Employees and critical partners must hear the basics before the public to avoid contradictions. Share a single source of truth, talk tracks, and timing so frontline teams answer consistently.
What should employees receive before the first external statement posts?
A long memo without action items
The press release after it’s live
A brief with key facts, where to send inquiries, and a link to the source-of-truth hub
Nothing, to reduce leak risk
Which internal channel is most reliable for urgent all-hands alignment?
An optional town hall next week
A calendar invite with no context
A personal post on a private social account
A coordinated email + chat post linking to the status page, sent from the incident owner
What should a talk-track document include for managers?
Marketing campaign goals for the quarter
Unverified rumours to answer tough questions
Only a link to the public page with no guidance
Do/Do-not say lists, key Q&A, and the next-update time
Which sequencing avoids staff learning about the crisis from the media first?
Brief only executives and assume cascades happen
Publish externally and email staff later that day
Hold all internal updates until regulators publish
Send the internal brief moments before scheduling external posts
What should you do if some details are still uncertain before going public?
Fill gaps with best guesses to avoid questions
Delay all internal comms until everything is confirmed
Tell teams to monitor social media for updates
Share only verified facts internally and add placeholders with the next-update time
Which measure protects sensitive data while aligning staff?
Grant edit access to everyone for speed
Limit distribution of drafts and apply legal holds where needed
Paste incident logs into company-wide chat
Share customer PII to explain impact
How should support and sales teams be prepared before external posts go live?
Encourage offering discounts to calm complaints
Tell them to avoid responding until further notice
Ask them to write replies in their own words
Provide macros and approved responses that link to the hub
Which metric best indicates internal alignment is working in the first hours?
Low rate of contradictory replies from staff across channels
Views on the CEO’s post
Number of meetings scheduled
Total volume of internal chat messages
What is the best practice for syncing legal constraints with internal comms?
Include legal in the incident bridge and annotate talk tracks with restricted topics
Let legal review at the very end
Share legal guidance verbally only
Copy past guidance from a different incident
After the first external wave, what should internal comms do?
Go silent to reduce noise
Start a celebratory thread
Send a recap with what changed, what’s next, and where to find authoritative updates
Invite speculation to crowdsource answers
Starter
Build your core skills: message discipline, realistic drills, and consistent internal cascades.
Solid
Strong fundamentals—tighten timing, localisation, and evidence-backed updates.
Expert!
Excellent command—your spokes, drills, and cascades are battle-tested.
