In general, the more prepared you and your organization are for a crisis, the better you will handle it. This is not about preparing in detail for every possible permutation of every possible crisis. Instead it's about building general capabilities and capacity – discipline and agility.
John Harrald argues the need for both discipline (structure, doctrine, process) and agility (creativity, improvisation, adaptability) when it comes to disaster response*. It's a good framework for capability building.
Discipline
Make sure your team is clear on the leadership structure of crisis response efforts as well as who is going to fill what roles on the team. Make sure they are clear on the direction you expect them to move in and how you expect them to interact with each other and with other stakeholders – the doctrine and process.
Agility
A good strategy frees execution. Strong discipline around leadership, roles and direction gives team members room for creativity, improvisation and adaptability.
For the most part, there is a finite set of the most likely, most devastating types of crises and disasters that are worth preparing for. Think them through. Run the drills. Capture the general lessons so people can apply them flexibly to the specific situations they encounter. Have resources ready to be deployed when those disasters strike.
Bottom line: Be prepared in general, with your overall purpose and intent clear, so your team can react with discipline and agility to the inevitable uncertainty and changing circumstances in a crisis in practice.
*John Harrald in “Agility and Discipline: Critical Success Factors for Disaster Response”, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science2006; 604; 256
