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LEADERS GIVE THEMSELVES TOP MARKS DESPITE HIGH FAILURE RATE IN TECH PROJECTS
Conscious Leaders , a leadership development specialist and authors of Next Level Leadership , has published revealing research on UK leaders in tech , in partnership with Onyx . The findings show that leaders have a high opinion of their own ability , giving themselves an average score of nearly 74 % or 7.4 / 10 across nine key leadership traits . This is despite the high failure rate of technology projects and widespread employee disengagement in the sector .
This year the CIO Axis report highlighted the staggering US $ 2.3 trillion lost globally to unsuccessful Digital Transformation projects . In the UK there have been many high profile damaging examples , including that of the Post Office . A recent report by Gallup , State of the Global Workplace : 2023 , highlighted evidence that as many as 72 % of European employees are quiet quitting ( i . e . not engaged ), with 34 % actively seeking a new job .
The Conscious Leaders research gathered data from over 200 leaders and hosted two roundtable events to provide commentary on the findings . Leaders were asked to selfassess across nine leadership categories .
The areas in which leaders gave themselves the highest scores include :
• Enacting a strong purpose – 7.9 / 10 ( 79.2 %)
• Building a sense of safety – 7.8 / 10 ( 77.5 %)
• Fostering a sense of equal belonging 7.7 / 10 ( 76.5 %)
They rated themselves lower on :
• Leaning into difficult situations 6.3 / 10 ( 63.4 %)
• Self-management 6.7 / 10 ( 67.1 %)
• Deepening listening skills 7.3 / 10 ( 72.6 %)
One area where UK leaders admitted to struggling was ‘ leaning into difficult situations ’ including difficult conversations . This is a key skill for leaders as without skilful difficult conversations ( e . g . around performance or concerns on a project ) minor issues will become major and the people and projects will suffer .
Tech leaders also scored themselves relatively low on ‘ self-management ’. Selfmanagement is our ability to control our thoughts , emotions and actions in a whole variety of situations . Without being aware of the impact of our mood and behaviour on the people we lead , and regulating it as required , we risk creating tense working environments where people are afraid to speak up .
The findings of the research support the concept of the ‘ accidental manager ’, a term coined by the CMI and YouGov October 2023 report on ‘ Better Management ’. In it , they talk about the 82 % of people who become managers without any formal leadership or management training . Instead , managers are promoted into a leadership role because they excel at a skill unrelated to leadership . Without training and support they then struggle to step up . They continue to focus on management instead of leadership .
Abb-d Taiyo , Co-founder of Driftime , said : “ The majority of people in tech leadership roles are , in most cases , complacent in their own abilities . There is a clear distinction between leadership and management that many blur the lines of , resulting in a lack of self-development that is clearly needed . My hope is that this report serves as a wakeup call to that majority and the industry at large .” x www . intelligentcxo . com
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