Assessing what makes a world class Technology leader
At Matrix Five, we believe that Senior Technology leaders face one of the most challenging roles within the C-suite today in balancing ever-changing business needs with implementing the appropriate technology solutions. Whether these are helping create new business models for growth, integrating acquisitions, or streamlining operations for productivity, the ability to align technology with the business goals demands exceptional change leadership. Our assessment therefore places equal importance on both emotional intelligence (EQ) and intellectual quotient (IQ) and underscores the significance of integrating technical expertise with emotionally intelligent competencies for successful change leadership.
Designed exclusively for Senior Technology and Digital Leaders, our assessment is supported by a series of contextually relevant behaviours that all seamless align with EQ/IQ model and furthermore that statements that support these behaviours are also rated on a scale of 1-5.Leadership Diagnostics; a unique (and proprietary) approach to ensuring Tech leaders focus on value
Our research began over 20 years ago and has involved conducting over 7000 interviews with technology executives, many of whom operate within the world’s leading brands. The executives interviewed were spread across five continents, covering multiple sectors, each with varying degrees of digital maturity. We learned that there are certain qualities that successful leaders have, that others do not. Our research pointed to ten critical competencies (see below), each underpinned by a set of behavioural indicators that help provide more detail and definition of what ‘good’ looks like.
What makes a world class technology leader?
Balancing EQ and IQ is essential in assessing Senior Digital and Technology leaders. All of our leadership development offerings are tied to our ten key leadership competencies (6 EQ / 4 IQ). See an overview of these competencies below:
Our EQIQ approach explained:
With over 20 years dedicated to the technology leadership space, we know that CIOs, CDOs, CTOs (as well as broader technology leaders) are among some of the most in demand leaders in the global talent candidate marketplace. Added to that, they are without question, some of the most challenging leaders to assess (striking the right balance of technical, commercial with leadership and influencing skills). And, if you look at the churn rate (average tenure of a CIO is 3.5 years) and the extremely poor succession planning (most replacement roles go out to Executive Search), the current approach is clearly not working.
We have assessed over 6000 senior technology leaders in over 20 countries, across multiple industry sectors and cultures. In doing so, we have taken the time to understand both the critical competencies and behaviours required to be successful and moreover how to assess these. Yet, we have gone much further than simply developing a competency model, we have developed a proprietary 360 assessment product that gives both a structured and data-driven approach to assessing these leaders as well as an exceptional reporting capability.Our assessment product is extremely rigorous and secure (running in the cloud on SAP). The model itself is based on 10 leadership Competencies (six EQ and four IQ) that have been uniquely curated based on these unique individuals. Each competency is further underpinned by a set of 10 behavioural indicators that can each be scored on a maturity rating, between 1-5.In short, we wanted to help our clients make more informed decisions using actual (and relevant) data when it comes to either appointing people into their roles, helping teams work together and/or developing their senior leaders towards more modern/agile ways of working. With a background of 20+ years in senior technology hiring and assessment, we have focused our efforts on understanding this space.Having high performing technology leaders is a source of competitive advantage:
Pressure is growing on businesses to transform to new, modern ways of working, digitally enabled operating models where they can flex dynamically based on customer demand. Leaders are looking at both the technology available as well as modern ways of working as a source of competitive advantage. 
High performing (EQ/IQ) Technology leaders operate differently…
Why partner with Matrix Five?
Our research began over 20 years ago and has involved conducting over 7000 interviews with technology executives, many of whom operate within the world’s leading brands. The executives interviewed were spread across five continents, covering multiple sectors, each with varying degrees of digital maturity. We learned that there are certain qualities that successful leaders have, that others do not. Our research pointed to ten critical competencies (see below), each underpinned by a set of behavioural indicators that help provide more detail and definition of what ‘good’ looks like. This framework has specifically been developed for Senior Digital and Technology Leaders to address the gap that exists. Yet, we have gone much further than simply developing a competency model, we have developed an overall assessment process underpinned by a proprietary 360 assessment product that delivers both a structured and data-driven approach to assessing these leaders, as well as an exceptional reporting capability. Our assessment product is extremely rigorous and secure (running in the cloud on SAP).