It’s not about whether you have a plan. It’s whether your radar is on before the storm hits.
Some companies say they have a crisis protocol the way people say they have a fire extinguisher at home: technically, yes. In practice, though, they’ve never checked if it works. They don’t know where it is. Or worse: it’s symbolic—there to tick a box.
The untested protocol is a corporate placebo. A ceremonial totem. A charming, formal PDF with bullet points and logos, proudly displayed in a drawer—one that no one opens until it’s too late. Like those bright red toy extinguishers children play with. They look the part. But they’re useless when things catch fire.
🟡 A crisis protocol isn’t a safety net. It’s a muscle. And if you don’t train it, it fails you.
The Schrödinger protocol
Having a protocol and never testing it is like Schrödinger’s cat: the protocol exists, but it doesn’t. You have a plan—until the moment something explodes, and the plan disappears. Or it’s opened for the first time, just as the first tweet is going viral.
That’s when the usual happens:
Someone says “We have a protocol”, and someone else says “Where is it?”
Someone reads it and says “We need to adapt this to the current crisis.”
Someone else says “We need a spokesperson”, and a new round of confusion begins: “Who trained for that? Who was designated for this?”
No one knows what to do. And those first three hours—the ones that matter—go by. In silence. Or worse: filled with contradictory responses.
Most organisations don’t react to a crisis. They freeze.
Not out of irresponsibility, but because they’ve never practised. And in a crisis, that’s fatal.
Some will say: “No plan survives first contact with reality.” Sure. But no reflex is built without training. If you’ve never done it, you don’t have it. That’s it.
Why simulate a crisis?
Because panic doesn’t show up on paper.
Because emails don’t recreate the pressure of real-time decisions.
Because no one improvises clarity under pressure—not even senior leadership.
🔵 “The simulation isn’t a waste of time. It’s where trust gets built—under pressure, but without scars.”
Yes, but…
Every management team has a good excuse:
| YES | BUT |
|---|---|
| We have a protocol | But it was made five years ago |
| We know who to call | But only the Communications Lead remembers that |
| We’ve drafted holding statements | But we never practised delivering them live |
| Our legal team is across it | But they’ve never sat in a simulation |
| We know who’s in charge | But we don’t know who speaks first |
So yes, you’ve got a protocol.
But if it hasn’t been tested, it might as well be fiction.
Like a plane that passed inspection—but no one’s ever flown it.
Let’s be honest: would you fly in it?
2025 is a live-fire exercise
Still think simulations are for banks and airlines?
Let’s talk about what a company like yours may face this year. Not hypotheticals. Not sci-fi. Just seven crisis scenarios that already exist and are accelerating:
1. Cyber incidents driven by generative AI
Not phishing emails. Not fake attachments. We’re talking AI-generated attacks capable of crafting realistic voice notes, deepfakes of senior leadership, or code that exploits dormant vulnerabilities in your stack. Today.
2. Geopolitical instability
Not the war. The economic aftermath. Supply chains, tariffs, blocked ports. If you thought globalisation was the rule, this is the exception: closed borders, blocked platforms, policies overnight.
3. Climate & energy breakdowns
What was “environmental risk” in ESG slides is now heatwaves, water shortages, power outages, and droughts disrupting operations, events, services.
4. Digital desertification
Artificial Intelligence eating the internet from the inside. Poor search results, floods of low-quality content, lack of visibility for genuine expertise. And suddenly, your communication channels stop working.
5. The backlash against climate action
The return of climate denialism, anti-DEI backlash, ideological attacks. Suddenly, a campaign to plant trees is a political act. And if you don’t answer fast, your silence says it all.
6. Localised radicalisation
Entire industries targeted by polarised communities: tourism, real estate, tech, finance. Not a trending topic—coordinated hostility.
7. The “yes, but” protocol
The one that exists on paper, but no one’s read. That doesn’t name roles or timelines. That lacks a dashboard, or a spokesperson, or digital monitoring.
The cost of improvisation
You know what happens next.
You don’t get hacked. You don’t burn. You don’t collapse.
You just look unprepared.
And in 2025, that’s enough to destroy trust.
The board asks for a report.
Communications are reactive.
Employees post contradictory statements.
You take 12 hours to respond to something that took 8 minutes to spread.
You lose clients. Or credibility. Or time.
Sometimes all three.
🟠 In crisis, clarity doesn’t come from having a plan. It comes from having run the plan—together.
The protocol isn’t the goal. Trust is.
Some companies want a protocol so they can say they have one. That’s fair.
But others want a protocol that works. That’s different.
One is a file.
The other is an organisational reflex.
You can tell the difference when you see them speak.
You can tell by the first tweet.
You can tell by the timing.
By the voice.
By the consistency.
By whether they’re waiting or acting.
💬 “We have a protocol.”
Fine. But have you ever tested it?
Do you know how your team would perform under stress?
Do you know if your chosen spokesperson can speak live, on record, with clarity?
Do you know who decides, when, and how?
Because if you don’t, you’re not ready.
So, again: do you have a protocol?
Brilliant.
But here’s the real question:
If tomorrow your CEO’s face appears in a deepfake video…
How fast do you respond?
With what voice?
And who decides what happens in the first 15 minutes?
That’s what we mean by crisis readiness.
Living protocols
At Polaris Management, we design living protocols. Not PDF documents for the drawer—but tools for action.
We build scenarios, test responses, train spokespeople, and monitor impact. Because when the next crisis hits, the difference won’t be having a protocol. It will be having already used it.
💡 Let’s talk now. Before the drill turns real.