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Crisis Communications
New business and client engagements where creative vision, strategy alignment, and multi-stakeholder approval determine outcomes.
Edelman
Brunswick Group
FTI Consulting
Joele Frank
Inside this journey
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Rapid Triage
Immediate alignment and triage to mobilize response, prioritize risks, and assign ownership.
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Emergency Intake
Capture immediate facts, severity, affected audiences, and required response window to mobilize the team within hours.
Intake Form
Start Here: Tell Us what's happened — in your words
- Briefly describe the event or threat that brought you here today (what happened, when you first learned, and who told you).
- When did this surface (choose the best match)?
- What is the current public exposure of the issue?
- What immediate steps have you already taken (select all that apply)?
- Who is the person we should contact first on your team (name, role, phone/email) if we need to mobilize within hours?
Who's Really Watching — and Who Would You Lose First?
- If this story escalates, which single audience could most quickly damage your organization’s position or operations?
- Which stakeholder groups should be prioritized for proactive outreach right now? Select all that apply.
- What would the immediate negative outcome look like for that priority audience (specifics, examples, or worst-case scenarios)?
- How prepared are your internal spokespeople to respond under pressure (choose best fit)?
- Do you have up‑to‑date contact lists and escalation trees for prioritized audiences (board, top customers, regulators)?
If You Said Nothing, What Would Happen Next?
- What legal, regulatory, or contractual triggers might be activated by this event (select all that could apply)?
- Which regulators or enforcement bodies might take an interest?
- What financial or operational consequences do you fear most (quantify if possible)?
- How would you rate likely media interest in one week if the story continues unchecked?
- Have you handled a similar public-facing incident before? If yes, what happened and what would you change now?
What’s Keeping Your Leadership Awake Tonight?
- Which of these worries feels most urgent to your CEO/GC/CCO right now?
- How would you describe the emotional state of your leadership team about this incident (choose all that apply)?
- Have internal teams (legal, security, comms) aligned on a single priority or are they recommending different approaches? Please describe.
- How much tolerance does your board or major investor have for imperfect responses in the near term?
- What internal political or cultural barriers might slow an agreed response (examples, decision blockers, or past patterns)?
What Would ‘Managed’ Look Like — Not Perfect, But Clearly Better
- If you could wave a wand, what are the top three outcomes you would need to see in the first 72 hours to feel this was under control?
- What specific, measurable signals would convince you the response succeeded (examples: number of media mentions, downtime hours, customer churn rate)?
- What timeline feels acceptable for achieving those initial signals?
- How would you prioritize speed versus legal caution in external messaging right now?
- Who would you most want to reassure first if we accomplish those outcomes (name the role or group)?
Decision Rights: Who Pulls the Trigger?
- Who has final sign‑off on public statements in a crisis today (select all that apply)?
- Who controls emergency spend for external counsel/communications support?
- How quickly can the named decision‑makers be available for a call (choose best fit)?
- Are there contractual or compliance approvals (e.g., HR, Security, External Counsel) that must clear every external message before release?
- If we need to escalate, who should be in the emergency steering group (list names and roles)?
What Real Support Would Feel Like — Now and Over the Next 90 Days
- What types of help do you want immediately versus what can wait for a structured engagement (select all that apply)?
- What minimum response time must we meet to be useful to you (hours to initial output)?
- Describe the profile of the senior counselor you want on the account (experience, industry background, media relationships).
- Which deliverables would you consider essential in a first‑line response package?
- Which communication channels should we prioritize for real‑time response and monitoring (select up to three)?
Practical Constraints & Next Steps — let's make a realistic plan
- Do you have an existing retainer, playbook, or vendor contract in place that would speed engagement?
- Are there procurement, legal, or compliance approvals we must complete before we can start working (briefly list constraints and expected timing)?
- What budget or approval threshold must be met before a vendor can be mobilized?
- Do you require NDAs or specific security vetting prior to sharing sensitive materials?
- What’s the best window in the next 24 hours for a readiness call to review immediate next steps (select all that work)?
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Incident Triage & Priorities
Rapidly validate legal exposure, regulatory triggers, media risk, and the priority stakeholder list to set first actions.
Triage Checklist
Right Now: Tell Me the short version
- In one sentence, what just happened or is happening right now?
- How long has your team known about this? (pick the best fit)
- Who first discovered or reported the issue inside or outside your organization?
- What immediate steps—if any—have you already taken in response (check all that apply)?
- Which three words best capture your mood about this situation right now?
If This Escalates, What Keeps You Up at Night?
- What’s the worst realistic outcome you picture if this accelerates in the next 48 hours?
- Which of the following legal or regulatory exposures concern you most right now?
- Which external audiences would you most worry about if the story runs widely? (select up to three)
- Imagine tomorrow morning’s headline — what phrase would be most damaging to avoid?
- Has anything like this happened to you before? If yes, what escalated and what was the reputational impact?
- If you answered yes, what single misstep from that prior event would you absolutely not want repeated?
Who's In the Room When Decisions Matter?
- If a decision must be made now to go public, who has final sign-off authority?
- Which of these people or groups must be looped into communications immediately? (select all that apply)
- How reachable are key decision-makers outside normal business hours?
- Do you currently have an escalation protocol or RACI for crisis decisions that we can align to?
- Who, specifically, must give legal clearance before any public statement goes out? Please name roles and any time constraints.
What Would ‘Winning’ Look Like in the First 24–72 Hours?
- If in 72 hours the board asks you whether the response was handled well, what answer would make you feel you’d won?
- Which immediate outcomes are non-negotiable for you? (select up to three)
- What acceptance criteria would you use to decide a statement is ‘ready’? (examples: legal signoff, C-suite approval, fact-checked by IT)
- Which measurable signals in the first three days would make you say the response is on track?
- Is there any outcome you’d accept short-term in order to avoid a longer-term reputational hit? Tell us the trade-off.
What’s Standing in the Way of Acting Quickly?
- What legal, contractual, or regulatory constraints could limit what we can say or do in the first 24 hours?
- Are there cross-border issues (data residency, foreign regulators, subsidiaries) that could slow decisions?
- Do you have internal approval gates that typically delay statements (e.g., board review, external counsel review)? If so, how long do those usually take?
- What information gaps are most urgent to close before we can act (for example: scope of impact, customer lists, timeline of events)?
- If we need to move without perfect information, which types of provisional messages would you permit (holding statement, acknowledgement of investigation, customer advisory)?
How You’ve Been Burned — Lessons That Matter
- Think back to a time you felt your crisis response failed — what single decision or habit made it worse?
- What has worked well in past responses that you’d want repeated exactly the same way?
- Have you worked with external crisis or legal counsel recently—what did you value about that partnership and what would you change?
- Are there vendors, agencies, or advisors you will always want on the team for credibility or continuity? Please list roles/companies.
- When things were under control previously, what internal process or person made the biggest difference?
Logistics We Can’t Leave to Chance
- Do we have immediate access to the following resources? (select all that apply)
- Which of these access items will require additional approvals or permissions before we can use them?
- What primary channel should we use to reach your crisis leadership team (phone, secure app, text, email)?
- Please list the names and preferred contact methods for the first three people we should call during activation.
- Do you have a designated spokesperson or trained media lead available immediately? If not, who would you prefer us to recommend?
Timing, Commercials, and Decision Guardrails
- If we need to engage external counsel and communications support now, what spending authority (if any) do you have to commit resources immediately?
- Which billing model would you prefer for initial mobilization?
- Are there procurement, legal, or compliance steps that routinely delay vendor onboarding in emergencies?
- Who on your team can sign an engagement letter or vendor agreement on short notice? Name role and typical approval timeline.
- Realistically, how soon would you want an external response team fully operational with us leading comms coordination?
How Ready Are You to Move — What Would Get You to Say Yes?
- What is the single most important assurance we could provide right now that would make you comfortable engaging us immediately?
- Which of these commitments would matter most in your decision to engage (pick up to two)?
- Who else must approve bringing us in (name or role), and how can we help speed their signoff?
- If we propose an initial scope that covers the first 72 hours, which deliverables must be included for you to consider it acceptable?
- Finally, are there any sensitivities, conflicts, or disclosure rules we need to be aware of before we speak to third parties on your behalf?
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Customer Discovery
Align on desired outcomes, critical constraints, decision owners, and success signals for the engagement.
Discovery Questions
Start Here — The Short Version
- Who are you and what role are you acting in for this matter?
- In one or two sentences, how would you describe the situation we are being asked to help with right now?
- When did this first come to your attention?
- What immediate outcome do you need in the next 24 hours?
- What actions (if any) have you already taken and who has been involved so far?
If This Went Viral Tomorrow — The Worst-Case Headline
- If a major outlet published the worst possible framing of this incident tomorrow, what single consequence would you fear most?
- Which external audiences are most critical to protect right now?
- Which legal or regulatory triggers could be activated by this incident?
- How would you prioritize the trade-off between full transparency and legal risk in this moment?
- Tell us about a previous incident that influences how you’re feeling about this one — what made that experience memorable?
What Winning Looks Like — Your 7‑Day Victory
- Seven days from now, what outcome would make you feel we handled this well?
- Which measurable signals should we use to judge short-term success?
- Which intangible results would indicate we succeeded (trust, calm leadership, board confidence, etc.)?
- Who must sign off for this to be considered ‘resolved’ by your organization (name/role and backup)?
- Are there stakeholder-specific outcomes that differ from the corporate ‘finish line’ (e.g., regulators expect investigation details while customers need reassurance)? Please describe.
What Can’t Slip — Deadlines, Notice Windows, and Must‑Haves
- If we miss one deadline, which single missed item would cause the most damage?
- Which regulatory or contractual notification windows apply and how strict are they?
- What internal SLA does leadership expect for initial outbound communications (e.g., statement draft within 1 hour)?
- Who needs to be notified at each timeline milestone (24h, 72h, 7d)? Please map role → communication channel.
- What typical review or approval steps have delayed responses in past incidents?
Decision Rights — Who’s Holding the Microphone?
- Who would you least want making the first public statement and why?
- Who are the named decision owners for communications, legal, and operational decisions — and who is their back‑up?
- Which spokesperson(s) are pre‑approved to speak publicly (select all that apply)?
- How should we escalate urgent decisions outside business hours?
- Realistically, how quickly can each primary decision owner respond during off‑hours?
Constraints, Red Lines, and Legal Guardrails — Where We Must Not Go
- What is the single phrase, claim, or action you absolutely cannot make publicly under any circumstances?
- Which confidentiality, investigation, or litigation constraints restrict what we can say?
- Are there pre‑approved lines or boilerplate statements we must use or avoid?
- Which legal approvals are required before issuing any external statement?
- Are there insurance, regulatory reporting, or compliance obligations that will influence our public timeline or content? Please describe.
Where You’ve Been — Past Moments That Still Matter
- When you think back to previous incidents, which single misstep had the biggest negative ripple?
- Briefly describe a prior incident (what happened, how you responded, and the outcome).
- What worked well in past responses that you want to replicate?
- Which external partners have you engaged previously for crises (PR firm, cyber, law firm)? Select those that apply.
- What aspects of past playbooks or after‑action recommendations did you actually implement versus shelve?
Commitments, Practicalities, and Next Steps — How We Begin
- If resolving this incident required prioritizing one resource—time, budget, or senior attention—which would you allocate first and why?
- What budget range can be authorized immediately for emergency response and consulting?
- What contracting or procurement steps are required before we can start (select all that apply)?
- What would be an acceptable first deliverable from us within 24 hours?
- Who should receive the engagement summary and immediate next steps, and by which channel (email, secure portal, phone)?
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Solution Experience
Demonstrate how our crisis playbooks and on-call counsel will deliver prioritized outcomes using the customer's real scenario.
Experience Meetings
- Current-State Rapid Confirmation
- Consequence & Priority Quantification
- Live Playbook Simulation — Customer Scenario
- Proof of Coverage — On-Call Counsel & Evidence
- Validation & Next-Step Commitment
- Resolve any gaps in team capability or availability before commercial conversations.
- Schedule the live simulation slot and confirm attendees who can validate thresholds in real time.
- Future State One-Sentence
- Prove the future state can be achieved using the tailored playbook steps against the customer's scenario.
- Demonstrate elimination or mitigation of top quantified consequences with measurable indicators.
- Obtain live customer validation at multiple checkpoints to confirm alignment.
- Seller to deliver the tailored playbook excerpt (triage + messaging + escalation) updated with meeting inputs.
- Customer to confirm or revise the future-state sentence and acceptance thresholds within 24 hours.
- Assign an on-call counsel lead and circulate the initial roles and contact pathway demonstrated in the simulation.
- Restate Outcomes to be Proven
- Provide evidence that the proposed on-call counsel and team can meet the acceptance thresholds demonstrated.
- Agree on SLA and escalation timelines that map directly to the customer's consequence windows.
- Introductions & Objective
- Seller to supply counsel CVs, conflict checks, and two client reference summaries relevant to the scenario.
- Customer to confirm any blackout periods or internal constraints that would affect counsel availability.
- Update the service SLA and escalation flow based on customer's requested modifications.
- Re-run One-Sentence Current & Future State
- Obtain explicit customer validation that the Solution Experience meets acceptance thresholds or capture precise gap remediation plans.
- Agree the immediate next steps, owners, and timelines toward contract and readiness for activation.
- Ensure all decision-makers have the information needed to complete commercial and legal approvals.
- Customer to provide formal validation (email or signature) on which acceptance thresholds are met within 48 hours.
- Seller to produce a Solution Experience report that ties each demonstrated action back to the customer's consequences and acceptance thresholds.
- Schedule the Mutual Commit review meeting and attach the validated playbook excerpt and SLA for signature review.
- Agree on one clear, unambiguous current-state sentence the team can reference for all demonstrations.
- Identify missing facts or documents required to run an accurate playbook simulation.
- Confirm the customer stakeholders who must validate outcomes during the experience.
- Customer to deliver any outstanding evidence (timelines, affected systems, initial communications) within 2 hours.
- Seller to convert agreed current-state into a single-line summary and circulate to attendees.
- Assign an internal note-taker to capture any constraints or legal flags for the simulation.
- Restate Current State
- Surface explicit, quantified consequences that create urgency for the solution.
- Produce a ranked list of stakeholders and the decisions required to protect them.
- Agree measurable thresholds that the Solution Experience must demonstrate it can meet.
- Customer to confirm any financial/regulatory exposure estimates and provide supporting data.
- Seller to draft a consequence summary document mapping each consequence to an acceptance threshold.
- Counsel Team Capabilities
- Playbook Step 1 — Rapid Triage & Messaging
- Consequence Mapping
- Validation Checklist
- Customer One-Sentence Current State
- Availability & Escalation Protocol
- Priority Stakeholder Impact
- Proof Point — Statement Drafting Under Time Pressure
- Evidence & Constraints Review
- Action Plan to Close Gaps
- Commercial & Onboarding Overview
- Playbook Step 2 — Escalation & Roles
- Define Acceptance Thresholds
- Operational Evidence
- Confirm Impacted Audiences & Decision Owners
- Operational Proofs (Monitoring & Response)
- Customer Q&A & Challenge
- Decision Implications
- Output & Next Steps
- Decision & Next Steps
- Validation Checkpoint
- Short Retro & Adjustments
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Solution Scope
Define specific deliverables, 24/7 coverage, responsibilities, and measurable acceptance criteria for preparedness and response.
Scope Configuration
- Draft Initial Holding Statement
- Draft Detailed Media Statement
- 24/7 Real-Time Media Monitoring and Alerts
- Social Media Response Coordination and Posting
- Manage Live Press Conference Support
- One-on-One Spokesperson Media Coaching
- Prepare Leadership Q&A and Talking Points
- Draft Employee All-Hands Communication
- Draft Regulator-Facing Communications
- Deploy Rumor-Control Messaging Across Channels
- Coordinate Key Stakeholder Notifications
- Launch Post-Crisis Reputation Recovery Campaign
Scope Questions
Draft Initial Holding Statement
- Do you want us to prepare an initial holding statement as a deliverable?
- How quickly must the holding statement be available for review?
- Which audiences must the holding statement address (select all that apply)?
- Are there legal or regulatory constraints we must avoid referencing in the holding language (e.g., admissions, voluntariness)? Please list.
- Who must approve the holding statement before publication?
- What acceptance criteria should we use to confirm the holding statement is ready (e.g., length, tone, legal sign-off, factual accuracy)?
Draft Detailed Media Statement
- Do you require a detailed media statement that expands beyond the holding statement?
- What level of factual detail should the statement include?
- Which spokespeople or roles should be quoted or referenced in the statement?
- Do you require coordinated legal review and redline turnaround times for the detailed statement?
- Should the detailed statement include Q&A annexes, technical exhibits, or timeline attachments?
- What measurable acceptance criteria define a publishable media statement (e.g., legal sign-off, exec approval, max length, factual verification)?
24/7 Real-Time Media Monitoring and Alerts
- Do you want continuous media monitoring and alerting during the incident window?
- Which channels should be monitored (select all that apply)?
- Do you want social listening included in media monitoring (social platforms, influencers, trending topics)?
- What alert thresholds should trigger immediate escalation (e.g., number of mentions, top-tier outlet pickup, regulatory mention)?
- Who should receive real-time alerts and through which channels (email, SMS, Slack, phone)?
- What reporting cadence and formats do you need (live dashboard, hourly brief, end-of-day summary)?
Social Media Response Coordination and Posting
- Do you want us to coordinate social media responses and publish on your behalf during the incident?
- Which social platforms should be included in response coordination?
- Do you have pre-approved social templates or does each post require approval?
- Should we include social amplification (paid boosts) or influencer outreach as part of response?
- What metrics define successful social response (e.g., reduced negative sentiment, engagement, removal of false claims)?
- Are there brand tone, legal, or compliance rules for social posts we must enforce (please summarize)?
Manage Live Press Conference Support
- Do you require on-site or virtual support to manage a live press conference?
- What roles do you need from our team at the press event (moderator, media liaison, legal counsel, technical support)?
- How much lead time will you provide before a planned press conference?
- Do you want live messaging control (real-time edits to messaging, live Q&A coaching) during the press conference?
- What are acceptance criteria for success (e.g., key messages delivered, no major misstatements, positive coverage baseline)?
- Are there specific logistics or AV requirements we should plan for (venue, streaming platform, credentialing)?
One-on-One Spokesperson Media Coaching
- Do you want one-on-one media coaching for a named spokesperson prior to media engagement?
- How long should the coaching session be and how many reps are needed?
- What specific skills should coaching emphasize (key messaging, bridging, handling hostile questions, body language)?
- Should coaching include mock interviews with live feedback and video review?
- Are there legal constraints or approved talking points the coach must enforce?
- What are measurable outcomes for coaching success (e.g., reduced risky language, confidence scoring, exec approval)?
Prepare Leadership Q&A and Talking Points
- Do you want tailored leadership Q&A documents and talking points for executives?
- Which leadership roles require individualized Q&A/talking points?
- Should Q&A include tiered responses for media, employees, regulators, and customers?
- How specific should the talking points be about timelines, remediation steps, or technical fixes?
- Do you require sign-off flows for final Q&A distribution (who approves and how quickly)?
- What acceptance criteria should be used before distributing Q&A (e.g., legal clearance, exec read-through)?
Draft Employee All-Hands Communication
- Do you want us to draft an employee all-hands or internal advisory message?
- Which internal audiences must be covered (all employees, impacted teams only, leadership only)?
- Should internal communications include guidance for managers on how to talk to their teams?
- Are there confidentiality or legal constraints to include in the employee message (e.g., cannot discuss ongoing investigation)?
- What channels will be used to deliver the message (email, intranet, town hall, Slack)?
- What acceptance criteria define internal comms readiness (manager sign-off, HR/Legal clearance, clear next steps for employees)?
Draft Regulator-Facing Communications
- Do you require drafting of communications intended specifically for regulators or enforcement bodies?
- Which regulator types must be addressed (data protection, industry regulator, financial regulator, workplace safety)?
- What level of legal review and counsel involvement is required before submitting regulator-facing documents?
- Do regulator communications require attachments (technical reports, incident timeline, mitigation steps)?
- What deadlines or statutory reporting windows must the communication meet?
- What acceptance criteria ensure regulator communication is ready (legal sign-off, factual verification, required evidence attached)?
Deploy Rumor-Control Messaging Across Channels
- Do you want an active rumor-control campaign deployed across channels to counter misinformation?
- Which channels should be used for rumor-control (press outlets, social platforms, direct stakeholder messages, community forums)?
- Should messaging prioritize debunking specific false claims or provide broad corrective context?
- Do you authorize proactive outreach to media or platforms to request corrections or takedowns?
- What metrics will indicate rumor-control success (reductions in false claim reach, correction pickups, sentiment improvement)?
- Are there legal or privacy considerations (e.g., naming individuals) that constrain rumor-control messaging?
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Mutual Commit
Finalize commercial and legal terms, escalation protocols, and confirm readiness to activate support.
Agreement Modules
- Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
- Master Services Agreement (MSA)
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- On-Call Retainer & Payment Schedule
- Service Level Agreement (24/7 Response SLA)
- Escalation & Activation Protocol
- Pre-Deployment Readiness Confirmation
- Data Processing & Privacy Addendum (DPA)
- Media & Public Statement Authorization
- Regulatory & Legal Coordination Addendum
- Insurance, Indemnity & Liability Allocation
- Change Order & Scope Amendment
- Termination & Transition Plan
- Renewal & Extension Agreement
- Acceptance Criteria & Success Signals
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Response Operations
Operationalize response with readiness checks, rapid mobilization, and coordinated execution.
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Pre-Deployment Readiness
Confirm access, contact trees, media lists, legal coordination points, and playbook triggers before activation.
Readiness Questions
Quick Start: What Brought You Here?
- What's the immediate situation or concern that led you to seek pre-deployment readiness support?
- Who will be our primary point of contact for rapid coordination (name, role, best contact method)?
- Do you have an existing on-call rotation we should fold into for crisis activations?
- When did your team last run a crisis activation, tabletop exercise, or full drill?
- What would a successful pre-deployment review achieve for you in the next 7–14 days?
Are You Confident You Can Reach the Right People?
- If we had to mobilize senior counsel and your leadership in under two hours, would we be able to reach the correct decision-makers every time?
- List the names, roles, and preferred contact methods for the top five individuals who must be reached in an activation.
- Who are the primary alternates for each critical role, and how are they notified when the primary is unavailable?
- Do you maintain automated contact trees or escalation tools (e.g., paging, mass notification)? If so, which?
- How often are contact details verified and updated?
- Are there roles or external partners who currently lack 24/7 coverage but must be reachable during crises? Identify them.
Who Truly Holds Decision Authority When Minutes Count?
- When the clock is ticking, who actually signs off on public statements and operational decisions — and is that person always available?
- Please identify the decision owners for public statements, regulatory notifications, employee communications, and media interview approvals (name/role).
- Do you have pre-approved templates, holding statements, or delegations of authority that allow rapid action without full legal sign-off?
- Describe a recent situation where approval bottlenecks slowed your response. What caused the delay and what was the impact?
- Would you consider pre-authorizing certain types of holding language or threshold-based actions to speed initial messaging? If yes, what boundaries are non-negotiable?
What Would Be a Communication Disaster You'd Regret?
- Which single media moment, misstatement, or leaked document today would cause the most reputational harm if it went unmanaged?
- List the top media outlets, beat reporters, and influencers you most worry about during a crisis.
- Who is your designated spokesperson or spokespeople, and what is their prior experience with live interviews or hostile questioning?
- What legal or compliance constraints must spokespeople observe on public comments (e.g., pending litigation, confidentiality, regulator rules)?
- How do you currently manage embargoes, pre-briefings, and leak-control for high-priority reporters?
- Which social channels are priority for your brand voice and require monitoring or coordinated posting during an incident?
Where Are Our Technical Doors Still Locked?
- If we needed immediate access to logs, dashboards, or customer notices, could your team and external counsel gain that access within 30 minutes?
- Please list systems and platforms we may need access to during an incident (e.g., SIEM, CRM, CMS, social publishing, incident tracker).
- How are credentials and emergency access managed (enterprise password manager, secrets vault, shared spreadsheet, individual accounts)?
- Which third-party vendors require separate coordination or access (cloud providers, security firms, legal firms, PR agencies)? Who manages those relationships?
- Are there regulatory, contractual, or privacy restrictions that limit access to certain systems or data during a response?
When Should We Pull the Fire Alarm?
- What incident threshold today would force you to activate a full response — and do you worry that threshold is set too high or too low?
- Select the events you currently treat as triggers for activation.
- Who currently has authority to call an activation (roles or names)?
- Do you operate tiered response levels (watch, standby, full activation) with clear actions for each tier?
- How much evidence do you require before escalating (rumor, single credible report, verified data, regulator notice)?
Who Needs a Seat at the Table — Really?
- Which internal voices actually move the needle during a crisis, and who are we including today out of habit?
- Please identify the cross-functional stakeholders we should include in response calls (name/role): legal, security, HR, ops, customer support, investor relations, board liaison.
- Are there governance rules about board or investor notification we must follow?
- How do you prefer cross-team coordination during an incident: single war room, distributed functional calls with a lead, or unified chat channel with briefings?
- Have you experienced conflict between legal and communications during a response? What happened and how was it resolved?
What Would Make a Playbook Worth Activating?
- What elements would need to exist in your playbook for you to hit 'activate' without hesitation?
- Do you currently have playbooks for specific scenarios?
- Are your playbooks living documents with owners and an update cadence?
- What acceptance criteria must be met to consider a playbook 'ready' (e.g., contact verification, legal sign-off, rehearsal)?
- How often do you want tabletop exercises or drills to validate playbook effectiveness?
What Would Perfect Readiness Allow You to Do?
- Imagine we could guarantee a single outcome during a crisis — which would you pick: contain reputational damage, preserve legal position, protect customers, or keep operations running?
- What is your target turnaround for an initial legal counsel call following an incident?
- What is your target turnaround for a holding statement draft ready for review?
- What is your target for a full media engagement plan (strategy, spokespeople, key messages)?
- Which success signals would tell you the response is working? Select up to three.
Immediate Next Steps — Tiny Commitments, Big Confidence
- If you could authorize one small, immediate step right now to improve readiness, what would it be?
- Which documents or access will you provide to us in the next 72 hours to move forward (contact tree, media list, playbooks, admin credentials, legal contacts)?
- Who must sign off internally before we can access sensitive systems or run a live drill?
- When can we schedule a 60-minute readiness review to validate contacts, triggers, and access?
- What would make you hesitate to proceed in the next week (concerns about cost, legal exposure, internal bandwidth, stakeholder reaction)?
- Would you like us to prepare a one-page readiness checklist and a proposed activation playbook draft after our initial review?
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On-Call Mobilization
Schedule and activate the senior counsel and response team, assign roles, and publish the initial communications timeline.
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Active Response Coordination
Manage statement drafting, media engagement, stakeholder outreach, social monitoring, and legal coordination in real time.
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Success
Conduct after-action review, assess reputational impact, capture lessons learned, and track follow-up improvements.
After-Action Reviews
- Cross-Functional After-Action Review (AAR)
- Reputational & Media Impact Assessment
- Legal & Regulatory Debrief
- Lessons Learned & Root Cause Workshop
- Improvement Roadmap, Ownership & Test Plan
Issues & Enhancements
- List and assign quick-wins with owners and 30/60/90-day targets.
- Create a prioritized stakeholder outreach list with recommended owners and timing.
- Establish a recovery dashboard and weekly reporting cadence for leadership.
- Legal Status Summary
- Ensure leadership has a clear, defensible legal posture and understands pending obligations.
- Lock down evidence handling and privilege protections to preserve options.
- Assign legal owners and timelines for all outstanding regulatory responses.
- Establish an approved communication protocol for legal/regulatory engagement.
- Centralize evidence and access controls in a secure repository with owner and access logging.
- Prepare templates and pre-approved language for forthcoming regulatory responses where possible.
- Assign legal point-owners for each open regulatory matter and confirm deadlines.
- Framing & Success Criteria
- Achieve consensus on the top root causes that enabled the incident and response gaps.
- Identify a clear set of quick wins that materially reduce near-term risk.
- Define program-level changes required (process, tech, training, governance).
- Document responsibilities for implementing corrective actions.
- Produce a root cause findings document linking causes to evidence and impact.
- Welcome & Objectives
- Create a catalog of required playbook, training, and governance updates for prioritization.
- Consolidated Findings Recap
- Approve a prioritized, timebound improvement roadmap with named owners and deadlines.
- Establish a test plan (tabletop/live) and schedule to validate implemented changes.
- Agree KPI set and reporting cadence to measure recovery and ongoing readiness.
- Confirm governance and resourcing needs, including any contractual or budget changes.
- Publish the detailed roadmap with owners, milestones, dependencies, and dates.
- Schedule and scope the first tabletop exercise to validate playbook updates within 60 days.
- Build the recovery and readiness KPI dashboard and set the monthly review meeting.
- Assess and propose any required retainer or scope adjustments to support long-term remediation.
- Create a single, agreed incident timeline that all stakeholders accept as the source of truth.
- Identify deviations from playbook and the primary reasons for those deviations.
- Agree immediate follow-up actions, owners, and deadlines for unresolved issues.
- Determine which specialist debriefs (legal, media, ops) are required and schedule them.
- Compile and publish the master incident timeline with source artifacts.
- Collect and archive all communications, statements, and logs in a secure repository.
- Produce a short list of unresolved issues and schedule required specialist debriefs.
- Pre-read Metrics Review
- Produce a quantified view of reputational impact with clear metrics and trends.
- Prioritize stakeholder audiences for restorative outreach based on impact and influence.
- Agree on immediate messaging priorities and channel strategy to stop harmful narratives.
- Identify metrics and cadence to monitor recovery progress.
- Deliver a short reputational impact report with key metrics, charts, and recommended next-step messaging.
- Timeline Reconstruction
- Disclosure & Compliance Timeline
- Media Coverage Summary
- Prioritization Framework
- Structured Root Cause Analysis
- Roadmap & Milestones
- Decisions, Rationale & Outcomes
- Playbook & Process Gap Identification
- Privilege, Record Handling & Evidence Control
- Social Listening & Sentiment Trends
- Regulatory Interactions & Next Steps
- Response vs Playbook Assessment
- Stakeholder Sentiment (Employees, Customers, Partners, Regulators)
- Ownership & SLAs
- People, Training & Governance Gaps
- Testing & Simulation Plan
- Unresolved Legal Risks & Mitigations
- Quick Wins vs Programmatic Changes
- Reputational Scoring vs Baseline