Nestlé’s CEO shares his advice for building teams that can weather a crisis

As CEO of Nestlé, Philipp Navratil leads a workforce of more than 270,000 people and oversees a portfolio of more than 30 billion-dollar brands.

So he’s encountered his fair share of crises. “There’s always something happening somewhere,” Navratil told Business Insider. “Natural disasters, conflicts.” Navratil said resilient teams tend to share two traits: They work well together and have a shared purpose.

While leaders can’t plan for every challenge, Navratil said, they can build team structures that help people pull in the same direction when challenges come up.

He pointed to Nestlé employees in the Middle East and Ukraine, who have rallied around a common goal during difficult moments.

This is part of a series of stories from Business Insider’s conversation with Nestlé CEO Philipp Navratil.

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While Navratil’s advice may sound simple, teams don’t become resilient simply by deciding to be focused and collaborative.

Leaders need to create an environment where people trust one another and understand who they’re working alongside, he said. “It’s really about transparency, trust,” Navratil said, adding that, “you want to have a leadership that you can trust, especially in a crisis situation.” Additionally, leaders also need people they can count on, the CEO said.

That means building strong teams of people that can make sound decisions in the company’s best interest. “It’s not easy,” Navratil said. “It’s a journey.” Navratil said teams that operate that way can be “amazingly powerful,” and they don’t need to wait for a crisis for “that beauty to unfold.” When employees make a habit of working with trust, purpose, and sound judgment every day, they’re in a better position to continue moving forward, no matter what comes at them, he said.

Those kinds of teams may look like they were built for crisis response, the CEO said, but that’s not the case. “No, it’s just a really strong team with the right purpose and the right accountability and the right trust level,” Navratil said.