Our crisis communication plan is just a few years old. But half the people listed in it are gone, we haven’t practiced it and I’m not confident we could respond quickly if something happened tomorrow. 

If even one of these things is true, your organization may be relying on a crisis plan that no longer reflects how your team actually operates. This can slow down your response and create additional risk when the stakes are highest. Knowing where your plan is vulnerable and how to address gaps helps build your team’s crisis readiness, giving you a better chance of responding quickly and confidently when a crisis happens. 

How to tell if your crisis plan is outdated 

Certain parts of a crisis communication plan have a higher likelihood of becoming irrelevant or ineffective over time. Common vulnerabilities include:  

• Your list of potential scenarios: Your four-year-old crisis communication plan may feel topical…until you realize there’s no mention of AI. The exponential rise of AI adoption (Pew Research shows that only 5% of Americans have not heard of AI) is a case study for how quickly new high-risk scenarios can emerge. Regularly reviewing potential crises and preparing communication materials helps prevent surprises down the line. 

• Your prepared messaging: As issues evolve, so do the public’s attitudes about them. Consistently editing and adapting templated crisis response statements helps them remain relevant and appropriate for today’s audiences.  

• Your go-to communication channels: Successful communication is measured by its ability to effectively reach key stakeholders. And stakeholders often switch up the channels they use to connect as new ones gain popularity. A Sprout Social study found that social media is now the primary channel for brand crisis response. Understanding the best channels to engage audiences ensures you can quickly target and distribute messages at critical moments.

• Your response team: Between mergers and acquisitions, structure changes and shifting expectations around remote work, crisis and communication teams may change quickly and institutional knowledge is not guaranteed. Developing clear roles and responsibilities and approval paths sets your organization up for an efficient and organized crisis response. 

How to refresh your crisis plan  

Our world keeps changing, so why do so many organizations still treat crisis plans as static documents, instead of a tool that must evolve to meet today’s toughest pressures? 

If your crisis plan has been sitting on the shelf for more than a year, now’s the time to prioritize the following activities:  

1. Assemble the crisis team: Confirm the members of your crisis team, outline clear roles and responsibilities and ensure all are familiar with the crisis communication plan.
2. Refresh team training: Convene your crisis response team and spokespeople for a training session to reground in best practices and build confidence for when a crisis hits. 
3. Update messaging and statements: Scan your crisis scenarios, message library and holding statements for anything that’s missing, outdated or irrelevant. 
4. Assess crisis communication channels: Audit engagement across your existing communication channels to understand if they are effectively reaching your audiences.   
5. Embed AI: Create governance around when and how your organization uses AI in a crisis. With the right direction, AI-powered models can help generate customized messages that help your team quickly activate a crisis plan.  

A crisis plan is only as current as the people, assumptions and operating environment behind it. Some crisis communication plans may only need a small tune up to be relevant for today’s audiences and issues. Others need a more comprehensive overhaul. The clearest way to understand a plan’s strengths and vulnerabilities is to conduct a crisis communication audit.

An audit provides a clear view of an organization’s readiness to respond and outlines practical opportunities to strengthen crisis communication by reviewing readiness, scenarios, teams, tools and more.  

The post Is Your Crisis Communication Plan Outdated? appeared first on Beehive.

The Gold certification recognizes Beehive’s continued progress in managing its carbon footprint and taking action to reduce its environmental impact. Beehive works with Aclymate to track its emissions and identify opportunities to advance its climate commitments. 

“Climate action requires consistent, accountable progress,” said Rebecca Martin, chief people and impact officer at Beehive. “Earning Gold demonstrates our intentional effort to minimize environmental impact and align with our values. We’ll continue to measure our impact, learn and take meaningful action.” 

Beehive has been a Certified B Corporation since 2018, committed to using business as a force for good, driving meaningful economic and social change. 

### 

Beehive Strategic Communication is a purpose-driven strategic communication firm that uses the power of communication to build better businesses. We solve complex business challenges and help clients meet the rising expectations of their employees, partners, customers and communities. We work nationally and globally with leading brands in renewable energy, environmental services, tribal nations, healthcare and healthtech, education, professional services, commercial construction, civil engineering, and social organizations and foundations.

As a certified B Corporation, Beehive meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. We are also a WBENC-certified Women’s Business Enterprise and an SBA Women Owned Small Business.

The post Beehive Earns Climate Leader Gold Certification From Aclymate appeared first on Beehive.

Yet leadership teams are changing frequently. Russell Reynolds Associates reported that 234 CEOs departed their roles globally in 2025 — the highest level in eight years and 16% higher than the year before. A new CEO, a recently promoted executive or a shift in decision-making authority can reshape how an organization responds, even when its crisis plan has not changed.  

That raises an important readiness question: Is your current leadership team ready to manage a crisis together? 

A current plan does not guarantee a ready team 

A good crisis plan does important work: it defines roles, establishes escalation protocols and clarifies how information moves through the organization and the marketplace. But it can’t answer every question that comes up when an executive team is making high-stakes decisions together for the first time. 

A new CEO may want more certainty before speaking publicly than their predecessor did. A recently promoted executive may be exercising new authority for the first time, while others may disagree about when an issue warrants escalation. New executive leaders may not even be familiar with the crisis plan or their role in it. Too often, even a strong plan is never reviewed with incoming leaders, leaving them unprepared to follow processes that may be clearly documented on paper. 

During normal business operations, those differences can remain invisible. During a crisis, they can slow the response at precisely the moment employees, customers, partners and the media are seeking direction. 

The first hour puts alignment to the test 

In the early stages of a crisis, information is incomplete and priorities compete for immediate attention. While operations teams assess what happened and legal counsel evaluates risk, employees are looking for answers and external stakeholders are seeking reassurance. 

The leadership team must quickly determine: 

• What requires immediate action? 

• Who has authority to decide and who else needs to be involved? 

• What can the organization responsibly communicate now? 

A delayed or disorganized response can make recovery more difficult and potentially damage trust with key audiences. Teams that have worked together through difficult moments may have already developed an understanding of how decisions get made. When leaders are new to one another or to the organization or when roles have recently changed, that shared understanding cannot be presumed. 

Test the plan with the team who will use it 

Communication leaders are typically well positioned to recognize where executive alignment may break down. Because they work across functions and regularly translate executive decisions into guidance for employees, customers, partners and other stakeholders, they can see where unclear authority, delayed approvals or conflicting expectations could slow down a crisis response. 

A realistic crisis simulation reveals what a written plan cannot: how the current leadership team will actually make decisions when information is incomplete, time is limited and the stakes are high. It also ensures familiarity with the plan and gives teams an opportunity to make necessary adjustments before a crisis hits. As information evolves, executives can decide who needs to be involved, when the board should be engaged, how competing operational, legal and reputational considerations will be weighed, and what the communication team needs to provide a timely response. 

The purpose is to reveal where the response process gets stuck, clarify how decisions will be made and give executives experience working together under pressure — while the consequences are still low. 

Crisis readiness should evolve as the organization does. A new executive, a shift in responsibilities or a changing risk environment should prompt the leadership team to test how it will work together when the pressure is real. A current crisis plan is only as effective as the people asked to activate it. 

The post Is Your Leadership Team Ready to Face a Crisis Together? appeared first on Beehive.

Business reputations can be made or broken during a crisis. But trust issues can also arise outside of a full-blown crisis. The speed, scale and complexity of modern business operations require leaders to focus on continuously fostering trust within and outside their organization, yet one-third of organizations do not practice trust-building strategies. Make sure your organization is not one of them. 

The following warning signs could signal your organization has a trust problem:  

1. Your executives aren’t visible to your team 

Leaders are consistently cited as the most trusted sources of information. Edelman’s latest Trust Barometer found that 78% of respondents trust their employer and 64% trust businesses. That trust increases when the source is part of one’s local network. For example, respondents are more likely to trust their CEO versus an executive from another business. While leaders play a unique role in building trust, we recognize it’s not a natural skill for all leaders. But leadership communication is a coachable skill. 

Equipping leaders with communication coaching and tools to create feedback loops helps build trust and accountability with their employees. This can include:  

• Training leaders to communicate transparently in uncertainty: Host scenario-based workshops that simulate difficult conversations, real-time decision-making and message crafting in high-stakes moments. Include EQ development alongside technical communication skills. 
   

• Creating safe spaces to practice listening deeply across stakeholder groups: Facilitate employee listening sessions, peer coaching cohorts or roundtables where leaders hear directly from teams and are coached to stay engaged and responsive. Stakeholder listening works best when leaders model a culture that invites upward and peer feedback without fear of retribution through post-project reviews or quarterly team reflections.
   

• Reinforcing accountability and modeling learning from mistakes and incorporating learning agility into leadership performance management systems. 

These practices help leaders build the skills to respond with speed, authenticity and empathy and build trust when it matters most. 

2. Audiences are unclear about your values and priorities 

A couple of surefire ways to weaken trust and reputation include:  

• Walking back on your previously stated values and commitments 

• Staying silent and allowing misinformation or rumors to swirl 

Most leaders don’t intend to do either of those things, but it can happen. Sometimes leaders are trying to save face, reshaping a story when something doesn’t go as planned. Others may be actively determining how to tackle an emerging issue, like how the rise of AI solutions will impact roles and team structures in an organization, and end up waiting too long to communicate updates to their employees.  

Living out values consistently — from strategic decision-making to day-to-day operations — prepares teams and leaders to lean into and uphold these values in stressful moments. And that builds trust. 

Living organizational values can take many forms, including:
  

• Leaders asking, “would this align with our values?” to guide decisions, build strategy and support culture  

• Employees seeing leaders embody values each day, which helps them trust leaders to respond similarly in a crisis  

• Internal messaging consistently grounded in an organization’s overall purpose/mission and values and in shared agreements for how teams operate 

3. Lack of visibility into what matters most to stakeholders 

Trust and values are directly linked to brand loyalty and engagement. 88% of customers will buy again from a brand they trust.  

That’s where social listening and AI visibility tools play an important role in understanding external sentiment. Sprout Social found that 94% of business leaders believe insights gathered from social media data and activity have a major impact on building brand reputation and loyalty. AI visibility, also known as GEO or AEO, reflects how your organization appears in AI-generated answers. Because AI responses draw from websites, earned media, thought leadership, reviews, rankings and other third-party sources, an AI visibility report can provide a snapshot of your organization’s reputation across your communication ecosystem.  

If organizations aren’t tapped into how their audiences are feeling or what they’re saying, they lose the opportunity to build trust by responding to or addressing concerns, questions or preferences. 

Established trust and a clear plan are the keys to successful crisis response 

The ability to build and regularly nurture trust is critical in a business environment that increasingly brings challenges, change and the potential for crises. And trust built over time creates a reserve of goodwill that can be drawn upon when the stakes are highest. However, trust alone isn’t enough. Organizations also need a clear, current plan for how they will respond when it is tested. 

Crisis and issue planning is most effective when managed as a living system that evolves with the business, the market and the world. Leaders should regularly look beyond the moment and scan for trends in their industry — or in adjacent industries — to anticipate potential challenges that could threaten trust. 

A crisis communication audit provides a clear view of an organization’s readiness to respond and guidance on how it can be strengthened.  

The post Your Organization Doesn’t Need a Crisis to Have a Trust Problem appeared first on Beehive.

So how can health care organizations navigate this level of volatility without sacrificing patient trust, quality of care or organizational integrity? A strong response starts before disruption hits. Leaders need a clear view of the risks most likely to affect operations and patient care. 

Four of the top issues that deserve immediate attention include:  

1. Workforce shortages and burnout 

Health care systems may have moved beyond COVID-19 protocols, but their people are still recovering from the impact and burnout that continues to plague the industry. Emotional stress is the most common reason nurses leave their roles and studies show that more than 45% of physicians reported symptoms of burnout in recent years. 

Press Ganey’s Health Care Employee Experience 2025 research indicates national employee engagement continues to decline. Combined with a national shortage of clinicians, this has ripple effects on workforce retention, system capacity and patient access to care. Rural systems carry added pressure and may need to reduce services or close operations. 

Health care leaders can strengthen workforce resilience, employee engagement, and connection by building trust-based relationships — supported by clear communication about organizational performance and priorities, meaningful opportunities for feedback, and leaders who are equipped to connect with and develop their teams. 

2. Competing operational pressures  

Quality of care and access to services have become regularly disrupted by a wide range of operational issues including financial pressures, reimbursement uncertainty and workforce challenges. A recent survey found that 52% of health care leaders expect industry conditions to worsen as systems navigate operational challenges like rising costs, inadequate reimbursement, changing care patterns, workforce shortages, supply chain disruption and administrative complexity. 

These pressures overlap with other unexpected events and crisis situations, creating a state of “permacrisis,” where disruption becomes a long-term business condition. PwC’s Global Crisis and Resilience Survey found that 96% of organizations had experienced disruption during the previous two years, often significantly impacting operations.  

These disruptions can snowball without a defined process to inform key audiences how the organization is managing it and when they can expect further updates. Having a process in place to get critical information to stakeholders helps empower teams and build trust with patients. 

3. Cybersecurity risk 

Cybersecurity is an acute threat to health care systems. The sector experienced more ransomware attacks than any other critical infrastructure in 2025, with 460 reported attacks. Experts anticipate this wave of cybersecurity threats to continue, particularly with attacks on third-party technology and solutions and AI-generated audio and video deepfakes. 

Cybersecurity is directly linked to patient safety, making risk management and cybersecurity response protocols even more critical to protect health information and reduce organizational vulnerabilities. 

4. Public perception and misinformation 

Public trust in health agencies dropped sharply during the pandemic and still hasn’t fully recovered. At the same time, public opinion on health issues, policies and the role of public agencies has become increasingly divided. 

Misinformation deepens this divide. Patients now use AI tools to seek their own diagnoses and care, a trend that is particularly prominent in younger generations where nearly six in 10 regret at least one health decision made based on health misinformation from user-generated content or peers.  

AAMC recommends strategies health care systems and providers can use to combat misinformation and re-establish trust and become a reliable source for their communities, including:  

• Monitoring misinformation by asking family, friends, patients and neighbors what they’re hearing 

• Listening and trying to understand fears and other obstacles in a judgment-free space 

• Being transparent and acknowledging changes to guidance  

• Providing citations and evidence to support recommendations 

• Seeking to connect on a personal level 

Leaders that invest in strategies to get around misinformation are better prepared to communicate in an emergency with clarity and confidence.  

Protect your organization with a crisis and issues readiness plan 

Having an up-to-date and effective crisis response to these and other issues is critical to business continuity. Leaders must customize their plans to their organizations’ workforce, cybersecurity systems and stakeholder expectations. However, in our experience, crisis plans often sit on the shelf for years, meaning they no longer reflect the current needs, structure and pressures within an organization. 

Consider prioritizing a crisis communications audit to ensure your organization’s plans are ready. Beehive’s Crisis Communication Audit gives leaders a clear view of current readiness and identifies practical improvements by reviewing:  

• Current crisis readiness 

• Potential risks and vulnerabilities 

• Priority crisis scenarios 

• Potential processes and tools 

• Templates to support response 

• Opportunities to optimize existing plans 

The post Four Crisis Issues Keeping Health Care Leaders Awake at Night appeared first on Beehive.

Founded in 1969, ASOPRS promotes education, research and high-quality clinical practice in oculofacial plastic surgery. The society has nearly 1,000 members across the United States, Canada and over 30 other countries. Its members focus on orbital and facial reconstruction and treat disorders of the eyelids, eye socket and tear drainage system. 

Beehive is partnering with ASOPRS to develop and implement a change management communication plan as the organization advances the development of a subspecialty certification pathway through the American Board of Ophthalmology. The work supports the society as it advances its mission and serves members across a growing global community. 

###

Beehive Strategic Communication is a purpose-driven strategic communication firm that uses the power of communication to build better businesses. We solve complex business challenges and help clients meet the rising expectations of their employees, partners, customers and communities. We work nationally and globally with leading brands in renewable energy, environmental services, tribal nations, healthcare and healthtech, education, professional services, commercial construction, civil engineering, and social organizations and foundations  

As a certified B Corporation, Beehive meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. We are also a WBENC-certified Women’s Business Enterprise and an SBA Women Owned Small Business. 

The post Beehive Strategic Communication Adds the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as a Client appeared first on Beehive.

“Khuluc brings curiosity, a strategic perspective and positive energy to her work and relationships,” said Rebecca Martin, chief people and impact officer at Beehive Strategic Communication. “We’re proud to recognize her growth and meaningful contributions to our team, culture and clients.”  

Yang joined Beehive in 2024 and was previously an account coordinator. In her new role, she will continue providing strategic counsel to clients, including Adolfson & Peterson Construction, Bell Bank, GiveMN, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, North Memorial Health and Ulteig. Yang will also continue to support Beehive’s growth as a member of the agency’s marketing team. 

###

Beehive Strategic Communication is a purpose-driven strategic communication firm that uses the power of communication to build better businesses. We solve complex business challenges and help clients meet the rising expectations of their employees, partners, customers and communities. We work nationally and globally with leading brands in renewable energy, environmental services, tribal nations, healthcare and healthtech, education, professional services, commercial construction, civil engineering, and social organizations and foundations  

As a certified B Corporation, Beehive meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. We are also a WBENC-certified Women’s Business Enterprise and an SBA Women Owned Small Business. 

The post Khuluc Yang Promoted to Account Strategist appeared first on Beehive.

AI visibility, also known as GEO or AEO, reflects how your organization appears in AI-generated answers. AI responses draw from across your communication ecosystem, including your website, earned media, thought leadership, reviews, rankings and other third-party sources. Communicators need to understand how those signals shape reputation in AI-generated answers. 

The following practices can help communicators strengthen AI visibility while reinforcing the communication fundamentals that already drive trust and bolster reputations. 

1. Understand the channels that matter most for your organization

There’s no universal channel mix that will improve AI visibility. Health care organizations, for example, may benefit from authoritative medical publications. Professional services firms may rely on analyst reports, speaking opportunities and earned media. Consumer brands may see that reviews, Reddit discussions or industry rankings dramatically shape AI responses in their industry. 

With that in mind, communicators should first identify the sources AI consistently references for their industry, organization and competitors. The following questions can help identify high-value channels unique to each organization:  

• Which publishers or websites do AI tools reference most often? 

• Which awards, rankings or directories influence recommendations? 

• Where are competitors earning visibility that your organization is missing?

An AI visibility audit can answer these questions and provide context for organizations to prioritize the channels that create the greatest impact. A regular audit can help organizations develop their AI strategy over time, rather than chasing rapidly evolving AI trends.

2. Assess and evolve your content strategy 

Even if your content is showing up on high-value channels for AI visibility, that content won’t resonate with audiences without clear brand positioning.  

Communicators can get a better sense of how your brand positioning shows up within AI search tools by reviewing:  

• What AI says about your organization 

• Whether AI’s description of your organization aligns with your brand narrative, positioning and strategies 

• If AI recommends your organization against competitors 

Communicators should focus on publishing content that demonstrates expertise in formats that are easy for both people and AI systems to understand, including: 

• Original thought leadership that reflects organizational expertise 

• Case studies that demonstrate measurable outcomes 

• Frequently asked questions that address real customer concerns and comments 

• Clear topic pages that reinforce brand positioning 

• Content supported by earned media, speaking engagements, awards and credible third-party validation 

Bottom line: Don’t over-focus on creating content just for AI. Aim to develop useful, trustworthy messaging in channels frequently used by AI search tools and your target audience. 

3. Establish clear ownership and accountability 

AI search and visibility touches communication, marketing, digital strategy, SEO, brand, customer experience and executive leadership. So, who in the organization owns it? 

Ideally, one business team or leader provides strategic direction while coordinating efforts across functions. This embeds AI visibility into existing communication strategies and plans in a cohesive, integrated way. 

Communicators may be responsible for AI-related areas like: 

• Monitoring AI visibility trends 

• Coordinating measurement and reporting 

• Sharing insights across marketing, communication and digital teams 

• Using insights to direct future content plans 

Start with strategy, not technology 

While AI visibility will continue to evolve at a rapid pace, organizations can invest in clear brand positioning and high-quality, credible content that earns trust across select channels. 

Communicators have an opportunity to shape how AI introduces their organizations to the world. Now is the time to understand your current visibility, identify the highest-impact opportunities and build an intentional strategy that evolves alongside AI. 

Learn more about AI visibility 

Beehive Strategic Communication helps organizations understand how they appear in AI-powered search and develop practical strategies to strengthen visibility. 

• Explore our AI Visibility services.
• Read more about how AI is reshaping search, traffic and lead generation and what that means for communicators.
• Learn more in this blog post about how AI adoption can become a catalyst for stronger trust and adoption when organizations practice clear and consistent communication.

The post Three Communication Practices to Strengthen AI Visibility appeared first on Beehive.