The role of the IT manager and senior IT professionals is increasingly one of leadership rather than technical know-how. But for many chief information officers (CIOs), a shortage of leadership skills has become the biggest factor impeding the ability to manage IT-enabled change.

A survey by IT leaders’ user group CIO Connect last week found that 64 per cent of IT managers had to change the people in charge of projects in the past year because those projects were failing.

CIO Connect managing director Nick Kirkland says specialised training in project management, leadership and communication skills is the best way to respond to the talent shortfall.

‘It does not necessarily help to send masses of people on training courses, but putting things such as communication skills, team building and inter-team communications at the front-of-minds in good project managers will make it happen,’ he said.

This is a view shared by IT budget-holders, as the survey found more than half of CIOs are increasing investment in training over the next year to ensure the adequate skills needed to lead future transformation projects.

‘Companies need to give training more focus because you can have a very good technical project but the business will not absorb it well without the right communication skills and leadership,’ said Kirkland.

The CIO needs to show the IT organisation that non-technical skills are critical to successful project implementation and the overall success of the business, says Kirkland.

‘The CIO’s stance is undoubtedly important and it is important they show willingness and be open-minded about building the right interpersonal skills as well as having empathy with the overall business,’ he said.

There is growing evidence that businesses are beginning to recognise the value of good leadership skills in transformation projects, says Birmingham City Council CIO Glyn Evans.

He says the council is retraining IT staff to include soft skills such as communication and business change.

‘We are taking systems and business analysts and giving them the additional skills to support business change,’ said Evans.

IT leaders need to raise awareness of the potential of IT and encourage managers to do things differently by being able to lead change and persuade.

‘The change in emphasis is that good communication and business skills are now seen as a core component of the CIO role,’ said Evans.

There is a solid business case for focusing on the need for good IT leadership.

‘The consequence of not doing anything about leadership skills within IT is simply that you will not get the best return on investment from a change programme,’ said Evans.

Despite the effect poor leadership can have on the delivery of IT projects, the biggest barrier to employing new skills at the senior IT level is resistance to cultural change.

‘It is not always easy to get senior management to be enthusiastic or accept that softer skills are needed to lead IT-enabled business change,’ said Evans.

Ashley Braganza, senior lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management, says non-technical skills are not highly developed at undergraduate level and need to be nurtured professionally.

‘The caricature of the IT person who understands the technology but cannot speak the language of business and is not particularly articulate is someone who has not been working in the industry for very long,’ said Braganza.

‘But if you take that same IT person a few years later where they have had a chance to give and sit in on presentations and been in all sorts of situations, they have much broader business skills.’

The lack of business skills among entry-level candidates is the reason one in five employers are not recruiting IT graduates, according to sector skills body e-Skills UK.

And 40 per cent of employers consider the level of business and non-technical skills of the IT graduates they do recruit to be inadequate.

But Alistair Russell, director of CIO professional development body The Impact Programme, says gaining leadership abilities early in an IT career is more effective than at any other time.

‘Traditional computer science undergraduate courses may not necessarily give the breadth of capability needed later on in careers,’ said Russell.

‘Businesses need to develop leadership capabilities early on in careers by exposing staff in their early 20s to the idea of motivating and setting direction for a small team,’ he said.