Summary4 min read

Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast: Micro-Series Pt3

Episode Title: How To Start Fixing Your Design Deficits
Host: Brooke Richie-Babbage
Date: February 5, 2026

Overview

In this third installment of her micro-series, Brooke Richie-Babbage addresses the common struggles nonprofit leaders face when their organization's "design" begins to buckle under growth—manifesting as chaos, exhaustion, and near-burnout. She lays out simple, practical steps for moving beyond constant hustle toward building resilient internal infrastructure. The episode is an actionable guide for moving from “grit” to intentional organizational design, focusing on the first steps leaders can take to fix what she calls “design deficits.”

Key Discussion Points & Action Steps

1. Recognizing Design Deficits

What Is a Design Deficit?
Brooke refers listeners to the previous two episodes for breakdowns but recaps the concept: design deficits appear when the way an organization is structured and operates no longer fits its size and needs, leading to chaos and burnout. (01:00)
The Need for Change
“If your current design has hit its ceiling and it’s translating into chaos, exhaustion, and teetering on the edge of burnout, the good news is there is an answer.”
— Brooke Richie-Babbage (00:05)

2. Replace Hustle with Infrastructure (02:20)

Why Infrastructure Is Essential
Brooke emphasizes that as organizations grow, “energy and grit and hustle and organic, evolved relationships” aren’t enough—they must be replaced by “simple, repeatable systems.” (02:41)

“Replace energy and hustle and grit with infrastructure. It’s not sexy, it’s not fun, but that’s the answer.”
— Brooke Richie-Babbage (02:41)
What Infrastructure Might Look Like
- Standard Operating Procedures and documented priorities.
- Defined Ownership Models: RACI or MOCA frameworks.
- Dashboards: For leadership to track the same metrics together.
- Meeting Rhythms: Regularly assessing and adapting information-sharing practices.
Brooke notes investment in infrastructure isn’t always about money—it might mean hiring for operations, but often starts with building repeatable systems with the current team.

3. Shift Leadership from Execution to Oversight (05:53)

The Importance of “Flying at a Higher Altitude”
Leaders must transition from “doing things, holding things” to designing oversight systems that inform them about organizational health at a glance.

“You’re not going to fly the plane by feel. What you actually are going to do is set up your cockpit so that you can see what’s healthy in your organization, where you need to step in, what needs your support, what’s going well, what’s not, at this higher level of altitude.”
— Brooke Richie-Babbage (06:25)
Results of This Shift
- Leaders gain time for high-leverage work: fundraising, relationship-building, strategy.
- Reduces micromanagement and burnout.

4. Run Regular Capacity Checks (08:09)

What & How
Every quarter (or at minimum, twice a year), leaders should conduct a capacity check—preferably with the whole team—to ask:
- Are we clear on our goals and what success looks like?
- Who is accountable for each goal?
- Do we have the time, energy, tools, and resources to deliver?
“If the answer to any of those is ‘not really,’ that’s where you start.”
— Brooke Richie-Babbage (09:20)
Impact
Keeps organizations aligned with reality and helps spot gaps before they become crises.

5. “What is Still Relying on Me?” (10:11)

The Key Practitioner's Question As a nonprofit leader, pinpoint what parts of your organization still depend on you as the “glue.” Name that part.
- Then ask: “What would need to be true for that part to run without me?”
  This question reveals the root of design deficits and identifies the best place to focus initial design work.
“That’s your design work first, because freeing you up means it becomes a forcing function for the other three things I mentioned.”
— Brooke Richie-Babbage (10:52)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Tension and Transition:
“Moving beyond grit to design...is about building organizations that have the systems, structures and leadership capacity to truly hold the weight of their mission.” (00:35)
On Investment:
“And when I say invest, I don’t just mean money. Sometimes it’s not about money...Start with the simple things, repeatable systems that you and your team can build together.” (04:05)

Timestamps of Key Segments

00:05 – 01:00: Establishing the episode’s problem: design deficits in growing nonprofits
02:20 – 05:53: The necessity of replacing hustle with infrastructure and examples of simple systems
05:53 – 08:09: Shifting from execution to oversight as a leader
08:09 – 10:11: How to run a quarterly capacity check and why it matters
10:11 – 11:15: The core question for uncovering design deficits and setting design priorities

Final Thoughts

Brooke closes the episode by urging listeners to move from “grit” to “good design,” recommending a self-assessment quiz for diagnosing unique design deficits. She normalizes the presence of these deficits in growing organizations and frames their resolution as both a challenge and opportunity for leadership growth.

For further diagnosis and practical guidance, Brooke directs nonprofit leaders to her website for a quick assessment tool.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
So if your current design has hit its ceiling and it's translating into chaos, exhaustion, and teetering on the edge of burnout, the good news is there is an answer. There is a way to navigate through it, and I'm going to walk through a few simple things you can do in today's episode. 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 to truly hold the weight of their mission. Welcome. So what do you do when you realize we are growing and these design deficits are beginning to show up? If you don't know what a design deficit is, definitely go back and listen to the first two episodes in this micro series on understanding what's causing the chaos and breakdown in your growing organization. So today I want to tell you where to begin. And this isn't a whole solve. I'll tell you at the end how you can get more support in figuring this out. But it is a place to start. And these are simple things that when you have hit your wall and you are ready for things to feel better, you can start doing right away. First, you want to replace energy and grit and hustle and organic, evolved relationships, things that rely on people and personality. And like I said, energy and hustle. Replace all of that with infrastructure. It's not sexy, it's not fun, but that's the answer. You want to build simple, repeatable systems. And sometimes these are things like standard operating procedures and documented priorities, right? Sometimes these are things like defining ownership. Something like a RACI or a moca. This can be depending on your level of complexity. Setting up a dashboard so that everyone on the leadership team can track the same metrics of success over time together. Defining, meeting rhythms, right? Exploring whether the way that you have met and met with and shared information with one another needs to be evaluated. Hint, hint. It probably does, right? So you want to invest in infrastructure. And when I say invest, I don't just mean money. And sometimes it's not about money. It may be. It may be about hiring an OPS person for that, for the first time, or hiring more support on your OPS team. Hiring that Next level of accountant or bookkeeper. But like I said, start with the simple things, repeatable systems that you and your team can build together. So that's the first thing. Replace energy and hustle and grit with infrastructure. Second, as the leader, you want to shift from execution to oversight. You want to shift from execution, doing things, holding things, to creating systems that tell you what you need to know so that you can lead at a higher altitude, right? You're not going to fly the plane by feel. And if you feel like you have to, that's when you're going to lean in more and do more micromanaging and hold things with your team. What you actually are going to do is set up your cockpit so that you can see what's healthy in your organization, where you need to step in, what needs your support, what's going well, what's not at this higher level of altitude. And freeing yourself up from execution so that you can lead through oversight means you have more time for the higher leverage work that actually makes your organization feel stable. Fundraising, relationship building, vision strategy, et cetera. And finally, a simple thing you can do. Run a real capacity check every quarter. If you can't do it every quarter, definitely twice a year. This does not have to be a long capacity check, but I recommend that it is you and your leadership team, or perhaps staff wide, and you take out your goals and you say, for every goal, are we still clear what success looks like? Are we still clear who owns this? Right. And who plays what roles? And do we still have. Do we believe that we have the time, the tools and the capacity, energy, resources to actually execute this? And I recommend doing that every quarter. Revisit your work plan every quarter with that capacity check, and it will at the very least, keep you aligned with where you are. Right? Because if the answer to any of those is not really, that's where you start. So that is what I would recommend doing. To begin, the last question I want to leave with you today is as you think back over these last three episodes and you become aware. Wait, right? This is a structural problem. There are design deficits. As you begin to look for where they're showing up, ask yourself what part of your organization still depends on, on you holding it together as the glue with Hustle. Name that part. Then ask yourself what would need to be true for that part to run without me. And my recommendation is for all the design deficits you expose. And there will be. They are there, because this is natural. I would start with the answer to that question. That's your design work first, because freeing you up means it becomes a forcing function. For the other three things I mentioned for setting up systems and infrastructure that hold the work for allowing you or requiring you pushing you to step from execution to oversight. Right, you're going to have to do things like run these real capacity checks for the answer in order to address that part that's unearthed when you say what would need to be true for this part of the organization to run without me. So that's it for this week and this micro series. I hope this was helpful if you want to take the next step. I have an excellent assessment. It's six questions. It's going to take a little bit of information from you and then it will help you diagnose your design deficit. Go to Brookwithchubabbage.com strong to get started. 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 miss a deep dive into building your resilient nonprofit. And finally, if you're ready to move from grit to good Design, head to brookruchybabbage.comStrong to take the 90 second quiz and find out where to start.