CIO Survey Shows Popular Leadership Training Techniques

Are successful leaders born or made? Many companies are banking on the latter. Fifty percent of chief information officers (CIOs) polled recently said they are actively preparing information technology (IT) staff for leadership roles at their companies. Commonly cited tactics include mentoring programs (43 percent), management training (42 percent) and soft-skills training (35 percent).

The national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. It was conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis.

CIOs were asked: "Are you taking any steps to identify and prepare individuals on your IT staff to move into managerial roles?" Their response:

• Yes, 50 percent
• No, 49 percent
• Don't know, 1 percent.

Those who answered "yes" to the above question also were asked to specify which of the following steps they were implementing. Their responses:

• Mentoring programs, 43 percent
• Management training, 42 percent
• Soft-skills training (e.g. interpersonal or communication skills), 35 percent
• Succession planning programs, 19 percent
• Other training/continuing education, 1 percent
• Other, 1 percent

"Preparing staff for future management roles is critical in fast-growth companies," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Leadership training also can be a form of succession planning for businesses facing the impending retirement of baby boomers or anticipating turnover as a result of low unemployment levels."

Lee noted that "to build a deep bench, CIOs are investing -- in both real dollars and time away from IT projects -- in a variety of preparatory measures. Mentoring programs, management training and soft-skills training are ways to teach competencies that technology curricula often lack, yet are vital to career success. Through this type of instruction, less-tenured employees also become more knowledgeable about all aspects of operations."