1) In 2014, Ukraine experienced a series of crises including protests, violence, and political instability that posed challenges for the author's organization. 2) The author focused on developing an aligned and high-performing management team to safely guide the organization through the crisis. 3) Through open communication, contingency planning, shared responsibility, and team-building activities, the management team was able to turn the crisis into an opportunity that strengthened their capabilities and prepared them to take on greater leadership roles.

1. WHAT
SHOULD LEADERS DO
IN A CRISIS?
GILD. October 2015
www.christostsolkas.com

2. Two thousand years ago, in ancient
Greece, an historiographer named
Xenophon joined a Greek army of
10,000 mercenaries and fought in
Persia.
After a major victory, all
the leaders of the army were trapped
killed. Crisis.
The troops elected new ones to lead
them back home. The Uphill March.
Xenophon, student of Socrates, was
one of the new leaders …

3. Xenophon
The true test of a leader is
whether his followers will adhere to
his cause from their own volition,
enduring the most arduous
hardships without being forced to
do so, and remaining steadfast in
the moments of greatest peril.
“
”

4. TOUR OF 2014
wars
million
refugees
Mudslides
Earthquakes
60
Hurricanes
Polar Vortex
Floods
Oil price drops
Currency
devaluation
Sony Pictures
hacked
Ebola:
http://www.internationalrelations.com/wars-in-progress/
1
1
10
10$bio
loss
Catastrophic crises might affect us and we then have to march uphill like Xenophon.
How to prepare against low predictability / high impact events?
Developing our people and building extraordinary teams.

5. OUR STORY IN UKRAINE
My story happened in Ukraine, in 2014, when a series of unpredictable and dangerous events unfolded.
I was managing an organization of 1,500 people through a great management team of 11.
Ukraine, 2014
PMI
people
1,500

6. TATIANA
Comes from Ukraine. Intelligent,
versatile, ambitious, and strong with
people. Reliable, resourceful and hard-
working.

7. ROMAN
Very creative, a lateral thinker and great
problem solver.
Patriotic Ukrainian, half his mind to
leave the country and half to join the
army and fight.

8. ARTEM
Very intelligent, looks tough but with
surprising leadership skills.
Artem is Russian. Big burden to carry.

9. I was excited when I was assigned Managing Director in Ukraine in January 2012
Wanted to have a big win. We established a vision named ‘We Better’.

10. 4
3
2
1
TEAM
CAPABILITY
ASSESSMENT
Mar 2013
Phil Harkins,
March 2013
4
Strongly agree
3
Agree2
Disagree
1
Strongly disagree
I brought in a team coach Phil Harkins. All committed to work building that team.
Aligned and developed shared objectives and common dream. Almost a year before crisis.

11. GET ALIGNED
AS A TEAM
Wespentalotoftimetogetherto…

12. HAVE FUN
AS A TEAM
to…

13. BUILDING MEMORIES
AS A TEAM
With the return of our team coach we had shown big improvement. He suggested a crisis
management case study to accelerate our development.
and…

14. PROTESTS
ESCALATION
Irony. We lived the crisis instead.

15. 1. Discernment, judgment
‘KRISIS’
2. Chaos, upheaval
Greek; noun, [‘krisis]
I had experience from the Greek
crisis. Double meaning, need the
one to get out of the other:

16. UKRAINE:
VIOLANCE ERUPTED
The crisis escalated in winter. On January 22, 2014, the first blood.
Snipers started killing protestors. People paralyzed. Team in emergency.
Following days horrifying. Hundreds of protesters wounded, 67 died.

17. BUSINESS
AS USUAL
SECRET
PLAN
PEOPLE
SAFETY
We stood by our priorities: Keep everyone safe and secure.
Preserve normal business operations (if possible)
Develop the management team using crisis as a catalyst

18. WE LEARNED
HOW TO SHIFT FROM ‘FOG FEAR’
TO ‘TENT TIME’
Pervasive anxiety, fear for families & lives = Fog Fear
Good times together, calm and close = Tent Time

19. REFUGE FROM
THE OUTSIDE
Place of work to feel like escape

20. WE BECAME
A‘WHAT-IF’
MACHINE
What if open
war in Eastern
Ukraine
starts?
What if our
employees are
mobilized
into the army?
What if our
factory close to
the war zone
get taken?
How can we
safely transfer
our factory
workers elsewhere?
How can we persuade
the government to
create a buffer tax
stamp stock?
Develop contingency scenarios constantly:

21. KEPT
EVERYONE
HYPER - INFORMED
Straight talk is better than sugar-coated reality.
Truth makes people stronger.

22. GAVE THE TEAM
AS MUCH RESPONSIBILITY
AS POSSIBLE
Different people from team came to lead.
Appreciated the diversity.
Increased responsibility, more leadership in return.

23. 4
3
2
1
TEAM
CAPABILITY
ASSESSMENT
Phil Harkins,
October 2014
4
Strongly agree
3
Agree2
Disagree
1
Strongly disagree
Mar 2013
Nov 2013
Oct 2014
Business results were exceptional. In October ‘14 Phil assessed the team for the third time. We became Category Type
One team in a world record time. Leadership stories focus wrongly on the leader, not on the team.

24. TATIANA:
MANAGING DIRECTOR
TODAY

25. ROMAN:
ON A PATH TO BECOME
GENERAL MANAGER
TODAY

26. ARTEM:
SALES DIRECTOR
TODAY

27. GILD. October 2015
www.christostsolkas.com
https://hbr.org/2015/06/what-it-was-like-to-be-a-manager-in-ukraine
Crises are likely.
We must expect to face the unexpected.
The most important is to develop our teams into teams of
high performing leaders. Xenophon would agree.
Instead of one, we need 10,000.