Most crises do not start with a headline. They start as small signals: repeat complaints, unresolved employee concerns, management behavior, quality issues, supplier problems, or online chatter. ICM’s Annual Crisis Report for 2025 found that 65% of crisis news items were “smoldering” crises, which shows how unresolved problems can build over time before they become public.
The warning signs are usually there. The challenge is that they often live in different places. HR sees complaints, customer service hears buyer frustration, operations notices workarounds, and communications spots online criticism. Unless someone connects the dots, each team sees only part of the risk.
At ICM, we call this MEWS—the Management Early Warning System. It can be a formal risk committee or a simple recurring conversation among the right people. What matters is that functional leaders know each other, compare what they are seeing, and review emerging risks before harm occurs. Ask what patterns keep showing up, who could be affected, and what would happen if the issue became public tomorrow. Then decide whether to investigate, fix the problem, prepare communications, or elevate it to senior leadership.
What to Do Next:
- Create a monthly smoldering-risk review with representatives from operations, HR, legal, customer service, communications, and security.
- Track recurring issues, not only individual complaints. Repetition is often the story before it becomes the crisis.
The earlier you connect the warning signs, the more control you have over what happens next.
