Crisis communication
During a crisis, effective communication is essential. As public bodies, we must be the source of accurate, relevant and timely information.
On this page:
About crisis communication
Leaders and communicators must set aside time and resources to organise a well-thought-out, strategic plan.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in 2020 has shown the light on the need to communicate in a consistent, clear, and continual way. The COVID-19 report includes insights into the impact of the pandemic on communications professionals and some of the learnings.
COVID-19 Communications Advisory Panel report
Our standards
Emergency Planning Framework
Our practical tools and templates for communication professionals show you how to plan, develop and implement an effective response during a crisis, drawing on best practices across the public sector.
Our resources are focused on 6 critical stages which make up the GCS PRIMER framework for crisis communications.
PRIMER stands for:
- Plan
- Rehearse
- Implement
- Maintain
- Evaluate
- Recover
RESIST 2 Counter Disinformation Toolkit
Our toolkit will help support the dissemination of reliable, truthful information that underpins our democracy.
RESIST stands for:
- Recognise disinformation
- Early warning
- Situational Insight
- Impact analysis
- Strategic communication
- Track outcomes
Crisis Communication Operating Model
Our Crisis Communication Operating Model builds on the excellent work of government communicators in recent years to set out how we’ll prepare, respond and recover from crises. It covers how we’ll:
- Prepare – strengthen our resilience and planning
- Respond – work together to manage different levels of emergencies and crises
- Recover – learn lessons, support our people and strengthen our capability
Learning and resources
Start learning at your own pace and build the skills you need, using our curriculum. You can also engage with our crisis communication blogs and resources.
Resource for team leaders
Read or download the PRIMER emergency planning checklists.
Training
Created by the GCS International team, and used by foreign governments, this training aims to provide a toolkit for government and state communicators to use when responding to a crisis.
- Creating a cross-government narrative and Q&A in a crisis (GCS members access)
- Online monitoring in a crisis (GCS members access)
- Digital content in a crisis (GCS members access)
- Correcting inaccuracies in a crisis (GCS members access)
- Crisis communication in practice: scenarios testing (GCS members access)
- Crisis communication: lessons learnt from COVID-19 (GCS members access)