Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast
Host: Brooke Richie-Babbage
Episode: Micro-Series P2: Why Invisible Labor Is Not a Strategy
Date: February 4, 2026

Episode Overview

In this mini-episode, Brooke Richie-Babbage explores the pervasive but often unacknowledged issue of "invisible labor" within nonprofit organizations. She explains how reliance on this behind-the-scenes effort—often from leaders themselves—undermines strategic growth and can sabotage even the best annual plans. The episode focuses on recognizing the "design deficits" that allow invisible labor to flourish, and points to warning signs that a nonprofit's structure and systems may be holding it back.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Invisible Labor: The Hidden Trap

• Brooke describes invisible labor as the unacknowledged work nonprofit leaders do to keep organizations running, especially when formal systems and structures are lacking.
  • Examples include extra coaching, mentally juggling multiple projects, and staying up late to patch system holes (00:53).

“Most annual plans don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because they quietly depend on invisible labor. And often that labor is the leaders.” — Brooke (00:20)

2. Cognitive Simplification: Why We Overlook Design Deficits

• Brooks introduces the concept of “cognitive simplification”—the mind’s way of glossing over increasing complexity so leaders can keep moving forward.
  • As nonprofits grow and add programs and staff, their brains simplify new complexities, causing them to miss emerging cracks in their organizational design (01:18).
  • Old systems built for a smaller organization become obsolete, but leaders may not notice these gaps until something goes wrong.

"Our brain is going to make sense of what we have and try to find ways to use what we have...it’s going to skip over the added complexity that is introduced as you grow..." — Brooke (01:45)

3. Annual Planning Pitfalls

• Brooke explains how annual plans often reinforce existing (and outdated) ways of working unless leaders intentionally revise systems and clarify roles.
  • Plans may sound solid on paper but fail to map out ownership, workload, and infrastructure needs for a larger organization (02:17).
  • As a result, when things start to wobble, leaders blame their planning skills, team effort, or their own leadership—instead of recognizing underlying structural deficits.

"You’re not messing up. You just built your goals and your plans on top of your design deficits." — Brooke (03:33)

4. Three Big Signals of Design Deficits

Brooke identifies three core symptoms that indicate an organization has hit the limits of its current design:

a. Chaotic Execution (03:51)

• Team is working hard but results are scattershot.
• Lack of clear workflows, accountability, decision protocols, and success metrics—what Brooke calls the missing “interstitial tissue.”

b. Communication Breakdowns (04:40)

• Updates are unclear, decisions are vague.
• Start to require more check-ins, meetings, and repetitive emails.
• Brooke refers to the leader feeling like a “human reminder system.”

c. Leader as 'Glue' (05:20)

• The nonprofit leader finds themselves stepping back into small tasks or decisions that should belong to the team.
• This is not due to a desire to micromanage, but because it feels safer than risking things falling apart.
• Typical examples: reworking emails, finalizing grant proposals, joining in on every decision.

“These are the little fixes that keep you at the center of everything...It is not…because you want to micromanage. It’s because it feels safer than watching things fall apart.” — Brooke (05:40)

5. Path Forward (Teaser)

• Brooke concludes by promising practical solutions in the next episode, signaling that recognizing these patterns is the first step to moving from “grit to good design.” (06:25)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On invisible labor in annual plans:
  “You can have a plan that looks and sounds solid, but it misestimates or doesn’t estimate correctly the time or bandwidth that each of the things in the plan is going to require.” — Brooke (02:31)

• On recognizing design ceilings:
  “If any of those sound familiar, it means your current design has hit its ceiling.” — Brooke (06:00)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:20 — Core argument: “Most annual plans don’t fail because of bad ideas...”
• 01:18 — Explaining cognitive simplification and missing evolving complexity
• 02:17 — How annual plans can bake in old rules of engagement
• 03:33 — The true source of recurring planning problems: design deficits
• 03:51 — First warning sign: chaotic execution
• 04:40 — Second warning sign: communication breakdowns
• 05:20 — Third warning sign: the leader becomes the “glue”
• 06:25 — Teaser for actionable solutions in next episode

Episode Tone

Brooke’s tone is warm, conversational, and honest—she validates the experience of nonprofit leaders while guiding them to recognize deeper, systemic issues that require attention beyond just working harder.

Summary

This episode delivers a crucial insight for nonprofit leaders: invisible labor is not a sustainable strategy, and success requires intentional redesign of systems as organizations grow. Rather than blaming themselves or their teams when plans derail, leaders should look for signs of design deficits—chaos, communication breakdowns, and feeling like the “glue.” Recognizing these signals is the first step to building resilient, high-impact organizations that rest on strong foundations, not unseen heroic effort. Brooke promises more tactical advice in the next episode.