A few years ago, I’d taken a leadership role with a new communications team. After a month or so on the job, I asked the senior team members to participate in a table-top crisis drill, just so I could understand the processes and protocols built into the team’s crisis response plan.

I introduced the first “event” for this crisis drill – which essentially indicated we did not have access to the corporate headquarters building to which we reported each day. My first question: where/how do we convene this team?

It wasn’t just a dead silence that followed. It was that – plus a bit of embarrass-ment – and a dash of humiliation. I didn’t create a crisis drill with any of this in mind – especially this fast. I figured it would be three or four “events” into the process before we hit a snag around who to engage or how to reach a set of stakeholders.

I’m often perplexed by how seldom communications teams test their crisis response capabilities. Usually, I hear rationales like, “We work crises every day. We know how to handle crises.” I infer from those kinds of comments that comms professionals have dissected more common kinds of issues that – if not addressed – would damage reputation and harm the business in material ways. This is a good thing.

But I never walk away with the feeling that they’ve anticipated some of the other — really basic – things that show a communications team humming in synch.  It’s the stuff – when overlooked – that makes a team look like it never thought about crisis response.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that no team can prepare for every potential crisis, and that every real crisis is different. But I do think every team should have a core set of capabilities in place. So, with that in mind, here’s a list of ‘must-haves’ that every communications teams should test — long before the spit hits the fan, so to speak.

• Say it together: redundancies are good: Murphy’s law says that no one is ever sitting at his or her desk when a real crisis hits. Crisis communications response roles need to be clear, but every member needs more than one role so that there are backfills in place for the most critical jobs. Go three-deep and build redundancies into your role planning. And while you’re at it, apply the redundancy factor to key processes and protocols, too. Cell phones won’t be working, emails won’t go through and text messages will be lost
• Inside and outside together: Mr. or Ms. Internal Communicator, this is for you, too. It doesn’t matter if you do benefits communications, org comms or any other type of communications designed for internal stakeholders. The fact is that crisis response often is driven by external communications professionals. Sometimes the internal stakeholder is overlooked or downplayed. Both are equally important, and crisis response plans should be built – AND TESTED – by an integrated team of professionals.
• Test often: Anytime a communications pro hears “often,” it’s usually met with rolled eyes and a response like “sure, right.”  But an investment in building crisis response is one of the most important a team can make. The full team should do two to three table top drills a year (no more than an hour in duration), and a full-scale, real-time drill should be part of the department plan every 12-18 months. In between, sub functions should test their own capabilities (command center set up; notification systems,  internal communications etc).  I also found that rotational assignments to develop and execute the crisis drills keeps key players engaged in a more positive way.
• Anticipate big issues – With all due respect to my colleagues who view themselves as daily masters of crises, I’d suggest that team leaders really think through some of the more potentially dangerous crises that are specific to the business – things like corporate malfeasance, physical/high visibility problems (explosions, power-related issues); technology driven problems (cyber attacks) and risks around diversity related to employees, contractors etc. This, by no means, is a complete list, but it’s a good start to thinking through the big ones that can wreak havoc on businesses and brands.
• Oh, don’t forget locations (and tools): Technology certainly helps teams manage crises more effectively from remote locations, but don’t forget to build tests that include locations being closed and tools not being available (eg no power/internet access at home = no access to critical tools); building in redundancies for these issues will help address some of the most overlooked capabilities that comms teams need.
• Attitude adjustment, please – this is about making us all look better: Perhaps the biggest challenge with testing ourselves on crisis response capabilities is shifting attitudes away from fear (discovering we suck at something) and toward building something better.  I’ve discovered the more a team works at testing and building, the less crisis testing becomes about fear of being exposed.  Conversely, the less time and energy a team spends on self testing, the more fearful it becomes with drills – and justifiably so. And the embarrassment goes much further than a table top drill with peers, if you catch my drift.