The Resilience Formula: How to Keep Your Team Together in Times of War

In a world where leadership was once synonymous with predictability, stability, and well-defined strategies, the war in Ukraine has shattered those traditional models. More than 70% of Ukrainian companies have suffered serious losses, and over half of business leaders have had to make decisions that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago — mass layoffs, radical business pivots, or even full shutdowns. The crisis has brought not only economic turbulence but also a profound erosion of trust — in leadership, in teams, and in the future itself.

According to research by the Kyiv School of Economics, over 62% of companies lost up to 40% of their revenue during the first year of the war, and 33% were on the brink of closure. Nearly every second business had to make tough staffing decisions, triggering widespread anxiety among employees — 45% reported a significant drop in motivation due to the ongoing instability.

These challenges are transforming not only business models but the very nature of leadership.

In such extreme conditions, leaders walk a fine line between ensuring business survival and preserving humanity within their teams. Every decision becomes a balance between pragmatism and empathy, between rapid response and emotional support for people who rely on them during the darkest hours.

This second piece in our series explores exactly that — how top leaders manage to stay the course while everything around them is falling apart.

We spoke with three leading women in Ukrainian business — Olena Vdovychenko (CEO of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine), Mariia Osyka (Director of Agricultural Investments at NCH Capital), and Olha Ustynova (CEO of Vodafone Ukraine). We asked them how their understanding of leadership has changed over the past two years, and what helps them keep their teams strong under immense stress, loss, and uncertainty.

Their insights don’t offer one-size-fits-all answers, but rather lived experiences that are shaping a new leadership lens — one that is more flexible, humane, and responsible. Because in today’s world, leadership is no longer just about moving forward — it’s about staying grounded when the very foundations are shaking.

To maintain balance between tough crisis decisions and preserving human capital, I always rely on three pillars:

• A clear strategic direction — defined before the crisis hits.
• Empathy — the foundation of trust and support.
• Adaptability — the uniquely Ukrainian ability to find solutions in new realities.

These are the foundations. Everything else — actions, processes, response algorithms — are activated at the moment.

At METRO Ukraine, people have always been our priority. Supporting, retaining, and nurturing their potential is a key part of our strategy. In times of crisis, I follow what I call the KPI principle — Keep People Informed, Involved, Inspired. This shapes all our decisions:

People: Team, customers, partners, and their safety Business processes: Our humanitarian mission comes first — ensuring essential goods are available, supply chains stay open, and quality remains high Financial prudence: Carefully managing costs to maintain liquidity and solvency

It’s worth emphasizing: in a crisis, communication is critical. Teams must clearly understand what’s happening, what support they can expect, and what the company’s next steps are.

Within four months of the full-scale invasion, we had adapted to the new reality and stabilized our operations. Most importantly, we kept our team together. When people understand where the company is headed and why, they stop being passive participants — they become creators of the future.

For our company’s leadership, this understanding has always been a top priority. As far back as 2016, all enterprises within the Agroprosperis Group identified a core team of key specialists who became central to our decentralized business management model and a cornerstone of our motivation system. As experience has shown, this approach laid the foundation for our company’s success.

When challenging times came — first the pandemic, then the war — our top priority remained the same: safeguarding the health and safety of our employees and teams.

How Do We Balance Swift Decision-Making with Humanity?

1. The Leader as Conductor: Presence, Example, and Strategic Vision

A company is like an orchestra where everyone plays an important part. The leader is the conductor who creates harmony. They must grasp the big picture while remaining attuned to the team’s mood and condition. Over the past 125 years — across four generations — humanity has lived through similar events three times. Thus, passing on the crystallized wisdom of previous generations is essential. Employees’ physical and mental health directly affect a company’s resilience. A leader must remain calm, trust their experience and intuition, and deeply understand human emotions and historical cycles. Crisis management experience becomes crucial — a leader must rely on their accumulated insights and act decisively. What helps? A personal mission, team trust, a love for people, optimism — and even humor. Setting direction, rhythm, energy, inspiration, and support under all circumstances is the leader’s daily modus operandi.

2. Systematic Communication — Daily Contact and Oversight

In times of crisis, regular (morning and evening) meetings are essential. They allow leaders to keep a pulse on team morale, monitor task execution, and address concerns in a changing environment. Robust communication systems are a top priority — we take cues from the military. Proficiency in using video conferencing and mobile group chats is a must at all levels. When conditions improve, combining in-person and video meetings is the most effective format.

3. The Vision of Victory and Adaptation

A leader must swiftly assess how events impact company objectives and quickly adapt strategies and tools to meet goals under any circumstances. Back in 2016, we implemented virtual modeling using mathematical algorithms, allowing each team to choose its optimal path to results. This innovation helped us weather both the pandemic and the war, maintaining pre-war performance levels.

4. Efficiency, Decentralization, and Delegation

Belief in the creative power of individuals, trust and respect for employees, and clear understanding of tasks and authority to make independent decisions — these are the pillars of company resilience in challenging times.

5. Unified Operating System and Automation

The world has changed, and IT is now a core production tool. Automation streamlines processes, cuts costs, ensures transparency, and unites the team. Modern technology makes production and communication cheaper, clearer, and more accessible, enabling team cohesion. The performance of individuals and the company as a whole can be viewed from anywhere in the world, at any time.

6. Motivation System

We live in a material world, yet every person has unique talents meant to be realized and shared with society. It’s crucial that shareholders understand the need to allocate part of the financial results toward staff incentives. We’ve created a unique motivation system that allows key specialists to invest in the company and receive a share of its annual earnings. This system financially rewards all employees.

7. A Healthy Corporate Spirit

Team development planning is vital in both stable and challenging times — it’s the main investment! Training at all levels and personal self-improvement efforts form the basis for talent development and career planning. Structured experience sharing is a great opportunity to benchmark knowledge and skills. Corporate events energize, develop, and elevate teams to new levels of focus and morale. Celebrating achievements and receiving well-earned recognition turns the company into one big family. “Creating our company’s history together!” — that’s our motto.

8. Innovation and Creativity

The world is moving forward, and it’s crucial to involve staff in creative processes — to discover and apply their talents in building the new and unprecedented. This fosters intellectual growth, drives synergy, strengthens competitiveness and resilience, and builds a winning team spirit. Organizing, encouraging, and productively directing creativity is one of a leader’s key responsibilities.

What Doesn’t Break Us — Makes Us Stronger!

Thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the opportunity to live and create in Ukraine.

We live — and we win!

For me as a leader, the greatest challenge during wartime wasn’t just making critical decisions quickly — it was preserving the team’s trust, supporting our people, and staying true to a principle I deeply believe in: people are a company’s most valuable resource, and we will not cut corners on that — even in the hardest of times.

In the very first hours of the full-scale invasion, we made three core decisions that would define our strategy moving forward:

• We would not lay off staff.
• We would continue paying full salaries for as long as possible.
• We would do everything in our power to keep our employees safe.

These principles became the foundation of our crisis leadership model. 2022 was a year of hard efficiency. We directed all resources toward resilience — but not at the cost of people. We organized evacuations for employees and their families, and reimbursed expenses for those who lost their homes. This laid the groundwork for trust — something we still see today: according to our eNPS survey, 88% of colleagues feel the company genuinely cares about them.

The war changed all of us. We became more anxious, more fatigued. And yet, for many, work became a stabilizing force. The sense of purpose, the structure of the day, the team nearby — all of this helped people stay grounded and adapt to a new reality. We did everything we could to preserve that anchor: we introduced flexible schedules, equipped offices with generators and shelters, and continue to invest in the safety and well-being of our people.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was how to ensure people’s safety while keeping our network running reliably. In the early days, the situation changed by the hour. We made what seemed like a risky decision at the time: we decentralized decision-making and gave local teams the authority to act. For a large infrastructure company, this wasn’t easy. But we clearly defined our framework:

• Employee safety
• Network continuity
• Support for the country

If a decision aligned with these three criteria — it was the right one. This flexibility allowed us to respond effectively where centralized instructions simply couldn’t keep up.

Let me share an especially moving story from Mariupol: one of our engineers, risking his life, kept refueling generators so that even a single mobile connection point would remain operational in the city. When the final base station was destroyed, he gave the remaining fuel to engineers from another operator — just so that people in Mariupol could stay connected with their loved ones a little longer. This wasn’t just heroism — it was responsibility and humanity, born from a company culture that treats people with genuine care.

Our goal has never been just to retain the team, but to actively support it. In 2023, we organized a series of sessions with social psychologists and trained managers to handle sensitive conversations, particularly as veterans began returning to work. We understand that post-service reintegration is a journey that requires time, empathy, and thoughtful communication.

One of our proudest achievements is our new underground contact center in Dnipro. Previously, during air raid alerts, staff had to run up and down floors multiple times a day — a stressful and disruptive experience for both employees and customers. In just five months, we implemented a solution that allows operators to stay safe in shelter while continuing to work uninterrupted. It’s a real-life example of balancing safety and efficiency.

We haven’t shut down our well-being programs. We haven’t cut insurance benefits. On the contrary — we regularly review salaries, pay out bonuses, resume in-person events and training programs, and reactivated internal communities. In times of uncertainty, stability and the opportunity to grow are the best investments in human capital.

Leadership during wartime means being present — even when you’re afraid yourself. It’s about making difficult decisions while remaining deeply human.

Today, I can say with confidence: preserving people isn’t just a moral decision — it’s a strategic one. Because a business that hasn’t lost its soul won’t lose its future either.

Research shows that companies prioritizing employee support and cultivating trust achieve 25% higher productivity and 30% lower turnover during times of crisis.

Yes, crises always intensify leadership challenges — but they also unlock new opportunities.

According to McKinsey, only one in four companies believes its leadership model is prepared for future challenges. At the same time, over 60% of businesses report a sharp decline in employee trust and engagement — a clear sign that traditional approaches are no longer effective. The war in Ukraine, combined with global trends such as automation and economic instability, has underscored a powerful truth: effective leadership is no longer possible without a deep focus on the human factor.

The experiences of Olena Vdovychenko, Mariya Osyka, and Olha Ustinova are not polished success stories — they are real accounts of leading through constant stress, loss, and uncertainty. Their strategies show that even in the most difficult circumstances, it is possible to preserve your team, rebuild trust, and chart a course toward sustainable growth. This requires a unique blend of clear strategy, flexibility, open communication, and genuine humanity.

For the 21st-century leader — whether operating on a global or local scale — the goal is not to avoid change, but to stand beside your team in the darkest times, holding on to your faith in people and the future.

Resilience isn’t a single formula — it’s a daily mix of decisions, values, and actions. It’s about a vision that looks beyond quarterly reports. About the ability to be present. And the belief that preserving dignity in the hardest times is the strongest foundation for rebuilding.

Because a business that doesn’t lose its people — doesn’t lose itself.