153: It's a Triple Whammy | How to Fix the Culture of Overwork at Your Nonprofit with Rachel Platt

153: It's a Triple Whammy | How to Fix the Culture of Overwork at Your Nonprofit with Rachel Platt

Author: Jess Birken, MNM, JD December 11, 2025 Duration: 24:20
Charity Therapy
BusinessManagementNon-profit

If your team is exhausted, overwhelmed, and constantly working nights and weekends, you might be dealing with more than a scheduling issue. You might be dealing with a culture problem that is hurting your mission.

In this episode, I invited my friend and people strategy expert Rachel Platt of Plattinum Consulting to talk with me about the hidden issues inside nonprofit overwork and what it really takes to build a sustainable organizational culture.

Real Listener Question: I'm a new staff member, and everyone at this nonprofit works tons of overtime without being paid (as hourly employees). The ED works all the time, and the team is drowning under an unspoken expectation to always be on. How do we fix it??

In this conversation, Rachel and I dig into what overwork actually signals inside a nonprofit, why compliance and culture go hand in hand, and how leaders can unintentionally create burnout without ever meaning to. We also talk about the uncomfortable truth that many nonprofits have normalized unhealthy habits in the name of "the mission," and why that approach backfires every time.

We share practical ways to reset expectations, open the right conversations, and rebuild trust without blame. You might hear some things that feel familiar, because almost everyone in the sector has lived some version of this.

What You'll Learn:

  • The first steps to take when your team is chronically overworking
  • How leadership habits shape culture more than policies
  • Why "mission passion" cannot replace fair compensation or boundaries
  • What you can and cannot ask hourly staff to do
  • Simple tools that help reset norms around urgency and availability
  • How to start culture change when you're the new person on the team
  • Why clarity, consistency, and modeling healthy behavior matter

Bottom line: Your people are how your mission gets done. If they are burning out, you are losing capacity, trust, and impact. A healthier culture is possible, but it starts with honest conversations and leadership modeling the behavior they want to see.

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Ever find yourself wishing for a direct line to seasoned nonprofit leaders, a chance to unpack the real challenges that don’t make it into the glossy annual reports? Charity Therapy is that conversation. With host Jess Birken, who brings her background as a lawyer and a Master of Nonprofit Management to the table, each session feels like pulling up a chair with a trusted advisor. The discussions move beyond theory, tackling the granular details of operations that leaders actually face-whether it’s navigating a tricky IRS compliance question, rebuilding a fundraising strategy from the ground up, or managing the complex interpersonal dynamics that define any mission-driven team. This podcast digs into the operational heart of the sector, offering pragmatic insights you can apply directly to your own work. It’s a resource built on the understanding that running a nonprofit is a continuous practice of problem-solving, and Jess guides these explorations with clarity and a deep respect for the work. Tune in for honest dialogue that treats the daily grind of management as the serious and nuanced craft that it is.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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