Key person departure. Regulatory intervention. Merger chaos.
We stop the bleeding and rebuild coherence before it's too late.
This page shows our crisis response protocol. When organisational knowledge is suddenly at risk — through departure, disruption, or disaster — normal timelines don't apply. You'll see how we deploy, what we deliver, and a synthetic case study of crisis intervention in action.
Insurance organisations are knowledge businesses. When that knowledge is suddenly at risk — through departure, disruption, or disaster — the damage compounds hourly. Staff lose confidence. Brokers sense chaos. Capacity providers ask uncomfortable questions.
Your lead underwriter defects to a competitor. Takes three juniors and twenty years of accumulated judgment. The institutional knowledge walks out the door — taking relationships and expertise that were never documented.
Two organisations forced together. Different cultures, different systems, different approaches. Staff don't know whose guidelines to follow. Clients sense the chaos. Knowledge fragmenting instead of integrating.
PRA investigation reveals gaps between stated governance and actual practice. Documentation doesn't match operations. Aggressive remediation timeline. Need to demonstrate competence you can't currently articulate.
Lead capacity provider pulls out. Scrambling to find replacement. New partners want to understand your underwriting philosophy — you can't articulate it clearly because it lived in people who've gone.
Every day of fragmentation compounds the damage. Knowledge disperses. Relationships fray. Confidence erodes. What could be recovered in week one becomes unreachable by week four.
The challenge isn't just speed — it's knowing what to stabilise first. When everything feels urgent, you need someone who can see the architecture of your crisis: which knowledge is truly at risk, which relationships need immediate attention, which processes must be documented before memory fades.
Crisis intervention isn't scaled-down consulting. It's a fundamentally different mode of working: rapid deployment, immediate stabilisation, and honest assessment of what can and cannot be recovered.
Our crisis response applies the same Data Socialisation methodology as our standard engagements — but compressed and prioritised for emergency conditions. We use AI as a knowledge substrate to capture critical understanding before it disperses.
Learn about Data SocialisationWithin three days: we're embedded. Map the fracture points. Identify what knowledge is at immediate risk. Surface the dependencies that need urgent attention. Produce a Crisis Brief that names what's actually happening.
Emergency extraction of critical judgment before it disperses. Document the tacit knowledge while memory is fresh. Create temporary coherence — enough structure that the organisation can function while permanent solutions develop.
With stability established, systematic work can begin. This often transitions into a full Succession engagement — or structured remediation, depending on what the crisis revealed about underlying knowledge gaps.
The head of marine left for a competitor. Took the deputy and two senior underwriters. Combined, they held 23 years of accumulated judgment about Ashworth's approach to cargo risk. £85M of premium suddenly without its knowledge base. Three weeks until renewal season.
Day 1: CEO calls Deep Self. "We've lost our marine desk. Our juniors can process but they can't judge. Renewal season starts in three weeks."
Day 3: Operator on-site. Emergency sessions with remaining staff — extracting whatever they absorbed from the departed seniors. Mapping the knowledge gaps.
Week 2: Crisis Codex v1.0 delivered. Enough systematised judgment for remaining team to handle renewals with confidence. Clear authority escalation for edge cases. Broker talking points prepared.
Week 8: Transition to full Succession engagement. Building permanent knowledge infrastructure so this vulnerability can never recur.
Crisis work produces emergency documentation — a Crisis Codex that captures critical knowledge rapidly and creates enough coherence for the organisation to function. This becomes the foundation for whatever systematic work follows.
Learn about the Codex concept72-hour diagnostic naming the fracture points, knowledge at risk, and immediate threats. The honest assessment of what's actually happening.
Rapid capture of critical judgment at risk of loss. Enough systematisation to maintain operations while permanent solutions develop.
Structured handover frameworks. Clear authority escalation. Documentation so remaining staff know how to proceed on critical decisions.
Clear pathway from crisis to stability to systematic work. Honest assessment of what can be recovered, what's lost, and what to build.
Crisis work requires a different mode of operating. Speed matters, but so does judgment about what to prioritise. Not everything can be saved — the skill is knowing what must be.
A Crisis Operator deploys within days, not weeks. They're comfortable with incomplete information, urgent timelines, and emotionally charged situations. They know how to extract knowledge from people who are leaving, scared, or overwhelmed.
Most importantly, they give honest assessments. Some crises reveal damage that can't be fully recovered. You need someone who will tell you the truth about the prognosis.
Meet the Operator roleWe can be operational within 72 hours. No lengthy proposals. If your house is on fire, we don't send a brochure.
Some damage can't be undone. We tell you the truth about what can be recovered and what's lost.
Create enough coherence to function. Permanent solutions come after the bleeding stops.
Crisis engagements reflect compressed timelines and intensive presence. Immediate availability, senior attention, and the ability to deploy when normal consulting engagements would still be writing proposals.
Scope varies with crisis severity, geographic requirements, and stabilisation needed. Most crisis engagements transition into longer-term Succession work once stability is established.
Every day of fragmentation compounds the damage.
The sooner we start, the more we can recover.
