Home > News > February 2005 > 22-Feb-2005

UK leaders: honest but need to work on empathy says survey

According to a new survey on leadership in UK organisations, leaders are rated highly on measures of honesty, integrity and delivery, but do less well where skills relying on empathy and awareness of colleagues are required.

The survey results were released by the Campaign for Leadership as part of Leadership Week (21-25 Feb). Nearly 9000 people were asked to rate their leaders - from directors to project managers - on 38 measures that define leadership. Overall, the results showed that women are ranked more highly than men.

Just under 90% of those surveyed felt that their leader is ‘honest and truthful’, closely followed by ‘not taking credit for other people’s work’, and ‘accepting responsibility for the actions of their staff’. 87% of those surveyed felt that their leader ‘achieves results’.

However, colleagues felt that their leaders were less good when it comes to skills that require empathy. ‘Recognising and acting to minimise other people’s stress’ was ranked lowest and not far behind was ‘regularly communicating an inspirational view of the future’, ‘actively encouraging feedback on their own performance’ and ‘consulting those affected by a decision’.

UK 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.

Commenting on the survey, Ian Lawson, Chief Executive, Campaign for Leadership, said, “While 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.”

External link

For more information on Leadership Week, visit the Campaign for Leadership website at: www.thecampaignforleadership.com

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