Recently, someone asked me a question that should have been easy:

“What is your management style?”

Not because I don’t lead with intention. Not because I haven’t spent years managing teams, navigating complexity, and making decisions that carry real consequences.

But because the question itself felt… disconnected from reality.

I suspect they were looking for a familiar answer—something rooted in a leadership framework. Servant leadership. Transformational leadership. Authentic leadership. A label that neatly packages how one leads.

But the truth is, those frameworks assume something that no longer exists:

When Crisis Becomes the Constant

For the past four years, the war in Ukraine has not been an interruption to our work—it has been the foundation of it.

And layered on top of that:

New wars erupting with little warning

Shifting government policies and funding landscapes

A philanthropic sector stretched thin and pulled in competing directions

Communities living in prolonged uncertainty

This is not a moment. It is a condition.

And when crisis becomes constant, leadership changes.

You are no longer managing within a system.You are leading through instability itself.

While I grappled with labeling my management style, I realized I haven’t created anything new; I’ve adapted what many leaders do—relational leadership, meeting people where they are, and adjusting to each reality. A nuanced shift from managing to leading.

Key Performance Indicators—KPIs—are usually treated as goalposts. But during a prolonged crisis, they become guideposts—directional, not rigid. I’m not alone in thinking about this. A colleague recently shared a reflection inspired by an article from Harvard Business Review. It explored authentic leadership under pressure—how leading on “moving ground” forces us to make impossible trade-offs and maintain trust even when we don’t have perfect answers. It resonated deeply.

How do you hold people accountable when they’re living through air raid sirens? When family members are on the frontlines of two wars, both in Ukraine and Israel? When blackouts cut off technology? In normal times, accountability assumes stability. But here, accountability is relational. It means asking, “What got in the way, and how do we move forward?” It means seeing that showing up—even under impossible conditions—is a form of accountability itself.

Ella, our Program Director in Dnipro, once calmly paused a meeting when a siren went off. She moved to safety, the call dropped, and hours later she messaged that she was safe and checking on the team. The next day, we continued. We still have KPIs—elders reached, microgrants delivered—but they are guideposts, not rigid benchmarks. We adjust, we redistribute, and we step in, all while holding the bigger picture: the mission must continue.

In more predictable environments, management models offer clarity. They give language to values and structure to decisions.

But in a prolonged crisis, these constructs can become a liability.

What worked last month may not work next week

Decisions are made with incomplete information

Trade-offs are no longer theoretical—they are immediate and human

The emotional weight is not occasional—it is cumulative

Management, in this context, cannot be static.

It’s actually leaning into leading. I am not just keeping things running; I am guiding people through uncertainty, helping them find purpose in crisis, and adapting with empathy. I am balancing accountability with compassion and vision. So, while I still manage aspects—like KPIs the role is truly about leading: setting direction, staying grounded, and helping the team move forward, even when the path is uncertain.

So, what’s my management style now? It’s adaptive, relational leadership anchored in purpose.

This is the tension I live in every day:

Holding people accountableWhile holding them with compassion

Insisting on progressWhile honoring reality

Because leadership, in this environment, is not about choosing one over the other.

It is about refusing to let go of either.

It’s about clarity in motion, holding both the humanity of the people doing the work and the urgency of the work itself. When crisis is constant, leadership isn’t about management—it’s about showing up, again and again.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)