← Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast
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A few weeks into the new year. And if you're already feeling like, why does this plan that I have already feel so hard? You're not alone, and more importantly, you're not doing anything wrong. Today I'm going to talk about what's actually going on under the service. It's part one of my three part micro series on understanding your organization's design deficits. Welcome to the Nonprofit Mastermind podcast where we name what's really happening inside growing nonprofits and what it actually takes to design a high impact nonprofit the right way. I'm Brooke Richie Babbage, longtime nonprofit strategist and coach. Each week I unpack the systems, strategies and specific mindset shifts that help growing nonprofits get smart and intentional about growing their impact without burning out along the way. This show is about moving beyond grit to design. It's about building organizations that have the systems, structures and leadership capacity to truly hold the weight of their mission. Welcome. So we're a few weeks into the new year and we've hit a unique and specific moment in every year. So if you're listening to this in real time, it's the first week of February and this isn't a holiday on anyone's calendar, but it is a period of note right around this week. Every single year, something happens in the minds of the folks that I work with, the nonprofit leaders that I coach and support, and I suspect it happens in a lot of people's minds. But I'm talking to you, right? If you're a nonprofit leader, the sprint of the end of year is over. The energy of the new year that sort of brings you into the year and maybe sustains you for the first week or two. The feeling that things are possible, you've set these goals. Your team is holding hands and charging forward together. All of that energy of what is possible has faded and now we're just living our lives. It's just the year. A lot of my friends actually call February the actual new year because January is like its own weird thing. So we are now week one of the actual new year. And if you're anything like the leaders I work with, this is when you really start to feel heavy, just heavier than you expected. That energy of January doesn't leave you feeling like you have a clean slate. It can feel like you're actually hitting a wall right at the beginning of your year. A wall of meetings, a wall of slack messages, a wall of expectations. You and your team have a set of goals, right? You've clarified what you want to do Together, but somehow things already feel wobbly. You're just not in your heart of hearts. Sure you're going to get to where you guys have said you're going to get to, right? You know the money that's in your bank account. You know the relationships you have. And you see the gap between the money you have and the money you need. The team you have the team you need, right? That gap is becoming a lot more felt this week. It's like clockwork. It happens every year. So if that is you, if you're secretly or not secretly feeling, why does this already feel so hard? I have a whole year to go. You are not alone. I just want to say you're not alone and more importantly, you're not doing anything wrong. I want to talk today about what's actually going on under the surface, why this moment in your year feels so fragile, and what it has to do with something I call design deficits. So let me start here. January doesn't feel shaky because something broke. February doesn't feel heavy because you're doing something wrong, right? This period of time feels heavy because the systems underneath your goals weren't actually solid to begin with. There's this unspoken belief that we carry into the new year, that if we just get more focused and hire that right new person or shore up our communications, then this is going to be the year that everything holds together and feels spacious and easeful. But that's not a thing. That's not real. That pressure that you're feeling now isn't a surprise. It's rooted in that belief, right? You've set expectations for yourself that aren't fair or reasonable. And so that pressure, that heaviness you're feeling is a signal. It's a signal of a structure that needs to be evaluated. If you're feeling heavy, the problem is structural. That's what I want you to take away from this. If you remember nothing else, if you are feeling heavy, the problem is structural. You have a team that might be operating without the workflows and systems and scaffolding it needs, without clear lines of accountability, without clear and concrete definitions of success and ownership. You might have a board that is well meaning but passive and actually more work than the return on investment should, you know, should allow. You might have a work plan that looks great and the goals make sense and they're internally logical, but it's sitting on top of real ambiguity, right? This unspoken ambiguity. So all of these are structural. And it's not that you have just been sort of leading the wrong way, or things are naturally going to be chaotic. Right. Or that they have to stay chaotic. I should say it's that you have these organizational cracks in your design that really require that you pay attention to them. So here is the shift I want to offer as you are sitting with your heaviness, right? First key takeaway. Heaviness is structural. The shift is when you feel what you're feeling. The chaos, the heaviness, the whirling feeling of, wait a minute, what do I do next? And what's most important, all of that. The problem isn't your leadership or your team or your work plan or honestly, even your board or your funding. What are the systems that you're relying on that are not built to hold your. Your current state? Right? You have a current set of programs, a current team, a current level of complexity. What are the systems underneath that level of complexity? And where are they not designed appropriately? That gap, that inappropriate design or misaligned design, is what I call your design deficit. And it happens when your organization grows. More programs, more visibility, more team, more expectations. But your internal structure doesn't even involved with it. You're still using ad hoc processes to manage complexity. People are still relying on memory and grit and individual judgment to make big things happen. Your team is still depending on you to keep the center from falling apart. So when you're feeling this heaviness, this is not a breakdown. This is not a failure. I want you to think of it as an unmasking. So that's my offer for today. Sit for a moment, release yourself from the guilt or whatever you're feeling about your current chaos, and ask yourself, where are my systems not designed to be true, a true container for the work that we're doing? Where are my design deficits? So that's it for this week's episode. I am doing a special micro series this week, so come back in a couple days and I'm going to have episode two where I talk about how do you know if you have design deficits? How do you know what they are, how to diagnose your own design deficits? So I'll see you back here in a couple days for more Mastermind. Thanks for listening. If this episode resonated, leave a review. I read them and they do matter. And make sure you're subscribed so that you never, never miss a deep dive into building your resilient nonprofit. And finally, if you're ready to move from grit to good design, head to brookrichubbage.com strong to take the 90 second quiz and find out where to start.