Easing the Pressure: Tools and Tips for Crisis Communication Teams

Published on February 26, 2025 by Erik Rolfsen

Erik Rolfsen is a senior member of the University of British Columbia’s media relations team and a former news editor in Western Canada’s largest newsroom.

Ask anyone who’s managed crisis communications, and they’ll tell you: the stress isn’t just about the issue itself. It’s about not knowing. Not knowing where the latest media inquiry was logged. Not knowing if your CEO just answered a journalist’s question off the cuff. Not knowing if the team is aligned on messaging—or if multiple people are giving conflicting responses to different audiences.

When things are moving fast, mistakes happen that can snowball into bigger problems.

Crisis communications isn’t just about crafting the right message; it’s about controlling the flow of information under immense pressure. When information is scattered—across emails, Slack messages, spreadsheets and hastily forwarded notes—the pressure mounts, and small mistakes can snowball into bigger problems.

But there’s a way to reduce that stress, improve outcomes and give crisis teams the confidence they need to respond quickly and consistently: centralized systems—a centralized hub for all external comms and messaging!

Crisis Communication Without a System: A Recipe for Chaos

Let’s take a step back and look at what happens when crisis communication teams don’t have a centralized system.

Imagine a high-profile issue breaks. The press is calling. Social media is exploding. Leadership is looking for immediate answers. Your team is working hard, but the tools you’re using aren’t keeping up:

Emails are flying—but no one is sure who has responded to what.
Spreadsheets are being updated manually, but versions are getting out of sync.
Multiple team members are fielding media inquiries, but they don’t have access to the latest approved messaging.
Leadership wants a real-time update, but gathering the information means pulling reports from different sources, checking team chats, and manually compiling a summary—wasting valuable time.

The result? Missed messages, inconsistent statements and more stress for everyone involved.

This isn’t a rare scenario. It’s exactly what happens in organizations that try to manage crisis communications without a system built for high-pressure situations.

Why Centralized Systems Make All the Difference

Crisis communication is a game of speed, accuracy and coordination. The faster you can assess a situation, align messaging and track responses, the better your chances of controlling the narrative. A centralized hub gives teams the structure they need to do that effectively.

Here’s how:

1. A Single Source of Truth for All Media Interactions

When every media inquiry, response and key message is logged in one place, teams instantly have visibility into what’s happening. No more chasing down email threads or wondering if a journalist has already been contacted.

2. Immediate Access to the Latest Messaging

In a crisis, messaging evolves as new information comes in. A centralized system ensures that everyone—from the media relations team to executives—has access to the most up-to-date, approved statements.

3. Reduced Risk of Inconsistent or Contradictory Responses

When multiple people are handling media inquiries, it’s easy for responses to become inconsistent. A centralized system makes sure that every journalist hears the same, aligned message, reducing reputational risk.

4. Real-Time Situation Awareness

Leadership doesn’t want to wait hours for an update—they need insights now. With a centralized system, teams can pull real-time reports on media activity, sentiment and outreach without scrambling for data.

5. Less Cognitive Load, More Strategic Thinking

Crisis response isn’t just about moving fast—it’s about making smart decisions. When teams aren’t bogged down by manual tracking and scattered communication, they can focus on strategy, message refinement and anticipating next steps.

Practical Tips to Reduce Stress in a Crisis

Whether your team has a centralized system in place or is still relying on scattered tools, these best practices can help reduce stress and improve crisis outcomes:

1. Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities

Before a crisis hits, define who is responsible for:

Logging and tracking media inquiries.
Approving messaging updates.
Providing real-time situation reports to leadership.

Having a clear chain of command reduces confusion when time is of the essence.

2. Standardize Your Media Response Process

Create a simple, repeatable workflow for responding to media inquiries. This might include:

Logging inquiries in a shared system immediately.
Assigning ownership to a specific team member.
Using pre-approved messaging templates that can be quickly customized.

3. Keep Key Messaging and FAQs Easily Accessible

During a crisis, everyone should be working from the same playbook. Store updated messaging in a place where all relevant team members can access it instantly—whether it’s a shared document, internal wiki or centralized tracking platform.

4. Run Crisis Response Drills

The best time to stress-test your system is before a real crisis happens. Conduct regular drills to simulate crisis scenarios, test response workflows and refine processes before they’re needed in a live situation.

5. Invest in a System That Works Under Pressure

A well-designed centralized hub does more than just store information—it makes it usable in real time. Whether it’s an internal dashboard, a PR management tool or a full crisis response platform, having a reliable system in place means less scrambling and more control when it matters most.

Final Thoughts

Crisis communication teams deal with some of the highest-pressure situations in any organization. The difference between staying in control and getting overwhelmed often comes down to how well information is managed and shared.

Scattered systems create stress, increase errors and slow teams down when they can least afford it. Centralized systems, on the other hand, give teams the structure, clarity and confidence they need to respond effectively.

That’s something we’ve seen firsthand. The more crisis teams we’ve worked with, the clearer it’s become: When every second counts, the right system makes all the difference.

It’s why we built Broadsight Tracker—to make it easier for teams to track media inquiries, align messaging and manage crisis response seamlessly. We know from experience that having the right information at the right time isn’t just convenient—it’s essential. Because when the pressure is on, the teams that stay ahead are the ones who know exactly where to look.

Download our free Crisis Communications Checklist and equip your team with the tools to respond confidently when seconds count—tools that we built into Broadsight Tracker.