By David Honour
In a crisis situation team briefings are often given in pressured, dynamic situations and it is easy to miss out important details. One simple tool that helps prevent this is a clear and consistent structure for giving briefings. Working through a logical structure ensures that even a ‘seat-of-your-pants’ briefing – delivered with no time to prepare – still covers every essential area. It also helps ensure that the briefing doesn’t include superfluous information, keeping it clear and concise. An additional advantage is that if a team is briefed to a structure that it expects and understands, it is much easier for team members to assimilate the details that are being given.
However, despite the clear advantages, there is no agreed common briefing structure for organizational crisis management in place across the resilience and business continuity profession.
What ISO 22361 does – and doesn’t – say about briefing
The international crisis management standard, ISO 22361:2022, recognises the importance of briefings but does not define what they should contain or provide a briefing template. This omission matters because briefings are the primary mechanism through which crisis teams create shared situational awareness and align decision-making and actions.
Clause 5.3.6 advises crisis management teams to “set an operating rhythm for the response, so that meetings, briefings, information dissemination, press releases, conferences, etc., can be arranged coherently.”
It says nothing else specifically about briefings, despite the fact that a badly briefed crisis team is likely to be a badly performing team.
By contrast, debriefing is mentioned frequently in ISO 22361 and the need for a debriefing structure is explicit within the standard.
Briefing frameworks to borrow from
Other sectors, particularly the emergency services and military, have long recognised the importance of a defined briefing structure. These models could easily be adapted for organizational use and include:
- IIMARCH – UK police/emergency services: Information, Intent, Method, Administration, Risk Assessment, Communications, Humanitarian Issues.
- SMEAC – Military: Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration & Logistics, Command & Signals
- ISOBAR – Clinical handovers: Identify, Situation, Observations, Background, Agreed Plan, Read Back.
Bringing the key elements together
By analysing the available briefing frameworks, including but not limited to the above, two layers of consistency emerge:
- Core elements that are common to all.
- Reinforcing elements that enrich understanding.
When integrated, these create a complete briefing structure that connects situational awareness, intent, action, communication, and learning.
This integrated logic forms what I call the Unified Briefing Framework (UBF) for Organizational Crisis Response.
This is structured as follows:
Situation
What is happening, what is known, what is not yet known, and what is changing or likely to change.
Reinforced by Intelligence: analysis, forecasts, and emerging issues that could shape the next decisions.
Note: Intelligence is a reinforcer because, although it helps create situational awareness and good decisions, it is not always available at the start of a crisis.
Objectives
What we are trying to achieve and why – the intended outcome or end-state.
Reinforced by Ethics and Values: ensuring that the objectives align with existing corporate principles, constraints, and requirements.
Strategy
The overarching approach or direction that will achieve the objectives – setting priorities, boundaries, and guiding principles for response.
Tactics
The specific actions, responsibilities, and timings through which teams will execute the strategy.
Communications
How information flows internally and externally; who speaks for the organization.
Reinforced by Stakeholders: identifying who needs to know, be informed, or be reassured.
Risks
Key hazards, constraints, interdependencies, and potential reputational or operational exposures.
Administration
Logistical support, including people, systems, facilities, finances, and welfare.
Reinforced by Decision Log: how decisions will be recorded, who will record them, and how and where they will be recorded.
Reinforced by Well-being: managing fatigue, stress, and morale to sustain performance.
Review and Repeat
Confirm outcomes, next steps, and timing of the next briefing; capture immediate learning and feed it into the next cycle.
The above can be structured as a simple aide memoire:
- Situation (+ Intelligence)
- Objectives (+ Ethics and Values)
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Communications (+Stakeholders)
- Risks
- Administration (+ Decision Log + Well-being)
- Review and Repeat
If you find mnemonics helpful this becomes: SOSTCRAR.
Using the framework in practice
Embed the UBF directly into crisis and incident management plans as the default structure for briefings, situation reports, and meeting agendas, making sure that:
- Every meeting follows the same rhythm – ensuring consistency and confidence.
- Briefings stay concise and short – but cover every critical dimension.
- Decision logs align directly with the framework, supporting traceability.
- Learning happens in real time through the Review and Repeat cycle.
- Exercises also use the UBF – this not only ensures exercise realism, but also helps crisis teams and leaders become familiar with the briefing structure; and its use becomes second-nature.
Used consistently, the framework provides a common language across teams, functions, and geographies – whether briefing the board, coordinating business units, or updating external stakeholders.
Conclusion
A structured briefing process may be a simple but powerful improvement to your organization’s crisis management capability.
The Unified Briefing Framework combines the best of emergency-service discipline with business practicality, filling the gap that even ISO 22361 leaves open.
With this addition, every briefing becomes not just a meeting, but a step in a continuous cycle of awareness, action, and adaptation – the rhythm of organizational resilience in practice.
In the midst of a crisis, structure is not a constraint; it is the foundation of effective response.
The author
David Honour is editor of Resilience Forward.
