3 Strategies Productive NGO Leaders Use to Beat Stress & Get More Done
Do you ever reach the end of the week wondering where all your time went—even though you never stopped working?
Many humanitarian, development, and nonprofit leaders feel frustrated because they’re constantly busy but rarely feel productive. Between emails, meetings, urgent requests, team issues, and donor demands, it’s easy to spend your entire week reacting instead of making meaningful progress. In this episode, Torrey reveals why productivity isn’t about working harder—it’s about asking better questions that help you focus on what truly matters.
Here's what you'll learn:
- Discover three powerful questions that can immediately improve your productivity and help you accomplish more in less time.
- Learn how to eliminate, automate, and delegate tasks so you can free up valuable hours every week.
- Shift your mindset from focusing on what’s unfinished to recognizing the progress you’ve already made, increasing both motivation and effectiveness.
Listen now to learn the three simple questions that can help you work smarter, feel more productive, and lead with less stress.
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Want to know how to lead better? It starts by understanding your leadership style. To find out yours, take my free quiz “What Is Your Leadership Style” - you’ll immediately find out your default style, how it may be impacting your team and a few practical ways to become an even better leader. Just click on the link fill out your quiz and click submit.
FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
If you've ever reached the end of your week and thought That's all I accomplished this week? Or Where did all my time go? Then this episode is for you.
Hi my name is Torrey and welcome to the Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader podcast. In this episode you'll learn why we often feel like we're wasting our time even when we accomplish a lot, three powerful questions to help you get more done in less time, and how to use these questions to increase your productivity even starting today.
So a few months ago I was coaching a nonprofit leader who was feeling incredibly frustrated. She told me "Torrey I feel like I'm working all the time but I'm not making progress. Every week feels like I'm just trying to survive." Maybe you've felt this way too You start the week with good intentions You have important [00:01:00] priorities that you wanna focus on Then reality happens. Emails, meetings, urgent requests, a team member needing support, A donor asking for something at the last minute and before you know it Friday arrives and you're wondering What happened to my week? As we talked I gave her a simple question. What did you actually do this week? At first, she struggled to answer. But as we dug deeper she realized that she had resolved a conflict within her team, finalized a proposal, supported a struggling staff member led two important meetings, reviewed a project budget, responded to a donor concern and the truth was she had actually accomplished a lot. The problem wasn't that she wasn't productive. The problem was that she was so busy [00:02:00] moving from one thing to the next, that she wasn't even noticing what she was accomplishing. And I think many leaders fall into the same trap. We spend so much time focused on what hasn't been done that we lose sight of what has. What I've discovered is that productivity isn't just about working harder It's about asking better questions .The questions we ask determine what our brain looks for.
So here are three questions that can help you become more productive and feel more productive. So the first question is: How can I make this easy? It seems like a simple question but I really love this question because it really forces us to become intentional about how we approach our work. Many of us simply start a task without even thinking about the [00:03:00] easiest way to complete it. And believe me it's worth taking that pause. I'll give you an example The other day I was creating a LinkedIn post in Canva and I wanted to design some kind of photo for it. So before I started I asked myself How can I make this easy? And immediately I thought of using Canva's AI content creator. I typed in a few sentences and within seconds I had a draft that would have taken me thirty minutes or more to create on my own. The task didn't change but the way I approached it did. So before you start your nest next task ask yourself How can I make this easy? You may be surprised by the ideas your brain comes up with with this simple question.
The second one is: How can I eliminate, automate or delegate this? Many leaders [00:04:00] assume productivity means doing things faster
But often the most productive thing isn't doing something faster it's not doing it yourself at all. For example perhaps you're answering the same question repeatedly. Could you create a template? Could you create a process? Could you create a short video explaining the answer? Or perhaps it's something a team member can learn to do with some coaching and support. One of the biggest shifts I see in leaders is when they stop asking How can I get all of this done? And start asking Does all of this actually need to be done by me? That single question can free up hours every week.
The third question is one that many leaders overlook and it has to do with how we think about productivity At the end of your day or of your week ask yourself What is the evidence that I was productive [00:05:00] today? This question is powerful because our brains naturally focus on what's missing the unfinished report the project that isn't complete the email we forgot to send the meeting we still need to schedule We focus on the gap. But when we do that we overlook the gain. We overlook the progress we've already made. So when you ask yourself for evidence that you were productive your brain starts looking for it It's like when someone tells you to look for a red car and suddenly you see them everywhere The same thing happens with productivity. Try listing at least ten pieces of evidence. For example helped someone solve a problem, made an important decision, moved a project forward, had a difficult conversation, created clarity for your team.
The [00:06:00] more evidence you look for the more you'll find I promise. And here's why this matters When we believe we're productive we feel productive and when we feel productive we're more likely to take productive action. We're more likely to move forward and not procrastinate. It's a positive cycle. So if you've been feeling unproductive lately remember these three questions: How can I make this easy? How can I eliminate, automate or delegate this? And what is the evidence that I was productive today?
These questions may seem simple but they change what your brain pays attention to. And what you pay attention to ultimately shapes your results. Before you go I'd like to leave you with one final question. What is costing you the most time as a leader right now? Is it perfectionism? Is it difficulty delegating? Constant interruptions? Feeling responsibility for [00:07:00] every problem yourself? Many leaders assume they have a time management problem when what they actually have is a leadership habit that's consuming their time.
And that's exactly why I created the free What Is Your Leadership Style quiz. In just a few minutes you'll discover your dominant leadership style the strengths that help you succeed and the blind spots that may be creating unnecessary stress overload or bottlenecks for your team. You can take the quiz at aidforaidworkers.com/quiz. And if you found today's episode helpful please share it with another humanitarian or development or NGO leader who could benefit from getting more done with less stress. Thank you for listening and I'll see you again next week. Until then keep evolving Bye for now.