Ukraine Invasion: What Business Leaders Should Do Right Now

By Gregg Ward, MCEC BCC

On September 11th, 2001, as soon as I saw the second plane go into the World Trade Center and realized that the US was under attack, I tried to reach out from my home in California to my team in New York City. I couldn’t get through; the phone lines and cell towers were jammed. I felt powerless, unable to connect with or help them in any way. It took nearly 72 hours for me to get through to them all; they were safe, thank goodness. But tragically, one had lost their spouse when the towers collapsed. Horrible.

Today many business owners who have offshore teams, staff, and freelancers in Ukraine, or in nearby countries (including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova), are probably feeling as anxious as I did. But this time, it’s worse by an exponential magnitude. Ukraine is not only being attacked, it’s being invaded, on three sides by land, air, and sea by a massive and well-equipped military force intent on completely taking over the country. Lives are going to be lost, infrastructure destroyed, and non-combatants will be severely impacted. This is very, very serious.

If you’re a leader and you have employees, colleagues, or even part-time contractor staff in Ukraine and surrounding countries, then you must immediately do the following….

1.????Make every effort to contact them and check on their safety and that of their families

2.????Reassure them that the work they do for you is not a priority now and that their jobs are safe (they’re going to be worried about still having jobs when it’s all over)

3.????Reassure them that nothing is more important than their safety, and that you haven’t forgotten about them

4.????If they are in Ukraine, encourage them to take shelter and/or evacuate to safer areas; research those locations and provide them with that information

5.????Provide them with information on governmental agencies and NGO’s who might be able to help them. This article lists a number of them: https://www.devex.com/news/nervous-aid-workers-in-ukraine-fear-a-humanitarian-disaster-102697

6.????Reach out directly to those governmental agencies and NGO’s who may be able to help your staff and offer support and resources

7.????If feasible, offer your teams direct support, including financial support and travel assistance, and find ways to get it to them

8.????Post statements on social media and via PR/media outlets that are genuine and meaningful, expressing concern, reassurance, and support for your teams (and anyone!) affected by this crisis

Regardless of politics, immediately reaching out with support, reassurance, encouragement, and useful information to people caught up in the middle of a crisis is what good leaders do.

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Gregg Ward is the Founder/Executive Director of The Center for Respectful Leadership and the author of the award-winning, best-selling business fable The Respectful Leader (Wiley, 2016).