Against expectation, leaders in UK organisations, from directors to project managers, are rated highly by colleagues. As part of Leadership Week (starting 21 February 2005), a new survey by the Campaign for Leadership asked nearly 9000 people to rate their leaders on 38 measures that define leadership. Measures of honesty, integrity and delivery were ranked highest while skills relying on empathy and awareness of colleagues were ranked lowest.
Just under 90% of those surveyed felt that their leader is ëhonest and truthfulí, closely followed by ënot taking credit for other peopleís workí, and ëaccepting responsibility for the actions of their staffí.
This does not prejudice delivery as 87% of those surveyed felt that their leader ëachieves resultsí.
However, colleagues felt that their leaders were less good when it comes to skills that require empathy. ëRecognising and acting to minimise other peopleís stressí was ranked lowest and not far behind was ëregularly communicating an inspirational view of the futureí, ëactively encouraging feedback on their own performanceí and ëconsulting those affected by a decisioní.
In contrast to stereotypes, leaders would also seem to be a self-depreciating bunch. Asked to rank themselves over the same measures, leaders always rated themselves lower than did their colleagues.
The results also show that women are ranked more highly than men, although it is close.
Commenting on the survey, Ian Lawson, Chief Executive, Campaign for Leadership, said, ìWhile there is talk of confidence in our public leaders being eroded, at a day-to-day level, the truth is very different. People actually rate their organisational leaders very highly, although there is still room for improvement. High performance organisations understand that effective leadership creates competitive advantage.î
Business leaders show honesty and integrity say colleagues
Not so good with the feelings of others; women ranked top
