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As an APR and nonprofit crisis communications leader, I’ve spent much of my career navigating moments when the stakes are high and the pressure is immediate.
In the nonprofit sector, a crisis is never just a reputational challenge. It can threaten public trust, destabilize internal teams, disrupt fundraising, and ultimately divert attention from the mission itself. That is why strong crisis leadership matters so much, and why this work requires real expertise. I have learned that crisis communications is not just about what you say. It is about how you lead. And the best crisis leadership is calm, strategic, and rooted in preparedness.
Leadership under pressure
I have spent a lot of my career in moments when things are not going as planned. A story breaks unexpectedly. A situation escalates quickly. A decision needs to be made before you have all the details. People are looking for answers, and you can feel the pressure rising in real time.
That is what crisis communications really is. It is not just writing a statement or managing the press. It is leading when the stakes are high and the room is loud. It protects trust within your organization while building credibility outside it. And if you are the lead communicator, it is often your job to be the steady voice, even when you do not yet have a full picture.
Bring order to chaos
One of the first things I have experienced is that a crisis does not just test the strength of your messaging. It tests the strength of your leadership. The best crisis communicators are not the ones who speak the fastest. They are the ones who can stay calm, listen closely, and move people toward clarity. They bring structure to chaos. They slow the moment down just enough to prevent avoidable mistakes, while still moving with urgency.
In the early hours of a crisis, people will want to fill the silence. They will want to guess. They will want to respond emotionally. They will want to defend the organization, or they will want to disappear. And if you are not careful, you can end up with a response built on pressure rather than strategy.
Listen before you lead
This is why I believe the most important thing a lead communicator can do at the beginning of a crisis is not to talk. It is to listen.
Listening is not passive. It is a skill. It is how you get to the truth faster. It is how you understand what is actually happening and what people are really reacting to. You listen to your internal teams because they often see risks that leadership has not considered yet. You listen to leadership because you need to understand what they are worried about and what they are willing to do. You listen to the public conversation because it tells you what people are assuming, what they are afraid of, and what narrative is forming.
In a crisis, perception becomes reality quickly. If you do not understand what people believe is happening, you will not be able to communicate effectively, even if you have the facts.
Align the organization first
At the same time, you cannot lead crisis communications without protecting the organization internally. This is where many responses break down. The organization rushes to speak publicly while internal teams are still confused, emotional, or working from different information. That is when things leak. That is when staff start to fill gaps with assumptions. That is when leaders get inconsistent advice. And that is when a crisis grows legs.
If you are leading communications, your first responsibility is internal alignment. You need one version of the truth. One process for decisions. One pathway for approvals. One place where updates live. And you need a rhythm. Even if you do not have new information, people need to hear from leadership regularly. Silence creates stress, and stress creates mistakes.
A calm internal environment is not just good culture; it’s a necessity. It is crisis prevention.
Credibility over control
From there, you can begin to shape the external response with discipline. I always come back to this: credibility is the goal. Not perfection. Not control. Credibility.
You can recover from a mistake. You cannot recover easily from losing trust.
Credibility is built by telling the truth early, even when the truth is incomplete. It is built by being clear about what you know and what you do not know. It is built by correcting errors quickly rather than quietly. It is built by staying consistent across spokespeople, platforms, and audiences. It is built by refusing to speculate, even when people demand certainty.
This is also where tone matters. In a crisis, people can sense when a message is defensive or overly polished. They can sense when the organization is trying to protect itself rather than doing what is right. Your message should sound human. It should sound grounded. It should reflect seriousness. It should reflect care. It should reflect action.
A crisis message does not need to be long. It needs to be real.
Plan for what’s next
And behind the scenes, the strongest crisis communication is not reactive. It is scenario-driven. The best communicators do not improvise their way through high-risk moments. They plan for them.
Preparedness means you have already thought through the likely scenarios. You have already asked what could happen next. You have already mapped what escalation looks like. You have already identified your vulnerable areas, the questions you will get from the media, and the stakeholder groups that will need direct communication. You have already written the first draft of what you might say if the situation shifts.
This kind of planning is not about expecting the worst. It is about being ready for it.
When you have done scenario planning, you do not waste the first hours of a crisis debating from scratch. You activate a plan, adapt it to the facts, and move forward with confidence.
That confidence matters because in a crisis, your team will take cues from you. They are not just listening to your words. They are watching how you carry yourself. They are watching whether you are frantic or focused. Whether you are defensive or thoughtful. Whether you are overwhelmed or grounded.
This is why calm leadership is not optional in crisis work. It is part of the job.
Calm does not mean you are not worried. It means you are in control of your response. It means you can think clearly. It means you can speak with a steady voice when others cannot. It means you can hold the pressure without spreading it.
And as the crisis continues, you have to remember that a crisis response is not a single moment. It is a process. There is an early phase in which you stabilize facts and prevent misinformation. There is a middle phase in which you manage ongoing updates, press inquiries, leadership visibility, and stakeholder trust. And there is a final phase that matters just as much as the first: recovery.
Recovery is where trust is rebuilt. Recovery is where you show what you learned. Recovery is where you demonstrate what has changed. Recovery is about proving that the organization is not just reacting but improving.
That is why documentation matters. It is not glamorous, but it is essential. Track decisions. Track approvals. Track timelines. Track what was said, when, and why. In the middle of a crisis, people think they will remember everything. They will not. Documentation protects the organization and the team.
Be the steady voice
At the end of the day, crisis communications is leadership. It is not just messaging. It is judgment. It is preparedness. It is listening. It is strategy. It is calm.
When a crisis hits, people do not need the loudest voice. They need clarity. They need someone who can bring focus when things feel scattered. They need someone who can listen first, then lead.
That is what the best communicators do. They become the steady voice. And in the moments that matter most, that steadiness becomes a form of protection for everyone. In a crisis, people don’t need the loudest voice. They need the steadiest one, guided by preparation, discipline, and the confidence that comes from being ready long before the moment arrives.
Ronnika A. McFall, MBA, APR, serves as senior director of communications for Mercy For Animals. With more than 15 years of experience in public relations and communications, she has led teams through media strategy, crisis communications, and organizational storytelling. She is the APR Chair and serves on the board for PRSA Georgia, as well as the PRSA APR Marketing Committee. As an APR, Ronnika is passionate about mentoring candidates and helping communicators grow in their careers.
Illustration credit: phimprapha
