Most organizations discover their crisis preparedness gaps during the crisis... not before.
This diagnostic assesses your readiness across four pillars and estimates what unpreparedness is likely to cost if a crisis hits.
69%
of executives have experienced a crisis in the last 5 years — PwC Global Crisis Survey
4.7×
more damage to organizations with no crisis plan vs. those with one — Burson-Marsteller
3 wks
average time to build a crisis-ready communications plan with structured support
Your Organization
Provide context for the cost model.
Total employees
120 people
101,000
Annual revenue
$8M / yr
$500K$50M
Crisis Preparedness Diagnostic
Twelve questions across four pillars. Answer based on where you are today.
A difficult honest answer now is far less painful than discovering the gap during a live crisis. Answer what is true, not what you intend to put in place.
Pillar 1 — Crisis Communications Plan
01
Does your organization have a written crisis communications plan?
A documented plan — not an informal understanding of who calls whom
02
Has your crisis plan been reviewed or tested in the past 18 months?
A simulation, tabletop exercise, or structured review — not just filing it away
03
Do you have pre-approved holding statements and message templates ready to deploy?
For your most likely crisis scenarios — not written from scratch under pressure
Pillar 2 — Decision-Making & Escalation
04
Is there a clearly designated crisis response team with defined roles?
Named individuals — not just "leadership" — with specific responsibilities in a crisis
05
Is there a defined decision-making authority for crisis situations — who can approve and release communications?
Clear escalation path with a single decision-maker, not a committee that requires consensus under pressure
06
Could your organization maintain core operations if your primary leadership was unavailable for 48–72 hours?
Documented backup decision-making, not just informal understanding
Pillar 3 — Stakeholder Management
07
Do you have a current, accessible contact list for all key stakeholders — board, major clients, partners, regulators, and media?
Not in someone's email — a maintained, shared, accessible list
08
Does your organization have a media spokesperson prepared and trained for a crisis?
Someone who has received media training and is prepared to speak on record under pressure
09
Have you mapped and prioritized stakeholders by communication sequence for a crisis scenario?
Who hears what, in what order — board before press, employees before social media
Pillar 4 — Recovery & Continuity Planning
10
Does your organization have a business continuity plan that covers your highest-risk scenarios?
A documented plan for maintaining operations through the most likely disruptions to your business
11
Do you have a defined reputational recovery process — including a post-crisis review and communications reset?
A plan for what happens after the immediate crisis — rebuilding trust, not just going silent
12
Has your organization experienced a crisis or significant reputational incident in the past three years?
An incident that required unplanned stakeholder communications, media response, or legal involvement
0 of 12 answered
Your Crisis Readiness Level
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—
Communications Plan —
Decision-Making —
Stakeholder Management —
Recovery & Continuity —
Estimated crisis exposure cost
—
Estimated financial impact if a medium-severity crisis occurs at your current readiness level — based on revenue impact, recovery costs, and reputational damage multipliers
Program investment vs. exposure
—
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Priority actions — based on your weakest pillars
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A crisis you're not prepared for will cost more than the preparation ever would have.
Crisis-Ready builds the plan, the team structure, and the communications assets your organization needs before you need them. A free Clarity Call is where it starts.
Methodology: Readiness scoring based on 12 Y/N questions across four pillars (max 12 points). Crisis exposure cost model: PwC Global Crisis Survey estimates unmanaged crises cost organizations 15–30% of annual revenue in immediate revenue impact, plus recovery costs estimated at 5–15% of annual revenue depending on severity. Combined multiplier scales from 5% (ready) to 42% of annual revenue (unprepared) based on preparedness level. Q12 (prior incident) is an informational question only — a prior incident does not change the score, but it is used to personalize the recommendations. Individual results will vary significantly by industry, crisis type, and context.
This diagnostic helps organizations assess how prepared they are to respond when a crisis hits. It reviews four practical readiness areas: communications planning, decision-making and escalation, stakeholder management, and recovery or continuity planning.
Crisis communications planning: Checks whether the organization has a written plan, recent testing, and message templates that can be used under pressure.
Decision-making and escalation: Reviews whether response roles, approval authority, and backup leadership coverage are clear before a crisis occurs.
Stakeholder and recovery readiness: Assesses contact lists, spokesperson preparation, communication sequencing, continuity planning, and post-crisis recovery steps.
The exposure estimate is directional and uses the organization's revenue and readiness level to show why practical preparation can reduce the cost and disruption of a future crisis.