Managing the Societal Dimension of Crisis Communications

There’s no such thing as a “typical” crisis.

Some crises involve events that directly and adversely affect business, such as natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, cybersecurity breaches and active threats. When leaders conduct crisis planning around these types of occurrences, they focus their efforts around ensuring employee safety and business continuity.

But what if the crisis doesn’t have the immediacy of a wildfire or malware attack? What if it materializes far away from the walls of the company offices, unfolds more slowly over time or doesn’t directly impact employees or customers?

In other words, how should business leaders prepare to respond if a crisis appears in the societal dimension — if it takes shape as widespread discrimination of a large group of people, a violent injustice rooted in persecution or an unthinkable human-driven tragedy? Even if these events don’t directly touch your business, your employees and customers will have thoughts, opinions and feelings about them that could be difficult to ignore.

Permission to Act — with Caveats

Many stakeholders want companies to speak out in these situations. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, up to 79% of employees believe CEOs are justified in addressing a societal issue if they could make a major impact on the challenge, and up to 73% of employees believe CEOs can address the societal issue if it harms their customers, employees or communities.

This same report cited a global three-point decline in employer trust between 2024 and 2025, with the United States experiencing a five-point decrease year over year. While business is still viewed as more trustworthy than government, NGOs and media, this data presents both a concern and an opportunity for professional communicators.

A Framework for Communicators

One of the biggest challenges leaders face in the wake of societal events is determining whether and how to respond to them in the context of the workplace. This is why professional communicators should prepare by developing a clear framework to help leaders determine whether to use their corporate voice.

The first step in developing this framework starts with establishing your philosophy.

1. Clearly articulate your company mission and values.
2. Define the type of workplace you have or want to have: Should it be outspoken in its beliefs or a haven from the divisiveness of the outside world? Should it encourage respectful dialogue about issues or be a place where societal issues are acknowledged but not focused on?
3. Identify what type of people you want to attract, recruit and retain as employees.
4. Clarify which societal issues could directly impact the company, its employees or its ability to successfully operate.

The second step is to develop a brief set of Yes/No questions and response criteria. These questions should be designed to equip decision-makers with a standard evaluation process that will:

1. Help them determine when to speak out.
2. Validate a business case for how to speak out.
3. Enable the company to further define which issues are most relevant to the business.

Turning your findings into a framework will require careful thought and hard decisions, but taking these steps will give you and your leadership clear direction when time is of the essence.

Throughout it all, it’s important to stay flexible. Given that we live in an age of constant crisis, the dimensions of societal issues will only continue to shift, transform and evolve. Your thoughtfully conceived crisis communication plans will become increasingly important tools for navigating our ever-changing landscape.

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