When a crisis hits, most organisations rush to focus on tools, plans and communication. But in reality, it’s your people who determine the outcome. They’re the ones who need to interpret the situation, make decisions and take action.
The question isn’t whether you have the right people. The question is whether you’ve given them the right conditions to succeed.
1. Crisis readiness starts with understanding – not systems
In order to act during a crisis, people need to understand what’s expected of them. It sounds obvious – but it’s often the first thing to break down.
Here are five simple questions every leadership team should be able to answer with a clear ‘yes’:
- Do our people understand the risks and scenarios that could affect us?
- Are roles and responsibilities in a crisis clear and familiar to them?
- Do we have a plan for how to manage staffing if operations are disrupted?
- Do employees know where to find our crisis plan, what’s in it and when to use it?
- Have we provided basic training in how to recognise a crisis and respond to it?
If you hesitate with any of these, that’s where your focus should be. No system or document can make up for a workforce that doesn’t know what to do.
2. Presence is not capability
Just having people available isn’t enough. They need to know their roles, be empowered to act and understand what matters most – even when information is incomplete or time is short.
This goes beyond an org chart. It requires preparation, practice and clarity of ownership.
Ask yourself:
- Have we appointed the right individuals to take lead roles in different situations?
- Do they know how to act under uncertain conditions and time pressure?
- Have we actually trained them – or just assumed they’ll ‘work it out for themselves’?
Capability doesn’t come from titles. It comes from training, experience and trust in the system.
3. The organisations that perform in crisis have already done the work
The best-performing organisations don’t rely on plans alone in a crisis. They rely on people who are prepared.
Some clear signs of maturity:
- New staff are introduced to crisis procedures from day one
- Responsibility is distributed – not centralised with a few experts
- Support functions (HR, comms, operations) know how to contribute under pressure
- Decisions can be made without waiting for senior leadership – because trust, structures and mandates are already in place
This isn’t about personality. It’s about priorities.
4. Leadership’s job isn’t to solve everything – it’s to make sure others can act
It’s easy for leadership teams to get drawn into the details: who said what, what does the plan say, has that message gone out? But your real role is to build an organisation that can respond without needing constant direction from the top.
You need to ensure:
- That your people know what’s expected when things get serious
- That roles and decision rights are agreed ahead of time – not negotiated mid-crisis
- That your organisation has tested its readiness – not just assumed it exists
Crisis capability isn’t something you own. It’s something you earn through preparation.
Build people-based crisis capability
With Murphy’s platform you get direct access to The Crisis Framework (TCF), a structured self-assessment and training tool that helps you answer the hard questions:
- Do our people know what’s expected of them in a crisis?
- Are roles and responsibilities clear – and tested?
- Have we trained beyond the org chart, so capability isn’t just assumed?
Sign up for free and get your baseline today, so your people can act with confidence when it matters.