Leadership in Crisis: The First Response

Olga Tomash

Supervisory Board Member, Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine, Ipak Yuli Bank Uzbekistan; Independent Consultant; WoBua Member

Leadership in time of war

Nothing could have prepared us for what faced in the first days after February 24th. No business continuity plan accounted for what was to come. Leaders had to improvise. At PrivatBank, where I was a member of the SB in 2022, the leadership’s priority was the safety of staff, followed by ensuring service availability. The Executive Team rose to the unexpected challenges of those first days, focusing on maintaining services, on evacuating employees and organizing backup offices. A 24/7 coordination hub was established almost immediately. Unfortunately, not everyone rose to the moment but fled the country without notice. Luckily, there were leaders who stood up.

Communication could have been better. But the Regional directors and the Network management played a crucial role— their leadership and personal example inspired confidence across the network.

Remote work processes, developed during the lockdown, became the foundation for crisis response. Employees worked from laptops in cars heading west, in evacuation trains from Dnipro to Lviv, in shelters. The entire country worked similarly. An important early decision was providing financial support and stability for staff. The Board and Supervisory Board decided to increase advance payments for all staff and in the first months continued paying variable (bonus) compensation regardless of performance.

Stabilization of Operations

PrivatBank managed to move all its services to the cloud environment in record time. This was made possible by rapid changes in banking regulations, which the NBU managed to implement in consultations with bank leaders. Fast decisions at various levels were essential to enable new processes and risk management tools. One of the toughest crisis decisions was how to handle employees who had temporarily left the country. How do you ask people to return when some no longer have homes or schools for their children? How to assess employee performance? How do you even set goals under such conditions? The HR team faced an incredibly complex task — both ethically and operationally. Striking a balance between difficult crisis decisions and retaining people was perhaps the most draining challenge of 2022.

Unique Displays

What moved me most personally was the story of PrivatBank’s branch in occupied Kherson. From the bank’s perspective, how could we allow employees to work under occupation? Who would dare take responsibility for such a decision? And yet, there were heroes — employees who insisted on showing up, the branch manager, the regional director, the head of the Network, and the Board member responsible for the network. They all believed that keeping the branch open was the right thing to do. The social impact is hard to overestimate. No one could have forced the Kherson employees to work, or regional director to send them to work. It was only through trust and close communication at every level that this was possible. And it worked – for 132 days.

In summary, the critical skills and qualities for leaders during the first year of the full-scale invasion were:

• A deep sense of ownership, responsibility and care for people — both staff and customers;
• The ability to work as a team, coordinate efforts, and make decisions quickly;
• Clear and timely communication;
• A readiness to trust people on the ground and delegate wherever possible.

Leadership on the Fourth Year of War

By 2025, the war is no longer a crisis but business as usual. Business continuity and recovery plans have been rewritten and tested a hundred times in real life. Banks are opening underground branches to protect their employees and customers in the most dangerous cities.

What will we consider a crisis in the future?

Human Capital: Protecting People and Purpose

Julia Pashko

Supervisory Board Member, JSC Oschadbank

War has redefined what it means to care for employees. In a climate of constant danger, grief, and disruption, mental health and human connection are just as important as financial security.

At Oschadbank, we built our human capital strategy around three priorities:

1. Security and Stability

We ensured competitive salaries, additional compensation for frontline work, and emergency material support. Shelters were installed in branches, and hybrid work formats offered flexibility and safety. We supported evacuations and temporary housing.

2. Health and Mental Well-Being

Voluntary health insurance became standard. First aid training was offered regularly. And we made mental health a core part of our strategy — offering staff psychologists, group sessions, surveys, and self-help tools.

3. Growth and Belonging

We didn’t stop developing people. Talent programs, internal trainings, and leadership development continued. We launched a “School of Inclusion” to equip employees with the tools to work with people with disabilities.

We supported mobilized employees and veterans — financially, emotionally, and professionally. We honored fallen colleagues with a Memory Alley and a digital Book of Remembrance. And we deepened internal community through the OschadFamily initiative: from charity marathons to employee-led fundraising for medical supplies and civilian support.

Clear internal communication — through broadcasts, town halls, and a central digital hub — kept people informed and emotionally anchored.

Our biggest insight?

When the world is falling apart, belonging becomes a survival strategy. People don’t just want a job — they need purpose, stability, and connection.

In Crisis, People-Centered Leadership Matters the Most

Victoria Smarodina

Supervisory Board Member, JSC Farmak

Supporting people during wartime means walking a fine line. You need to make hard decisions quickly — but without sacrificing fairness or trust. The context is unforgiving: decisions must be made faster, under greater pressure, and with fewer resources. And yet, it is precisely in these moments that leadership is most visible — and most consequential.

In the pharmaceutical sector, where the stakes are often measured in lives and trust is the currency we trade in, the challenges of war cut deeper. Supply chains are disrupted, infrastructure is at risk, and people — our most valuable asset — are under immense psychological, physical, and emotional strain.

From this front line, I’ve learned that three leadership principles are not just helpful — they are essential.

Some of my lessons are:

- Pay fairly — or lose talent.

During wartime, the labor market becomes even more fragile. Skilled professionals may be displaced, drafted, or emotionally overwhelmed. Talented individuals — the ones who hold critical knowledge and experience — are suddenly faced with impossible trade-offs: safety versus duty, family versus work, survival versus purpose. In such an environment, compensation must rise to meet not just market shifts but human realities. This isn’t about offering bonuses to boost morale — it’s about preserving dignity and retaining capability. If pay doesn’t reflect the new level of risk, responsibility, and effort, people will leave. Not because they want to — but because they have to.

Fair pay is also a statement of values. It says: We see you. We stand with you. We want you to stay.

That matters more than ever.

- Communicate transparently.

People don’t expect perfection — they expect honesty. They want to understand not just what is happening, but why, how long, and what it means for them. This means over-communicating, not under-communicating. It means creating space for feedback, questions, and even criticism — and responding to it without defensiveness. It means being visible, vulnerable, and clear.

Leaders who choose silence or spin in a crisis may protect themselves in the short term — but they will lose the hearts of their people in the long run.

- Prepare people for what’s next.

It’s easy to adopt a survival mindset during war. To focus only on today, the next shipment, the next quarter, the next emergency. But this mindset, while understandable, is dangerous if it becomes permanent.

Because even during war, the world keeps changing. AI is transforming how we work. Automation is redefining entire roles. The skills we needed five years ago are no longer enough — and the skills we’ll need five years from now are evolving faster than ever. Investing in people’s growth during wartime may feel counterintuitive — but it is, in fact, the most future-proofing action we can take.

Send a message to employees: You have a future here. We are building it with you.

To those of us making decisions in these conditions — in boardrooms, on factory floors, in labs and logistics hubs — the task is clear: act quickly, but never at the expense of people. Lead decisively, but not without compassion. Think long-term, even when the present feels overwhelming.

Because one day, this war will end. And the organizations that will thrive afterward are not just the ones that endured — but the ones that never stopped believing in their people.

Values and Resilience: Year Four and Beyond

Natalie Polischuk

Supervisory Board Member, Dobrobut

When crisis strikes, values become more than statements on a wall — they guide every decision, large and small. In the chaos of war, they provide clarity, focus, and a shared language between leaders and teams.

At Ferrexpo Plc, a London-listed mining company with operations in central Ukraine, the Board’s response from the earliest hours of the full-scale invasion was shaped by a single, unshakable priority: the safety and well-being of our people and the communities we serve. This wasn’t about reputation or risk — it was about responsibility. Evacuations were organized. Salaries continued. Support systems were activated. The decisions were swift because the values were already in place.

At Dobrobut, one of the leading private healthcare networks in Ukraine, the mission — saving lives — left no room for ambiguity. Safety protocols were immediately implemented. Frontline staff received round-the-clock support. Medical services continued even under the threat of missile attacks. It was never a question of whether to stay open, but how to do it safely and sustainably. The guiding value of human life gave every decision a clear direction.

One lesson became particularly clear: trust begins with transparency. In both organizations, we prioritized open, honest communication — internally and externally. Even when answers were incomplete or conditions rapidly evolving, people needed to understand the why behind our actions. That clarity built resilience. Teams stayed engaged, morale held, and difficult decisions — when grounded in values and communicated with empathy — became not just understandable, but shared.

Now, as we enter the fourth year of full-scale war, we face a new challenge: sustaining that resilience over time. Crisis is no longer temporary — it is the backdrop against which we operate. And yet, the answer remains the same. Values are not a luxury in peacetime; they are the core of effective leadership in times of profound uncertainty.