The Crisis Management Team Checklist: 17 Steps When the CMT Convenes

The CEO must tell the chosen team clearly that the organisation is now in crisis mode. This single statement signals that the incident takes priority over everything else on the calendar.

Go early, even if it’s still only a potential crisis. The speed of declaring crisis mode often decides the outcome in the golden hour in a crisis: the first hours, when the initial response sets the agenda for everything that follows.

The team will need to move fast, but not without the facts. More haste, less speed. A wrong first statement costs more than a late right one.

If it is a physical incident, such as a fire or an injury, the assessment is immediate. If it is media-based, think through how the story will actually look: the headline, the images, the opening paragraph, and the social commentary that follows.

What feels urgent inside the building is sometimes a non-event to everyone else. We once faced this dilemma with what looked like a public health scare, where going public risked causing anxiety out of proportion to the actual risk.

Once a story is out, the organisation cannot run or hide from it, so the team should consider whether publishing first would limit the damage. That judgement call, made before a story breaks, is where issues management ends and crisis communications begins.

Define success before anyone acts. In a media-driven crisis, success usually means stopping the story escalating. In a financial one, it means stabilising the position. The team needs to know which problem it is solving.

Identify the groups the organisation needs to be sensitive to, including both supporters and critics. These are the people every decision and every word will land on.

A crisis exposes weakness quickly, whether that’s tension between a board and a CEO or a simple lack of confidence under pressure. Make adjustments early. A crisis is stressful enough without unresolved leadership friction compounding it.

Leadership that holds up under sustained media scrutiny is the difference between a story that closes and one that compounds. Ask what support the team can offer the board and the CEO directly.

This is why choosing a crisis management consultant in Australia matters: the right counsel can help assess whether the current leadership team has the capacity to weather the storm. Leaders who don’t respond well extend the story rather than control it.

Back the spokesperson. Unless critiquing them is genuinely your role, don’t second-guess them: they are usually already their own harshest critic.

Sometimes it is better to protect the CEO and nominate a different spokesperson, one who has been through proper crisis media training, as a way of protecting the brand.

Keep advisers and consultants in the background. People suspect manipulation when the advisers themselves become part of the story.

Work through the practical choices as a team: high profile or low profile, comment or no comment, proactive or reactive, spokesperson interviews or a media release, and social media. These decisions shape everything that follows.

Above all, be honest. Avoid jargon and favour plain speaking, and understand that honesty and transparency are not the same thing. Speak to the audience through the journalist, not to the journalist as the audience.

Every crisis response should cover the same three-message framework used in a crisis management plan for a small business: the incident message setting out the facts and timeline, the organisation’s message restating its values and commitment, and, where appropriate, a personal message from the leader.

Prepare for bear traps too, since journalists will be looking for other damaging angles. The messages need to be clear, concise and consistent, and repeated constantly. Repetition creates penetration, and penetration creates impact.

One short quote is usually worth more than a lengthy explanation. A useful grab runs seven to ten seconds, or twenty to thirty words.

If there are victims, confirm the team has spoken to them or their families. Check that empathy is genuinely conveyed in what the organisation says and does, not just implied.

Most crises involve some element of fault. The strongest apologies are simple, honest, and specific about who they are directed to.

First, say sorry and mean it, since audiences can tell when an apology is being used to deflect rather than to take responsibility. Second, explain the next steps, such as an investigation. Third, explain how those steps will rebuild trust, for example by making the findings public.

This is also where the longer reputation management picture starts, since how an apology lands often shapes recovery more than the incident itself. When organisations fail to apologise adequately, as with KPMG’s crisis response, they extend the damage.

The team that moves first often sets the media agenda for the day. Journalists and other stakeholders respect a response that is responsive without being reactive.

Stakeholders will be watching for visual and verbal cues about how things are going. Do not let the team get defensive, and watch the language used in explanations. Swapping “and” for “but” changes how an explanation lands.

Accuracy and honesty matter throughout. One well-chosen fact carries weight. Two or three facts, thrown in without structure, can confuse the message instead of reinforcing it.

Audiences listen to people they trust. The less conflicted an advocate is, the more credible their support becomes.

This is why choosing a crisis PR agency matters: external counsel with no stake in the politics of the organisation carries more weight than internal voices defending the status quo.

Stand the team down formally once the situation has stabilised. People who dropped everything to help need to hear that they can return to their normal duties.

There is a short window after a crisis when a proper review is still possible. Wait too long and people return to normal duties, and the appetite to fix what caused the problem goes with them.

A good review covers what went well and what did not, a recovery program, an ongoing media strategy, government relations follow-up, continued briefings for key stakeholders, and a case study to share the lessons internally.

The same sequencing discipline is set out in the 5 steps of crisis management. Recovery takes longer than the response, because trust breaks down in a predictable order and has to be rebuilt in one too.