Why Most Crisis Simulations Fail: A 10-Part Reality Check for Preparedness Leaders
Philippe Borremans
Crisis Communication, Risk Communication and Emergency Communication Consultant I Simulation Exercise Designer I Certified Trainer I AI for Emergencies I Author
If you're running crisis simulations the same way you did three years ago, you're training your teams to fight yesterday's battles. The uncomfortable truth? Most crisis simulations are little more than expensive role-playing exercises that create false confidence.
Modern crises don't respect your carefully designed scenarios. They don't follow your expected timelines. And they certainly don't care about your traditional response frameworks.
The next 10 essays will challenge everything you think you know about crisis simulation design:
Each essay provides actionable insights for upgrading your simulation design. Each challenges conventional wisdom. And each is based on hard lessons from real crisis responses.
You can read number 1 below ??
The goal isn't to run perfect simulations. It's to create imperfect scenarios that develop an almost perfect response.
Stop developing simulations that confirm your current plans. Start designing ones that expose their weaknesses.
Essay #1: "Why Your Crisis Simulation Is Too Simple to Be Useful: The Realism Problem"
Crisis simulations often fail before they begin because they're designed to fit neatly into your Tuesday afternoon schedule. But real crises don't arrive in tidy two-hour packages with coffee breaks and discussion periods.
Here's an uncomfortable truth: Your perfectly scripted scenarios are creating dangerous false confidence.
While you're running tabletop exercises with clear decision points, real organizations are facing multi-dimensional chaos that shatters their response assumptions.
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Modern crises don't follow linear paths.
A cyber attack disrupts your emergency communications. A power outage takes down your backup systems. Social media amplifies misinformation faster than you can correct it. Your simulation must mirror this cascading complexity.
Real crisis simulations should include:
The most effective simulations deliberately create controlled chaos. They force participants to abandon their assumptions about crisis progression. They build confidence not in following plans, but in adapting when plans fail.
If your participants can predict what's coming next, you're not preparing them for reality. They should leave feeling challenged but more capable of handling uncertainty.
Stop designing scenarios that fit nicely into your training schedule. Start designing ones that reflect the messy reality of modern crises.
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Manager, Regional Emergency Operations Center @ WHO Europe | Crisis Management | International Development & Capacity Strengthening
3 天前Totally agree... I have used simulation exercises across different Government and UN organisation to test planning assumptions, system functionality and response approaches. We use exercises to train our teams to make decisions in "uncertainty" and to adapt and adjust responses to meet the unexpected. From my experience, no plan survives contract with reality. Looking forward to reading the essays :-)
Crisis Communication Specialist, I take care of organizations and people to be prepared for the worst of scenarios
1 个月Crisis exercises should include surprise factors—the idea is to hit the sore spots. I've seen participants during exercises worrying if the situation is real or if it could actually happen, making frantic phone calls and rushing to their computers. That's how I know it was worth it.
Director - Sidekick PR, Associate Lecturer - Sheffield Hallam University , Trustee - Grimm & Co, Research student - Leeds Beckett University
1 个月This is a great read Philippe Borremans. This should be the starting point for all crisis testing 'Stop developing simulations that confirm your current plans. Start designing ones that expose their weaknesses.' Uncertainty plays a huge role in any crisis and teams need to be ready to deal with this.
Corporate Communication * Public Affairs * Economic Diplomacy * European Affairs * Reputation Management * Social Media Marketing
1 个月Concordo!
Director en Sciat Facere | Auditoría de Riesgos
1 个月excelent