Refuel to lead: why investing in yourself is one of the most important things you can do as a charity sector leader

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that many senior leaders in the charity sector know well. It is not the tiredness that comes from a long day or a tough week. It is something deeper, something that builds slowly over months and years of giving more than you take in. Of putting the mission first, the team first, the beneficiaries first, and yourself somewhere near the bottom of a very long list.

If that resonates with you, you are not alone. And it is exactly what we want to talk about.

What the conversations tell us

Over the past few years on The Charity Changemakers Podcast, I have had the privilege of sitting down with more than 40 senior leaders across the charity sector for our podcast. Chief Executives, Directors, Heads of Service, people who lead with genuine passion and commitment, and who carry enormous responsibility on their shoulders every day.

Across those conversations, one theme surfaces more consistently than almost any other. The leaders who feel most effective, most grounded, and most able to sustain their work over the long term are those who have made a conscious decision to invest in themselves. Often that means working with a coach or mentor. Often it means carving out space for reflection in an otherwise relentless schedule. It means treating their own development not as a luxury, but as something fundamental to how they lead.

And yet, in almost the same breath, those same leaders will tell you how difficult it is to actually do that. The work is always pressing. The team always needs something. The funding landscape demands attention. The idea of spending time and energy on yourself can feel almost indulgent when so much else is competing for both.

So the investment gets deferred. And then deferred again.

The cost of running on empty

The thing is, leadership has a compounding quality to it. The way you show up, the quality of your thinking, the steadiness you bring to difficult decisions, the culture you create around you, all of it is shaped by your own state. When you are running on empty, that ripples outwards in ways that are sometimes hard to see in the moment.

Decision fatigue is real. So is the narrowing of perspective that comes from chronic stress. The inability to think creatively, to hold space for your team, to lead with the kind of warmth and clarity that drew you to this work in the first place. These are not character failings. They are the predictable consequences of a system running without adequate fuel.

The charity sector, perhaps more than most, has a culture of self-sacrifice baked into it. The work matters so much that it can feel wrong to step back. But the leaders who keep going, who build organisations that last, who genuinely change things, are the ones who have learned that looking after themselves is not separate from the mission. It is part of it.

Bringing experienced coaches together

That is the thinking behind something we are putting together at the end of June. On Tuesday 30 June at 12pm, I am hosting a free online webinar alongside two coaches I am genuinely excited to introduce to the sector.

Tim Pottle works with senior leaders to help them cut through the noise, work smarter, and show up as their best. He brings a practical, grounded approach that is designed to be immediately useful, not theoretical.

Jennifer McCanna PCC is sought after by senior leaders who understand there is an emotional element to how they lead. She blends Emotional Freedom Technique and energy management tools to help clients feel calmer, lighter, and ready for whatever comes next.

Between them, Tim and Jen bring a complementary set of tools and perspectives. The session will include practical input and exercises from both of them, with space for questions and reflection built in throughout. It is not a lecture. It is an hour designed to be genuinely useful.

This session is for you if...

You are a senior leader in the charity sector and you have been feeling stretched lately. If the pace has been relentless and you are not sure how much longer you can keep it up. If you know, somewhere, that you need to invest in yourself but have not quite managed to make it happen. If you are curious about coaching but have never had the chance to experience what it can offer.

This webinar will not solve everything. But it will give you some practical tools, some honest conversation, and hopefully a reminder that investing in yourself is not a distraction from the work. It is the work.

Join us on 30 June

Refuel to lead: practical tools for senior leaders takes place on Tuesday 30 June at 12pm, online via Zoom. It is free to attend and open to UK-based participants.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oELgXlssSJ-Vl9FtHkcGeg

Places are limited, so if this sounds like something you or a colleague would benefit from, I would encourage you to register sooner rather than later. And please do share it with anyone in your network who leads in the charity sector. The more leaders we can reach with this, the better.

We look forward to seeing you there.