DRI Crisis Management & Communication 3 â Questions and Answers
Question 1: When activating a Crisis Management Team (CMT), which action should occur FIRST?
- Notify regulators and government agencies
- Declare a disaster and begin recovery operations
- Conduct an initial situation assessment to determine scope (Correct answer)
- Issue a press release to stakeholders
Correct answer: Conduct an initial situation assessment to determine scope
The first step upon CMT activation is assessing the situation to understand scope, affected areas, and what resources are needed before any other action.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes 'crisis fatigue' among stakeholders?
- Exhaustion of financial reserves during a prolonged crisis
- Declining public attention and responsiveness after repeated crisis communications (Correct answer)
- Staff burnout within the Crisis Management Team
- Overloading communication channels with redundant messages
Correct answer: Declining public attention and responsiveness after repeated crisis communications
Crisis fatigue occurs when audiences become desensitized to ongoing crisis messaging, reducing their responsiveness to warnings or updates.
Question 3: A company's social media manager begins posting updates during a crisis without authorization from the crisis team. This MOST directly threatens:
- Regulatory compliance
- Message consistency and organizational credibility (Correct answer)
- IT security protocols
- Legal discovery processes
Correct answer: Message consistency and organizational credibility
Unauthorized social media posts can contradict official statements, creating inconsistent messaging that undermines organizational credibility during a crisis.
Question 4: What is the recommended approach when a crisis spokesperson does not know the answer to a reporter's question?
- Speculate based on available information to appear knowledgeable
- Decline to answer and end the interview
- Acknowledge not knowing and commit to finding out and following up (Correct answer)
- Redirect the question to a different topic
Correct answer: Acknowledge not knowing and commit to finding out and following up
Admitting uncertainty and committing to follow up is more credible than speculation, which risks providing inaccurate information that must later be corrected.
Question 5: In the context of DRI's BCLE 2020, which competency area specifically addresses notifying stakeholders during a disruption?
- Exercise, Audit, and Maintenance
- Crisis Communications and Public Relations (Correct answer)
- Emergency Response and Operations
- Information Technology Service Continuity
Correct answer: Crisis Communications and Public Relations
DRI's Crisis Communications and Public Relations competency covers developing and executing plans to notify internal and external stakeholders during disruptions.
Question 6: Which communication channel is typically MOST reliable during infrastructure-disrupting disasters when other channels fail?
- Corporate intranet
- Satellite phone (Correct answer)
- Social media platforms
Correct answer: Satellite phone
Satellite phones operate independently of terrestrial network infrastructure, making them reliable when cellular and internet systems are damaged or overloaded.
Question 7: An organization's crisis communication plan should be tested through which of the following?
- Reading the plan aloud during a staff meeting
- Submitting it to legal review annually
- Conducting tabletop or functional exercises that simulate crisis scenarios (Correct answer)
- Publishing the plan on the corporate website
Correct answer: Conducting tabletop or functional exercises that simulate crisis scenarios
Exercisesâtabletop or functionalâtest the plan under simulated conditions, revealing gaps that a document review alone cannot expose.
DRI Crisis Management & Communication 3
When activating a Crisis Management Team (CMT), which action should occur FIRST?