By Susan Brown, Vice President, Crisis Communications
A safety lapse, major accident, regulatory breakdown, or cyberattack can damage your reputation and shake stakeholder trust.
Today, even the hint of an issue can go viral in seconds. What you say, or don’t say, becomes your story. If your message is slow, vague, or misaligned, it raises more questions than it answers. But if it’s clear, timely, and grounded in responsibility and action, it builds confidence and helps contain the fallout.
Crisis Communication: You Can’t Afford to Wait
The “golden hour” of crisis communications no longer exists. Real-time images, social media speculation, deepfakes, and 24/7 global news cycles mean you must respond faster and smarter. Everyone is a citizen journalist and are broadcasting events in real-time. If you’re not prepared, you lose control of the narrative before it even starts.
You don’t need to have all the answers immediately. But you do need a plan, and you need to practice it. Holding statements, media protocols, internal alignment, and trained spokespeople empower your team to respond decisively, even in the first few minutes.
Importance of a Crisis Communication Plan
Most companies say they have a crisis communications plan. Few have one that is current, customised, and tested. A generic template won’t hold up in a real emergency, especially in highly regulated industries or when lives are at stake.
Global Crisis & Resilience Insights (PwC)
- 89% of business leaders worldwide consider resilience a top strategic priority, and 96% report experiencing a disruption in the past two years.
- Yet only 23% say their crisis or resilience functions are “very well integrated” across the organisation.
Source: PwC Global Crisis and Resilience Survey 2023–24
Kenyon Emergency Services work with clients across various industries including aviation, oil & gas, hospitality, manufacturing and governments to ensure they’re truly crisis ready.
Our approach includes:
- Risk-specific planning: Tailored communication protocols and response plans for your top operational threats
- Scenario-based training: Realistic simulations to test your team under pressure
- Executive readiness: Media and spokesperson training for board and C-suite leaders
- Prewritten response templates: For internal and external stakeholders
- Plan integration: Aligned with emergency management, legal, HR, and operations
- Debrief and improvement: Post-incident reviews to sharpen future response
Impact of Reputational Damage
Reputational damage can mean far more than a few bad headlines. It can trigger:
- Loss of investor and customer confidence
- Regulatory investigations and fines
- Litigation and settlements
- Executive turnover and difficulty in attracting new talent
Long-term brand damage resulting in the loss of market value and market share. We’ve seen organisation’s recover from tragedy with their reputations intact because they were prepared, and others falter because they weren’t prepared or acted in ways that deepened the crisis.
Consider Your Employee Perception
Internal audiences, your employees, can be your strongest ambassadors or your sharpest critics. In a crisis, they need clarity, direction, and reassurance. Silence or missteps inside your organisation can quickly spill outward and deepen the crisis.
Reputation Resilience Checklist
Resilience doesn’t begin during a crisis. It’s built through a thoughtful, strategic approach developed well in advance. When leadership takes crisis preparedness seriously, it sends a clear message: We are accountable. We care. We’re ready.
Ask yourself:
- Have we updated and tested our crisis communications plan in the last 12 months?
- Do we have issue-specific templates and holding statements ready to deploy?
- Are our spokespeople prepared to handle tough questions on short notice?
- Is our internal messaging aligned with what we’re saying externally?
- Do we know who approves what, and when, during a crisis?
- Are we tracking decisions, actions, and approvals in real time?
If you answered “no” or “not sure” to any of the above, it’s time to reassess your readiness.
Strengthen Your Reputation with Kenyon
Kenyon Emergency Services, specialists in international emergency services, help leadership teams take control of crisis moments before they spiral. From aviation accidents to whistle-blower claims, cybersecurity threats to product recalls, we’ve seen it all, and we know what works.
Preparedness is a choice. Make it now, so your organisation isn’t defined by the crisis, but by your leadership and resilience in the moments that matter most.
For further details on our crisis communications training and services, contact our team.