Crisis Management Archives | Mangold Consultancy

9th November 202619th October 2026

5 critical gaps boards miss in crisis preparation

I’ve done a lot of work this year with boards on crisis preparation and management. And I’ve started to notice something consistent: the things they’re worried about and the things that actually matter in a crisis are often different.

Most boards have documentation. Clear plans. Detailed scenarios. They’ve put real thought into this. But there’s usually a gap between what’s on paper and what actually happens when pressure comes.

It’s not that the plans are bad. It’s just that certain things don’t get included because they’re harder to document. They’re messier. They require something different than writing a strategy. It’s almost as if boards are scared to put them on paper.

Over the years, I’ve seen boards miss the same five things. Repeatedly. And when I point them out, it’s a lightbulb moment..

Here’s what I’ve learned. Not to criticise what’s already been built. But because knowing the gap exists means you can actually do something about it.

If you want to bridge the gap between what is written on paper and how your leadership team performs under pressure, find out how our crisis planning and preparation services can support you.

2nd November 202619th October 2026

Crisis communication preparation is the person, not the document

Crisis Preparation Is The Person, Not The Document

After 15 years working in crisis communications, I still don’t understand why organisations get their crisis communication strategy so fundamentally wrong.

They spend weeks perfecting their crisis communication strategy. Assigning roles, mapping scenarios, documenting responses. The plan looks brilliant on paper.

Then something real happens and teams freeze. Not because the plan failed. Because they don’t actually trust each other when everything is moving fast.

I’ve watched crises unfold exactly as predicted in the document. Step by step, scenario covered, everything accounted for.

But if your team doesn’t know how decisions get made under pressure, if people haven’t practised being honest when the information is incomplete, if transparency isn’t already a habit the plan is just a document sitting in a folder.

Your board can have the perfect strategy. But strategy doesn’t execute itself. People do. And people only execute under pressure if they already trust each other and believe their leadership means what they’re saying.

The organisations that come through crises stronger don’t have better plans.

They have teams that already know how to work together when it matters.
Preparation is the person, not the document.

If you want to move beyond paper documents and prepare your leadership team to act with confidence under pressure, learn more about our crisis planning and preparation services.

26th October 202619th October 2026

Why your crisis communications plan will fail under pressure

Most organisations have a crisis communications plan that sits in a folder.

It covers scenarios, assigns roles, details responses. Then something real happens and they discover it was written for a different crisis entirely.

Here’s what I’ve observed: the boards who handle crises better don’t have better plans. They have built something long before the crisis arrives.

Transparency as an actual habit, not a response mechanism. Real relationships with stakeholders, not just contact lists. Clear decision-making processes their teams understand, because they’ve watched them operate in normal times.

When pressure comes, those teams don’t waste energy wondering if leadership believes what they’re saying. They don’t have to learn the system under crisis conditions. They move because the infrastructure is already there.

The boards that struggled had built all the tactical components. They had the right roles assigned, the right channels identified. What they hadn’t built was trust.

When the crisis hit, their teams didn’t know if leadership meant what they were saying. That uncertainty travelled faster than any communication could fix.

Preparation is the person, not the document. What have you actually built before the crisis that will hold when pressure comes?

If you want to ensure your organisation relies on real operational readiness rather than just a document on a shelf, discover how our crisis planning and preparation services can support your leadership team.

19th October 2026

When misinformation gets ahead of your crisis response

The lie spreads faster than the truth. And most crisis response plans still don’t account for it.

Something goes wrong. The organisation starts gathering facts, preparing a crisis response, checking legal, getting sign-off.

Whilst they’re doing that, someone posts their version of what happened. It’s wrong. Or partly wrong. Or missing context.

But it’s out there. And it spreads.

By the time the organisation releases their statement with the actual facts, thousands of people have already seen the false version. They’ve shared it.

They’ve formed an opinion based on it.

Now you’re not just managing the crisis. You’re fighting misinformation.

I’ve seen organisations spend more time correcting what didn’t happen than explaining what did. Entire crisis responses shaped by having to push back against false narratives instead of addressing the real issue.

The problem is speed. Misinformation moves fast. It doesn’t need to be checked. It doesn’t need sign-off. Someone sees something, makes an assumption, posts it. Done.

Your official response needs legal review, fact-checking, executive approval. By the time it’s ready, you’re already behind.

And here’s what makes it worse: correcting misinformation often amplifies it.

You issue a statement saying “reports of X are false” and now more people know about X.

Most crisis communication training doesn’t account for this. It assumes you control the narrative if you respond quickly and clearly.

You don’t. Not anymore.

The organisations that handle this well do two things.

They monitor what’s being said in real time not just traditional media, but Reddit, X, wherever their crisis is actually playing out. And they respond directly in those spaces, not just through official channels.
That feels uncomfortable. It means engaging with rumours before you have perfect information. It means responding in places where you can’t control the message.

But if you wait for perfect information, the misinformation wins.

The crisis isn’t just what happened. It’s what people believe happened. And if you’re not actively shaping that, someone else will.

If false narratives or social media speculation are moving faster than your team can respond, explore our social media crisis management services to see how we can help you stay ahead.

18th September 20268th July 2026

Taking my own medicine: The Navigating Crisis Comms panel

Abby Mangold at The Media Society's Navigating Crisis Comms panel at The Conduit

Taking my own medicine…

In April I took part in The Media Society’s Navigating Crisis Comms panel. It was pleasure to sit alongside Anoushka Mutanda Dougherty, Scott Langham and Simon McCoy who was chairing.

We took a deep dive into crisis, media & social media with some interesting and pertinent anecdotes from the whole panel.

Like many of the people we train, I also get nerves in the run-up to speaking. But I’m happy to report that lots of preparation (including being grilled by my teenage kids the night before) and some focused breathwork meant I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event.

Thanks also to Nigel Dacre, Sue Ellis, Alex Sinker, and Asha de Lanerolle at The Conduit for looking after all of us.

If you’d like to hear more about how we help people prepare for high-pressure conversations, whether that’s a panel, a press interview or a crisis, get in touch or find out more about our media training.

Join the discussion on LinkedIn »

4th September 20268th July 2026

Understanding crisis communication from a journalist’s perspective

PR Week - Burson Marsteller appoints Watchdog producer for crisis comms

Year: 2012. When I made the jump from BBC to crisis communications.

15 years producing undercover investigations for programmes like Watchdog taught me how journalists think, how they work and what they’re looking for when they ask questions.

That’s the foundation of everything I do now. Training spokespeople isn’t about teaching them to dodge questions, it’s about understanding what’s coming and being prepared for it.

The best crisis communicators I work with think like journalists. They know what the story is before the reporter does. They anticipate the follow-up questions. They understand what will get used and what won’t.

That doesn’t come from reading a media training handbook. It comes from knowing how the other side operates.

I’ve now run Mangold Consultancy for over a decade, but this is still where it all started: understanding crisis communication from the journalist’s perspective first.

If you’d like your spokespeople to think the way journalists do, not just prepare for them, get in touch to find out how our media training works, or learn more about the team behind Mangold Consultancy.

Media Training & Presentation Skills

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28th August 20268th July 2026

6 things I wish I knew starting out in crisis communications

If you’re starting out in crisis communications – welcome! Here are 6 things I wish someone had told me when I began.

I spent 15 years at the BBC before moving into crisis comms. These are the things that mattered most.

Journalists aren’t trying to trap you. They’re trying to file a story under deadline pressure.

The platform changes everything. What works on LinkedIn bombs on TikTok.
Crises don’t start where you think. They start in Reddit comments and Slack channels, days before the media calls.

Most media training still prepares you for TV/radio interviews. Short answers, tight messages, pivot back to your points. But podcasts are different – and most people don’t realise until they’re forty minutes in and still being asked follow-up questions.

Preparation matters more than the plan. The organisations that handle crises well have tested it with their people in a simulation.

Your job isn’t what you think. You’re not here to control the narrative. You’re here to be credible when everything else is chaos.

6 things I wish I knew starting out in crisis communications

Whether you’re new to crisis communications or looking to sharpen your team’s approach, we can help you build the muscle memory that matters. Get in touch to find out more about our training and crisis planning services.

Crisis Management

Media Training & Presentation Skills

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14th August 20268th July 2026

What 15 years at the BBC taught me about crisis communications

I spent 15 years at the BBC making undercover programmes like Watchdog, before moving into crisis communications.

Programmes that required journalists and lawyers and Directors of Communications all wanting different things. All under deadline pressure. All wanting to protect something – the story, the legal position, the organisation.

That’s not so different from crisis communications. You’re just wearing different hats.

The undercover work taught me how to stay calm when things are moving fast. How to manage difficult conversations with people who are angry or scared. How to balance competing interests when there’s no perfect answer.

In a crisis, you need both sides. You need the journalist’s instinct to know what the real story is. And you need the comms person’s discipline to think about how it lands with your audience.

Curious about the team behind Mangold Consultancy and how that background shapes our approach to crisis work? Get in touch, or find out more about our crisis management services.

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31st July 20268th July 2026

Why crisis communications orthodoxy no longer works

I wrote an article for The Media Society on why crisis communications orthodoxy is no longer working.

The old rulebook assumes crises happen one at a time. That you’ll have time to establish facts, gather your team, and carefully plan your response. That internal comms will reach employees before they see it on X.

None of that is true anymore.

I’ve watched this pattern in dozens of simulations: organisations handle the first crisis competently. Then we introduce a second issue twenty minutes later: a regulatory inquiry whilst managing employee grievances, social media escalation coinciding with media pressure. The collapse happens predictably.

The problem isn’t the plan. It’s that we’ve prepped for an environment that no longer exists.

Crisis communications now happens in a permacrisis era where disparate crises interact, where misinformation spreads six times faster than truth, where one social media post can catapult you into immediate crisis mode.

Documents can’t think. They can’t adapt to unanticipated conditions. It’s people who manage a crisis, and they need to be ready.

What needs to change:

Practice with your people regularly
Use tech as your 24/7 team member for monitoring
Simplify – decision-making committees are the enemy in a crisis
Prepare spokespeople for difficult questions, not the ones they’d like to be asked
Own your social media spaces before the crisis hits

The full article is on The Media Society Substack.

If your crisis plan still assumes one issue at a time, it may be worth pressure testing it against something closer to reality. Get in touch to talk about crisis planning and preparation, or find out more about running a simulation with your team.

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24th July 20268th July 2026

AI changed crisis communications, but not the playbook

The crisis communications playbook hasn’t been rewritten. But the distribution model has. Here’s what changed in the last twelve months, and what it means for crisis communications in 2026.

If you’re not sure how your organisation would show up if someone asked ChatGPT or Perplexity about you mid-crisis, that’s worth finding out before you need to. Get in touch to talk through how prepared you are.

Join the discussion on LinkedIn »

17th July 20268th July 2026

Why blaming the PR team is a warning sign, not a strategy

Blaming the PR team has become a bit of a trend. And it’s getting predictable.

You know things aren’t going well when the PR advisors are in the news.

BrewDog’s founder: “My responses always came from PR advisers.”
Trump: “Maybe you have bad public relations people.”
IOC President at a closing press conference: “I’m really looking at my team and maybe someone needs to be dismissed.”

The pattern is always the same. Something doesn’t land. The public aren’t buying it. And suddenly it’s the Comms team’s fault for not “messaging it better.”

Never mind that we said it wouldn’t work. Never mind that we flagged exactly what would happen. Never mind that some things genuinely cannot be spun.

It’s just easier to blame the people who had to explain it than admit the thing itself was the problem.

But here’s what nobody says out loud: good PR advisors tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And sometimes what you need to hear is “this is going to be difficult.”

When that advice gets ignored and it does, in fact, turn into a disaster, well, apparently that’s still the PR’s fault.

The PR team didn’t create the crisis. We just got stuck explaining it. And sometimes you can’t comms your way out of a crisis.

Next time you see a leader pointing at their communications team, just remember: you know things really aren’t going well when the people behind the scenes become the story.

If you want communications advice that’s built to stand up under real pressure, not just sound good in the room, get in touch to find out how we work with leadership teams before, during and after a crisis.

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10th July 20268th July 2026

14 years in crisis communications: 6 lessons that matter

I’ve spent 14 years in crisis communications. Here are the 6 things I think matter most.

1. People manage crises not plans

I’ve watched organisations with brilliant crisis protocols completely fall apart because the person who needed to use them had never opened the document.

The CEO freezes when asked a basic question. The spokesperson defaults to jargon. The plan was perfect. The people weren’t ready.

Documents can’t think. They can’t adapt when something unexpected happens. People manage crises. And if they haven’t practiced, the plan won’t save them.

2. Credibility beats control every time

You can’t control what gets posted about you. You can’t control how fast misinformation spreads. You definitely can’t control the narrative once it’s out there.

What you can control: whether people believe you when you finally respond.

And much of that is built before the crisis hits, not during it.

3. Spokespeople need muscle memory, not talking points

One media training session doesn’t work.

People need to practice answering the challenging questions repeatedly until the response is instinctive. Out loud. Under pressure. With someone pushing back on their answers.

That’s the only thing that holds up when a journalist asks “Are you saying the customer is wrong?” and you have two seconds to respond.

4. Speed matters more than legal perfection

I get it. Legal needs to review. But by the time your statement clears three rounds of edits, thousands of people have already formed opinions based on something false.

Sometimes fast and good enough beats slow and perfect.

Not always, but typically more often than most organisations realise.

5. Monitor where crises actually start

Not The Times. Not the BBC.

Reddit threads. Industry forums. Discord servers.

That’s where your crisis is building whilst you’re watching traditional media and thinking everything’s fine.

I’ve seen this pattern repeat: the issue’s been spreading on Reddit for three days before it crosses over to X, then journalists notice, then your CEO finds out.

By then, you’re not managing the crisis. You’re fighting misinformation.

6. Pattern recognition is the real skill

I’ve run many crisis simulations. The pattern is often the same.

Organisations handle the first issue competently. Decision-making works. Communications activate. Then we introduce a second issue twenty minutes later.

The collapse happens predictably.

The crisis team becomes a bottleneck. Spokespeople freeze. Internal comms fail because employees are getting contradictory information.

That’s what you need to prepare for. Not one crisis. But at least two happening simultaneously.

14 years between these photos. Still learning.

If your organisation hasn’t pressure-tested its crisis response, now is a good time to start. Get in touch to talk through how prepared your team really is, or find out more about our crisis management and media training services.

Join the discussion on LinkedIn »

18th June 202618th March 2026

Why the wait and see approach is a dangerous crisis strategy

“Let’s wait and see if this becomes a problem before we respond.”

I’ve heard this line in a few crisis meetings.

And every single time, it’s the wrong call.

Because by the time you know it’s a problem, it’s already a bigger problem than it needed to be.

Here’s what actually happens when organisations “wait and see.”

Hour one: A story appears. It’s small. Manageable. You decide to monitor it.
Hour three: It’s been shared a few hundred times. Still not major. “Let’s see where this goes.”
Hour six: A journalist has called. Someone in your team has said “no comment” because nobody briefed them on what to say.
Hour twelve: The silence is now the story. Your competitors are being asked to comment on your situation.
Day two: You finally issue a statement. It’s good. It’s measured. It’s completely irrelevant because everyone has already decided what this means.

The problem with “wait and see” is that it assumes doing nothing is neutral. It’s not.

Silence is a decision. And in a crisis, it’s usually the wrong one.

I’m not saying you need a full statement in hour one.

But you do need a position. And you need your people to know what it is before a journalist calls and puts them on the spot.

The organisations that manage crises well aren’t the ones with perfect statements.

They’re the ones who have a strategy, made a decision early and stuck to it.

“Wait and see” isn’t caution.

It’s just hoping it goes away.

It won’t.

Being proactive is the key to successful reputation management. If you want to move beyond a “wait and see” culture and develop a robust response plan, explore our crisis planning and preparation services.

21st May 202618th March 2026

Why you should stop using filler language in a crisis statement

“We take this very seriously.” If I had a pound for every time I’ve read that sentence in a crisis statement, I could retire.

It appears in almost every apology. Every incident response. Every difficult announcement.

And it means absolutely nothing.

Because of course you take it seriously.

Nobody issues a statement saying “we’re treating this with complete indifference.”

The phrase exists to fill space whilst saying nothing at all.

What people actually want to know is not whether you’re taking it seriously.

They want to know what you’re doing about it.

Specifically. With timelines.

“We’re reviewing the incident” tells me nothing.
“We’ve suspended the individual involved and launched an independent review, which will report findings by the end of March” tells me everything.

One sounds serious.

The other is actually serious.

I understand why the phrase keeps appearing. It feels safe. It sounds concerned. It’s hard for anyone to argue with.

But that’s exactly the problem.

It’s designed not to be argued with which means it’s also designed not to mean anything.

The organisations I work with who get crisis communications right have learned to stop using placeholder language entirely.

They’ve realised that the gap between “we’re taking this seriously” and “here’s exactly what we’re doing” is the gap between managing a crisis and prolonging one.

Strip out the filler.

Say what you’re actually doing.

The rest is just noise.

Vague language can prolong a crisis rather than resolve it. If you need help drafting clear, impactful communications that protect your reputation, explore our crisis management services.

14th May 202618th March 2026

Are our people ready? Why practical preparation is vital for spokespeople

I’ve been doing this work for over 25 years now, and the conversations I have with new clients almost always start with the same question: “Are our people ready?”

They ring because something is happening or about to happen that needs a spokesperson.

A product launch.
A difficult announcement.
An interview opportunity.
Sometimes a crisis that’s already started.

And the underlying question is always: “Are our people ready for this?”

Not “do they have the key messages.”

Are they ready? Can they handle the difficult questions without sounding evasive? Do they know where a journalist is heading before they get there? Can they sound like themselves under pressure not like a script?

If the answer to any of those is “I’m not sure,” that’s when we start working together.

Most of the work I do falls into three areas.

Media training preparing spokespeople to handle interviews, difficult questions and high-pressure moments without sounding robotic or exposed.
Crisis communications working alongside leadership teams when something has happened that needs managing carefully and quickly.
Executive profiling helping senior leaders find their voice, which holds up under scrutiny.

It’s not theoretical work.

Instead, it’s practical, it’s rehearsal, it’s watching yourself back and seeing exactly what needs fixing before the moment actually matters.

If you’re in that position, where you’ve got people who need to be ready and you’re not entirely sure they are, that’s the work we do.

And it’s worth getting it right.

If you have an upcoming announcement or a difficult conversation on the horizon, don’t leave your reputation to chance. Explore our corporate communications services to see how we can help your leaders find their voice.

30th April 202618th March 2026

How to create an internal crisis brief when you don’t have all the answers

After my last post, a couple of people asked: “Right, but what does an internal crisis brief actually look like when we don’t have all the answers yet?”

Fair question.

Because the instinct is to wait until everything is confirmed, signed off, and legally approved.

But by that time, your people have already formed their own version of what’s happening.

And it’s almost always worse than the reality.

I’ve used this structure with clients for years. It’s not complicated. It’s not perfect.

But it works when you need to brief your team quickly and honestly, even when you’re still piecing things together yourself.

Save this. You’ll need it the next time something breaks before you’re ready.

Keeping your team informed during a period of uncertainty is the best way to protect your company culture. For expert support in developing your internal and external response plans, take a look at our crisis planning and preparation services.

23rd April 202618th March 2026

Why your external statement shouldn’t be the first thing your staff see

Your employees found out about the crisis from X rather than from your own external statement.

And now you’re wondering why the internal mood feels… off

This happens more than organisations want to admit.

A crisis breaks. The comms team scrambles. Legal gets involved. The CEO needs to sign off. Hours pass.

And whilst everyone is perfecting the external statement, the people inside your building are already talking.

They’re in WhatsApp groups. They’re messaging each other. They’re refreshing the news.

And they’re wondering why nobody has told them anything.

I learned this the hard way many years ago.

A client issued a brilliant external statement. Thoughtful. Measured. Exactly right.

But their own team found out at the same time as everyone else.

The statement was fine. The damage was already done.

Because when your people hear it from the outside first, they stop feeling like insiders and in a crisis, they should be your ambassadors.

And that feeling doesn’t go away quickly.

Here’s the bit nobody wants to hear: your employees are your first audience.

Not your last.

Brief them first. Even if the brief is “here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know yet, here’s when you’ll hear from us next.”

That’s still infinitely better than silence.

Because the external statement might protect your reputation.

But how you treat your people in the first hour is what protects your culture.

Protecting your culture is just as important as protecting your brand during a crisis. If you need help developing a robust communication plan for both internal and external audiences, please explore our crisis planning services.

9th April 202618th March 2026

Why saying no comment is a risk to your reputation

Using “no comment” might feel like a safe option, but these two words are often anything but.

I spent years on the other side of this as a journalist. And I can tell you exactly what “no comment” communicates to the person asking the question.

It says you have something to hide.

It says the story just got more interesting.

Because journalists don’t hear “no comment” and move on.

They hear “keep digging, there’s something here.”

I understand why organisations default to it. Nobody has briefed the spokesperson. Legal hasn’t signed off. The full picture isn’t clear yet.

But there is always something you can say.

“We’re aware of the situation and we’re looking into it urgently.”
“We’ll have a full response by [time]. Here’s what we can confirm right now.”
“This matters to us and we’re working on the response this situation rightly deserves.”

None of these expose you.

All of them are infinitely better than two words that tell the world you’ve got something to hide.

“No comment” isn’t a communications strategy.

It’s the absence of one.

Handling a media enquiry correctly can make the difference between a resolved issue and a full-blown crisis. If you need help developing a clear communications strategy, please explore our crisis management services.

26th March 202618th March 2026

How to apologise publicly and rebuild trust with your audience

If you ever have to apologise publicly, most people get it wrong for the same reason.

Because the moment pressure hits, language changes.

Sentences get longer. Legal instinct kicks in. The focus quietly shifts from the people affected, to the organisation doing the apologising.

And the people reading it feel it immediately.

I’ve reviewed hundreds of public apologies over the years. The ones that rebuild trust and the ones that make things significantly worse.

The difference almost always comes down to four things.

Not the words themselves.

The structure behind them.

I’ve put it into a framework I use with clients before any public apology goes out.

One test I always come back to: say it out loud, as if you’re speaking directly to the person affected.

If it doesn’t sound like something you’d say face-to-face, it won’t land as sincere.

Save this. You’ll need it.

Knowing how to apologise publicly is essential for your reputation. If you need strategic advice, please explore our crisis management services.

19th March 202618th March 2026

Why spokesperson preparation is the most important part of a crisis response

Most organisations spend hours perfecting a statement but overlook spokesperson preparation.

They then hand that statement to someone who has often not seen it before that morning, and wonder why the interview doesn’t land.

A statement is only as strong as the person delivering it. Which means spokesperson preparation isn’t optional, it’s the most important part of your entire crisis response.

Over the years, I’ve developed a pre-interview brief I give every spokesperson before they face a journalist.

Not a script. Not a list of things to avoid. Rather, a brief that means they walk into that interview knowing exactly where they stand.

This is it.

A strong statement is only effective if the person delivering it is ready for the pressure of a journalist’s questions. If you need to ensure your leaders are fully prepared, find out more about our media training and preparation services.