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Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast
D is for Design Deficit: You’re not failing - you’re under-designed.
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Welcome to Design youn Strongest year ever, a 26 day special edition of the nonprofit Mastermind podcast. I'm your host, Rukruchi Babbage. I created this series because I believe that how your year ends is determined by what you do now in August, not in November. My work is rooted in the idea that intentional design, not more hustle, is what determines how far your mission can scale. So every day I'll share one very simple but very powerful lesson shift or tool you can use right now to prepare yourself for year end and for each one. If you sign up for the emails that go with these episodes, I've created a worksheet or prompt. You can collect them as you go and have a whole bundle. Finally, if the day's topic hits a nerve, I'll point you towards the most relevant of my implementation toolkits. For the length of this series, I'm offering 26% off all purchases. Let's dive in. Let's talk about the real reason so many organizations are constantly on the edge of burnout. It's not because they're doing something wrong. It's honestly not always, even because they're working too hard. It's because they're working inside a structure that was not built for their current level of organizational complexity and impact. It's what I call a design deficit. Their organization simply isn't designed to do what they needed to do, which is hold the weight of growth. It's like trying to pour one gallon of water into a tablespoon. It doesn't work. When you feel this design deficit, it's because your organization has grown more programs, a bigger team, maybe a bigger board, more partners, more impact, more visibility, more of a lot of things. But the internal systems and structures are still in early mode or hustle mode. And that mismatch? That's what makes everything feel heavy. We tend to think burnout is about overwork alone, but often it's actually about under design, which is good news because design can be fixed. Burnout is often about doing a complex thing without the right scaffolding underneath. And we can build the scaffolding. So today's micro action is a super personal one. It's what I call an invisible labor journal prompt. I want you to set your timer for 10 minutes, turn on a soundscape. I personally love them. Maybe go for a walk. Whatever allows you to be really present for 10 minutes and brainstorm whatever comes up. In response to this question, what emotional or invisible labor am I carrying that no one else sees? Editing, Reminding, managing feelings where do I feel like I'm dragging bricks uphill? I want you to write those things down right? Or name them in your notes or wherever you you keep track of your notes. That's where your burnout lives, and each of those things as something you can design. Now, if you want help figuring out where the design deficits are in your organization and your leadership, I designed my strong quiz specifically for that purpose. It takes about 90 seconds, and it's designed to illuminate what's broken and give you a concrete recommendation about the first step you can take to fix it. You can access that quiz by texting the word strong to 66866 or you can go to brookebabbage.com strong and for those of you who are on the email list for this series, I created a fun tool for you and your team to reflect on these kinds of questions without it giving too heavy. It's a printable tool. It's fun, sneakily powerful, called the Organizational Design Tarot Canvas six reflection prompts, each representing an archetype of sorts of a hidden structural challenge that might be draining your organization's energy. It's part game, part diagnostic, and 1000% designed to help you spot actual friction points that are slowing your organization down. You can sign up for the emails at brookrichiebabbage.com ABC strategies I'll see you here tomorrow for letter E.