Crisis Strategy Isn’t a Solo Sport: Reflections from CALPELRA 2025

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There’s something oddly comforting about walking into a CALPELRA conference ballroom and knowing that almost everyone in the room has likely been through it:  the 2 a.m. phone call, the “should we say something?” debate, the department head who’s burying their head in the sand, and the attorney who‘s convinced that silence is mandatory. Public sector HR doesn’t get to control when the next crisis hits, but we do get to decide how prepared we’ll be when it does.

This year, I had the opportunity to return to CALPELRA with my colleague Jenica Maldonado, a seasoned labor and employment attorney and ethics specialist. We built on the session we led in 2024 by going deeper-- not into theory, but into our lived practice. Our session, “Crisis Coordination 2.0,” was a walk-through of an actual workplace crisis we navigated together: one involving regulatory and administrative actions, long-standing labor tension, internal morale and trust issues, and a public narrative we had to work fast to reframe.

We opened with something unexpected: a 60-second ad from the software company Astronomer. The ad featured Gwyneth Paltrow as their “temporary spokesperson,” poking fun at the company’s real-life scandal, the kiss-cam moment gone viral involving the company’s CEO and CHRO. This ad was polished, clever, and undeniably effective and highlighted the massive gulf between what’s possible in the private sector and what’s realistic in local government.

In Public Service, We Don’t Have Celebrity Fixers

Instead, of celebrities we have process and bureaucracy, politics and labor dynamics, public records, and the omnipresent threat of litigation. But, if we’re lucky, we have a small, cross-functional team that’s willing to move quickly, stay aligned, and say the hard thing with the right tone at the right time.

And that’s what our session at CALPELRA was all about.

The case we shared involved a California fire district, a mold discovery during a station renovation, and a subsequent Cal/OSHA investigation. What could have been a straightforward facilities issue escalated quickly, not just because of the regulatory findings, but because of the story that began to form around them: one of distrust, perceived retaliation, and organizational tone-deafness. Staff were anxious, union leadership refused to engage in internal fact-finding and doubled down with an aggressive posture, and early signs that Cal/OSHA’s approach might not be balanced made it clear that we couldn’t rely on a passive approach.

Together, Jenica and I walked attendees through what we did and why. Our strategy looked not just to fix the problem, but to build trust, credibility, and legal defensibility at the same time. That meant legal moving early and pulling in crisis strategy support to align messaging, labor strategy, and leadership tone. And perhaps most critical: recognizing that leadership delivery wasn’t a "nice-to-have;" it was the thing that either built or lost trust in the moment.

When a crisis reaches this magnitude, stabilizing the narrative may require action beyond the organization, and recognizing that early is critical to an effective strategy. We worked with legislators, wrote targeted letters, and clarified facts directly with OSHA counsel. These weren’t PR stunts, but a form of reputational due process. In public sector crisis work, where investigations can become headlines before facts are fully understood, this kind of parallel track is sometimes necessary.

The First 48 Hours

One of my favorite moments of the session came during our “Crisis Clock” exercise. We asked the room: If an OSHA investigation dropped on your desk tomorrow, what are your first five moves in the next 48 hours? The answers varied-- some procedural, some political, some people-focused-- but the common thread was clear: the leaders in that room understood that response isn’t just about compliance. It’s about coherence, alignment, leadership tone, and ultimately internal and external trust.

If CALPELRA reminds me of anything each year, it’s that public sector HR professionals are some of the most operationally skilled, legally aware, and emotionally intelligent people in government. And we’re often asked to hold all those identities at once under pressure and sometimes for damn near the entire organization.

So Here’s My Takeaway From This Year

Crisis coordination isn’t a solo sport, it’s a team discipline. And in the public sector, the margin for error is smaller and the audience is broader. But with the right structure, the right partners, and the courage to speak before things calcify, you can steer the narrative instead of being steamrolled by it.

Thanks to everyone who joined our session and shared their stories. And if you’re still thinking about that kiss-cam ad-- same; it was truly a masterclass. But what really makes the difference in the public sector? A clear strategy, strong internal alignment, and leadership that shows up.

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