crisis Readiness Assessment & Guide to help organizations identify common gaps and begin the right leadership conversation.
Use it with your executive team, communications staff, board or other key decision-makers to assess your current readiness and identify practical next steps.
Download the Complimentary Crisis Readiness Assessment & Guide
If the assessment reveals gaps, schedule a confidential RCG Crisis Readiness Review. In one focused hour, we’ll help your leadership team identify its most likely scenarios, clarify current protocols and prioritize the three actions that would most improve readiness.
You may not be able to predict when a difficult issue will arise.
But you can make sure you’re ready when it does.
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