Breaking the Internal Pressure Spiral

There is a lot of pressure on small charity leaders.

More than ever, we’re operating in an environment that feels like it’s squeezing us from all sides. Funders are pausing grants. Inflation is driving up costs. Decades of cuts to public services have left charities as the only place to turn for many people. And the world more broadly feels uncertain and chaotic, making it hard to hold onto hope for the future.

In the midst of all this, we put even more pressure on ourselves: to hold it all together, to stay strong for our teams and communities, to be perfect and not let the cracks show.

While the external pressure may be beyond our control, the internal pressure we apply to ourselves is something we can change. That’s what I want to explore with you in this blog.

The pressure we place on ourselves

When I coach small charity leaders, this theme comes up again and again. In challenging times, we often put ourselves down and further crush our own spirits. We focus on where we’re falling short, replaying decisions in our heads, criticising ourselves, and ruminating over everything we haven’t been able to do.

We tell ourselves that if we just work harder, if we just do more, we’ll finally get it “right”. We set higher and higher standards for ourselves, ones that are completely disconnected from the environment we’re operating in.

This becomes a trap that wears us down over time.

It can lead to mental overload: second-guessing decisions, carrying the weight of “what if this isn’t good enough?” That in turn creates decision fatigue. We start avoiding decisions altogether, because we know we’ll criticise ourselves no matter what we choose.

From there, we can find ourselves in a downward spiral, slipping into reactive, firefighting mode as problems build up and aren’t addressed until they’re impossible to ignore. The positive moments get lost. Everything starts to feel heavy.

This is the dark side of perfectionism: where we set a fixed idea of what “right” looks like, then measure ourselves only against the ways we’re failing to live up to it.

The world we’re leading in

This mindset is particularly damaging in the complex, shifting world we lead in. Small charity leadership today exists in what’s often referred to as a BANI world, one that is:

• Brittle: Systems feel like they’re held together with tape. A single funding cut, staff departure, or crisis can tip everything into instability.

• Anxious: Constant uncertainty fuels a sense of unease. We worry not just about our own roles, but about team wellbeing, public scrutiny, financial precarity, and the communities we support.

• Non-linear: Cause and effect don’t play out in straight lines. You can do everything “right” and still face setbacks or unexpected outcomes.

• Incomprehensible: The challenges are often so complex and interconnected that it’s hard to make sense of what’s really happening, let alone control it.

In this kind of environment, having a static image of what we “should” be doing is unhelpful.

The alternative: continuous improvement

This is where a continuous improvement approach can help.

Continuous improvement is about doing the best we can with the resources we have right now, learning as we go, and building on each experience over time.

It’s not about lowering standards. It’s about grounding expectations in feasibility. It means working with the real constraints we face - time, capacity, funding - and still making meaningful progress.

It’s a mindset that accepts we’re in motion, not stuck, and that progress comes in small, deliberate steps.

At its core, a continuous improvement mindset helps you:

• Define what “good enough for now” looks like, so you can move forward rather than stall in indecision about how it “should” be.

• Create space for reflection, to learn what’s working and what isn’t, and adapt accordingly.

• Build in experimentation, trying new approaches without blame or judgement, because even missteps teach us something.

• Celebrate progress, not just outcomes, recognising that growth often happens incrementally, not all at once.

Putting it into practice

Adopting a continuous improvement mindset doesn’t require a big restructure or a new strategy. It starts with small shifts in how we set goals, make decisions, and reflect - as individuals and as teams.

Here are a few practical ways to begin:

1. Define what “good enough for now” looks like

When starting a project or planning a piece of work, set clear intentions upfront. Ask yourself or your team:

• What is our intention with this?

• What is our intended outcome?

• How will we know we’ve achieved it?

By naming these things, you create shared clarity and avoid the trap of moving goalposts. You also build in a natural endpoint for reflection.

2. Build in reflection

After completing a piece of work, take time to pause and reflect. Even 15 minutes can make a big difference. Use these questions to guide the conversation:

• What went well?

  Start with successes. Celebrate the time and effort that went into the work, no matter the outcome. This sets a positive tone, recognises what’s been achieved, and is a powerful motivator.

  
  

• In hindsight, what could have gone better?

  Focus on the what, not the who. By framing it as “in hindsight”, you reduce blame and accusations that these things should have been addressed from the outset. Instead, it opens up space for learning. You can also explore things that went well but could have gone even better, allowing you to build on strengths.

  
  

• What have we learned?

  Convert insights into usable knowledge. Remember, not everything can be acted on immediately, keep it grounded in feasibility.

  
  

• How will we embed our learning?

  Commit to applying your insights to future work. Consider where you can take action now and where the learning might be useful later.

Do this regularly as a team, at the end of projects or in monthly check-ins. And do it as a leader too. Schedule an hour every two months to give yourself time to step back and reflect on your own growth, learning, and achievements. Especially when you’re constantly firefighting, it’s easy to lose sight of how far you’ve come.

3. Create psychological safety

Continuous improvement only thrives where there’s permission to try and learn. That starts with how we lead. You can set the tone by:

• Normalising reflection, even when things didn’t go to plan.

• Framing mistakes as learning opportunities, not failures.

• Being open about your own learning journey.

• Holding people accountable to shared intentions, without assigning blame.

It takes time to build psychological safety and embed a culture of continuous improvement. As you cycle through setting intentions and reflecting together, trust will grow and with it: collaboration, creativity, and experimentation.

Impact of continuous improvement

Even small shifts in mindset can open up space: space to breathe, to reflect, to lead with less internal pressure. You may start to notice:

Less tension, as “how things should be” gives way to “good enough for now”.

• More energy and motivation, as you celebrate your own and your team’s accomplishments.

• More intentional decision making, feeling more proactive and less panicked in your responses to the external environment.

• A more empowered team, who feel trusted to try, reflect, and learn.

The external environment may not change, but how you feel within it can. How you lead your team can feel calmer, more positive, and more within your control. It will also start to build a culture where learning is part of daily life, not something you only get to when things slow down.

If you’d like support embedding this kind of approach in your leadership or team, Fair Collective can help through coaching, training, or consulting. We have a fantastic team of associates who understand the realities of small charity life and how to navigate both the external and internal pressures of leadership.