Rick James – Healthy Leaders

Author

Rick James

About the Author

Dr. Rick James is an organizational change specialist with more than 25 years’ experience consulting with over 100 NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization), mission agencies, churches and government aid departments. He worked for ten years in Malawi and four years in Latin America. He has a Ph.D. in OD (Organizational Development) and leadership development in Africa from CASS Business School, London. His most recent books include: Leading with Courage and Humility; Inspiring Change and Capacity Building for NGOs: Making it Work. Rick has facilitated the OD and Christian Organization Learning group http://developingchurches.ning.com/ since its inception in 2008.

The Extraordinary Power of Gratitude

Having a grateful attitude, literally counting our blessings each day, makes a huge and practical difference. No wonder the Bible encourages us to be thankful. Just like plants, we are made to grow towards the light, to what gives us life.

Re-Considering 2020 as ‘Pure Joy’? Seriously?

As our idols come into the light we may be better able to let them go. 2020 can lead us to an appreciation of life, restored relations with those around us, recognizing personal strengths we did not know we had and realization of new possibilities. Such post-traumatic growth can be considered as pure joy.

Creating Some Space to Untangle My Identity

I find it helpful to create some space to explore prayerfully my real motivations for doing things. It helps me re-align what I’m doing with my sense of God’s calling.

Spiritual Leadership – Bringing Inside-Out Change

A large Christian NGO in Africa demonstrates the powerful combination of strong, servant leadership with relentless prayer and painful personal confession. Change was not cheap, easy or quick. But it happened.

Leading up the Mountain of Change

"Change starts with commitment, but that's only the first step in a long climb."

Learning from Peers

We often learn more from peers than from any formal training processes.

Taking Responsibility to Change

Change only occurs when someone, somewhere takes responsibility for a situation.

Change Before You Have To

We all put off difficult decisions. It’s part of human nature. Churches and Christian organizations and leaders seem particularly prone to this failing. We want to appear loving. We want to be nice. But the consequences of delay may prove disastrous.

Find Joy in Everything

I realized at the funeral that I need to change my perspective. As the Bible clearly commands: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice” (Phil 4:4).

Caring for Your Soul in Times of Change

Water is essential to life, and in some areas of the world, humans must dig deep wells to keep water readily available. In the midst of organizational change, we desperately need to draw on our spiritual resources. How easily we do this may depend on our spiritual habits – our rhythms of life. How deep have we dug our spiritual wells?

Listening to God at Work

A lot of people are very fearful of trying to bring discernment into management decisions. But our own intellect may not be enough in making decisions.

Find Joy in Everything

The funeral last weekend was harrowing. An energetic young mother of two little girls, struck down by cancer. I have no idea how her husband was able to stand at the front and speak. Trying desperately to hold himself together, he recounted how his wife had a four-word motto she lived by – “Find joy […]

Finding Character and Chemistry in Recruitment

Obviously it’s almost impossible to really know someone’s character before they start work. But that’s no excuse for just ignoring it. We can at least try to find out what drives people and how they react in difficult situations. And it does not stop with recruitment – what about staff appraisal and development?

Active Recovery

We want to bring the best of ourselves to work. There is a science to how we rest and restore our energies and creativity.

But What About My Brother’s Killers?

Forgiveness is hard work. You are dealing with a reality of pain and loss that cannot be pretended away. As leaders we must ask forgiveness as well as forgive, even if it seems impossible.

Deliberate Rest

It seems that like breathing, we can all rest naturally; but to perform at our peak, we can all learn to do it better. It turns out that we have to work at taking deliberate rest. What do you do to rest and recover? How do you detach from your work?

4 Steps to Ensure Healthy Transition

We all know about founder’s syndrome – where a successful leader is unable to let go and move on. Christian leaders are in no way immune. It may be painful and challenging, but it does not have to be fatal. We therefore need to avoid the syndrome or treat the underlying issues in a timely and appropriate way.

The Courage to Follow

Without followers, leadership does not exist. It’s the first followers who “transform a lone nut into a leader.” Or as the Malawian proverb beautifully puts it: “A leader without followers, is simply someone going for a walk.”

Facing Fears and Taking Responsibility

Frustration and fear feature strongly in change processes. Churches and Christian NGOs are no exception in my experience. Not surprising I suppose, given they are staffed by humans, not angels. But left undealt with, frustration and fear give rise to mistrust and effectively block efforts at change.

When the Bishops Repented

Three years ago, the TEF (Tangababwe Evangelical Fellowship) was closed due to resource constraints, weak leadership and lack of clear direction. During one of the workshops, the chair publicly acknowledged his failings and accepted responsibility for many of the errors that had left TEF in such a state. This set the tone for the short [...]