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It’s difficult to imagine what a crisis may feel like until you are facing one head-on.

At Miller Ink, we describe it as similar to making the most important decision of your life – like who to marry or where to live – in under a minute, while driving 100 miles per hour on the freeway, weaving in and out of traffic and smoking a cigar.

Whether you’re a large corporation, a mom-and-pop business, a nonprofit, a high-profile individual or any other type of organization, crises demand multiple simultaneous decisions, and those decisions carry lasting consequences. They shape how customers, employees, stakeholders and the public perceive an entity.

In a moment of crisis, there is simply not enough time to think clearly, and reactive, instinctive responses are inevitable. The truth is, organizations have plenty of time to think through their crisis response – provided that thinking happens before the crisis strikes. Effective crisis planning does not eliminate the pressure of a difficult moment, but it can offer a great deal of relief once the phone starts ringing and the questions begin pouring in.

When the hard questions have already been asked and answered, when the key decisions have already been made in a calm room rather than a chaotic one, the real-time response becomes a matter of execution rather than improvisation. So, it is imperative that individuals and organizations set aside time and resources to thoughtfully develop a crisis plan.

The foundation of any sound crisis plan is scenario mapping. Every organization faces a distinct set of risks, and the planning process should reflect that specificity. Are you a high-profile individual whose social media post was interpreted as offensive? Maybe your company is managing a legal dispute that is about to become public or facing the prospect of a product recall that will demand an immediate response. Writing out the most plausible scenarios in advance and thinking carefully through the appropriate responses to each makes real-time decisions significantly easier and prevents the kind of costly, unforced errors that occur when people are forced to think under fire for the first time.

Organizations must also determine how to tell their story during a crisis, and to whom. Customers may need clarity and reassurance, while investors and board members may require transparency and accountability. Identifying those audiences in advance and deciding which channels will carry each message – the company website, social media platforms, physical locations, direct outreach or the press – ensures that communication is deliberate rather than scattered when the moment arrives.

Equally important is designating spokespeople before a crisis occurs and drafting holding statements that can be adapted quickly. Having language readily available and knowing precisely who is authorized to deliver each message prevents the dangerous vacuum that forms when no one is certain who should speak or what they should say.

A well-constructed plan is only as strong as the team prepared to execute it, which is why thorough and ongoing training is essential. Every employee who might answer a phone, respond to a public-facing email or simply walk out of the office at the end of a long day is a potential point of vulnerability.

We have seen it happen: a reporter calls a general office line, the inquiry is mishandled, and by the time it reaches the communications team, the story has already been written. We have seen an intern, exhausted after a difficult week, approached by a journalist outside the building – and because no one had ever told them not to engage, they answered. They appeared on the news, identified as a company representative, making statements the organization would never have chosen to say. These are failures of preparation.

A formal media inquiry policy is one of the most practical and underutilized tools in crisis preparedness. The policy should be unambiguous: only designated, authorized representatives may speak to members of the media on behalf of the organization.

Any employee who is contacted by a reporter should politely collect the reporter’s contact information and immediately pass that information to a supervisor or the communications team. A simple index card posted near office phones, summarizing these steps, can serve as a quiet but effective reminder. This policy should be introduced during onboarding and reinforced through annual training for all staff, with more intensive media training provided to anyone who may serve as a spokesperson.

For many organizations, crises are inevitable. The cost of not having these policies and plans in place is measured in news cycles, in damaged relationships and in the long, difficult work of rebuilding trust that could have been protected with an investment of time and planning.

A well-constructed crisis plan does not guarantee that rehabilitation will be without difficulty, but it does ensure that an organization is never facing that difficulty without direction. Treating crisis communications planning as a core organizational responsibility, one that deserves the same deliberate attention and resources as any other strategic priority, reflects that kind of organizational foresight that makes a meaningful difference when a crisis actually arrives. The time to prepare is now, while the road ahead is still clear.