NGO Leaders: Find Your Community So You Thrive in 2026 (Beyond Your Org)

Have you ever set powerful leadership goals - only to fall back into old habits a few months later despite your best intentions?

If you’re trying to lead differently in 2026 - by empowering your team, setting boundaries, and stepping out of constant firefighting - this episode helps you understand why willpower isn’t the problem and how the right environment and community can make lasting change finally feel possible.

In this episode, you’ll gain:

• A clear understanding of why even committed leaders struggle to sustain change without the right support system.

• Insight into how an external, values-aligned community can accelerate your growth and confidence as a leader.

• Practical criteria for identifying (or creating) a community that fuels momentum instead of draining your energy.

Listen now to discover how the right community can help you stay aligned, energized, and on track to thrive as a leader throughout 2026.

Watch on YouTube Here 

 What Is Your Leadership Style?  Free Quiz:

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 EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

NGO Leaders: Find Your Community So You Thrive in 2026 (Beyond Your Org)

[00:00:00] Did you know that one of the biggest predictors of whether you'll achieve your leadership goals in 2026 has nothing to do with your skills or your workload or even your motivation? It actually has to do with your environment, because here's the truth. Your environment, that is your organizational culture and where you're working creates and shapes your behavior more than your intentions ever will.

Hello, my friends, my name is Torrey Peace and welcome back to the Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader podcast. I am your host and I am a leadership coach to humanitarian and development leaders around the world.

So, if you've ever set goals like delegating more, empowering your team, creating healthy boundaries, or finally stepping out of firefighting mode, and found yourself [00:01:00] slipping back into old habits by February or March, it's probably not because you don't know what to do. A lot of times we know we should eat better or we know we should exercise, but it doesn't mean that we're gonna actually do it.

So it's actually because you didn't have the right support to do these things. As we talk about in the Three Cs of a Modern NGO Leader, to achieve things and go first, we need to have Courage, Commitment, and Community. And today we're talking about what are the most underestimated success factors for modern humanitarian and development leaders, that is, finding a supportive community, especially one outside of your organization. Because a lot of times the change we're trying to create or the impact we want to create doesn't yet exist [00:02:00] in our immediate environment. So we need to find a supportive community that will create the right environment so that we can really stay on track and thrive in 2026.

Okay. I'm gonna share the key elements that you can look for in a community that will actually accelerate your growth rather than drain it. So many leaders assume that the support they need should come from within their organization. I know, I was like that as well. I was always looking around me for people to encourage me to achieve and go for the goals that I wanted to do.

However, often when you're working in humanitarian development, that's rarely the case. Most organizations and the people around us are overwhelmed. People around you are dealing with ' High Performance Syndrome'. Remember we talked about where they're [00:03:00] overworked and overloaded and they just don't have time to think about where they want to go for the future, the impact they want to create, and they don't have time to really, truly stop and appreciate the type of leadership that you want to create.

And the type of support that you might need in order to get there. And that's why oftentimes we have to create our own. So, you might feel isolated, discouraged, unsure if you're doing it right, because you're doing things differently or like you're the only one trying to create this change. I know that's how I felt when I was trying to create "my organization", like my country program, to be the best place to work. There were things I was doing that my organization wasn't to create a healthy environment and because I wasn't doing things that everyone around me was, or because I was doing [00:04:00] things that were different from everyone around me, sometimes I felt discouraged or I felt demotivated and so I had to look for that community to be able to support.

So it becomes difficult when everyone else around you is doing things differently to maintain the new way. But here is an insight. You cannot become a different kind of leader while surrounded by people who reinforce the old behaviors. This is why so many leaders set goals for the year, but stay stuck in the same patterns.

The problem isn't their commitment, it's the environment. This is where a supportive external community can come in. When you put yourself in a group of people who think like you, who are trying to lead the way you want to, everything becomes easier. [00:05:00] You will gain perspective. In other words, you hear how leaders in other country sectors and contexts are solving the problems that you face as well.

Suddenly, your challenge might not seem as impossible. You will gain courage. That is seeing others trying new things gives you permission to try new things. You will gain momentum. When you're not doing it all alone, you're far more likely to follow through and you will have a safe space, in other words, no organizational politics, no judgment and just honest conversation and support.

And when you find the right community, you'll experience even an identity shift. That is when you join a group of leaders committed to empowered leadership, you start seeing yourself as that kind of leader too. And [00:06:00] that identity shift is really what fuels real change. In other words, if you want 2026 to look and feel differently, you need to surround yourself with people who support that difference. So not all communities are created equal. Here are some things that you can look for to join or find a supportive community. Number one, Shared Values. So you want a group that believes in the same kind of leadership that you're going to practice - empowering, inclusive, and modern leadership, for example. Number two, Encouragement Without Judgment. You should feel safe to bring challenges, doubts, and things that don't go well to the group in order to be able to help solve them. Number three, Diversity of Experience. The best communities bring together people from [00:07:00] different countries, cultures, roles, and organizations.

This helps you think bigger and also create more openness to innovative ideas. Number four, Accountability and Momentum. A good community checks in with you and helps you stay on track without the pressure. Number five, Inspiration. You should feel inspired by other people in the communities, their stories, their wins, their experiments, lessons learned.

These are things that I encourage my community within the 'Becoming the Modern Leader' course to really share their wins, their successes, because I know those are the types of things that show what's possible and also inspire others to create the same. Number six, Practical Support, not just theory or discussion, but actual real [00:08:00] tools, strategies and ideas that you can implement.

And then finally, A Sense of Belonging. So, when you find the right community, you should have and leave interactions feeling energized, not drained. So these seven elements are what keep leaders consistent throughout the year. When you have this type of support, long after the excitement of January and your goal setting has gone, you'll have the ability and courage to keep going.

So I want you to take a moment and reflect on a few questions. Do you currently have people around you who support the leader you want to become in 2026? Who inspires you to be your best, most courageous self? Where do you feel the most energized, supported and understood? [00:09:00] What kind of community helped you grow in 2025, and how might you replicate that or continue with that community in 2026?

What kind of community will help you thrive in 2026? And how might you create a community that you'd like to see with like-minded people or even being more involved in the one you're already part of? So when I was a country manager, one of the things I did was create my own community through creating a mastermind where I reached out to other country managers and we formed a small group.

And we met on a regular basis to share our challenges and we had the goal of becoming better leaders and creating more impact. And because we had the shared goal and we also had a shared level of experience, although we were coming from different backgrounds, we were able to really share ideas with each other and encourage each other in order to [00:10:00] keep going and keep evolving.

And that really helped me when I was achieving my goals as a country manager. So, these questions matter. Because you can't create a new version of yourself while living in an environment designed for the old one. It really does matter the community that you're a part of and the communities you find and look for.

And this is where I hope these questions will help you. So as you plan for 2026, remember this, your goals will not be achieved through information alone. Knowledge does not equal action. They will be achieved through transformation. And transformation requires the right environment and the right community.

So if your organization doesn't yet model the leadership that you wanna practice, that's okay. It doesn't mean that you are [00:11:00] not able to practice it. It just means your next step isn't to intentionally find your people who lift you up, challenge you, encourage you and remind you that you're not doing this alone because you aren't.

If you're listening to this and thinking, yes, that is me, I need more support. Then let this be your sign, your homework for today. Identify one supportive leadership community that you can join or reengage with in 2026. That could be this podcast community. It could be, maybe your alumni from my course.

You could reengage with the WhatsApp group that we have and join our monthly meetings. A peer group, a coast course cohort, a mentor group, or a network of leaders like you. Or you can create one. And if you're looking for a community that truly embodies modern, human-centered, empowering leadership, [00:12:00] I love for you to join ours.

I'd love to welcome you to one of the upcoming cohorts of 'Becoming the Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader'. You don't have to lead alone. You don't have to wait for your organization to change before you do. All you need is the right community and the right support. Make 2026 the year you give yourself the support you deserve.

If you're interested in more information on the course, you can go to the site, www.aidforaidworkers.com and click on information about the course. Alright, until next time, keep evolving. Bye for now.

Are you the type of leader that tells others what to do, or do you let them figure it out for themselves? Understanding your leadership style is a first step to deciding what's working for you and what's not. To find out your leadership [00:13:00] style, 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 in the show notes, www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz. Fill out your quiz and click submit. So what are you waiting for? Go to www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz and discover your leadership style now. Your team will thank you for it.