CIO, CTO & tech leader executive growth

The challenge

Technology leadership roles have changed fundamentally.

CIOs, CTOs, and senior tech leaders are no longer responsible only for platforms, architecture, or delivery. They are increasingly expected to:

• Shape business strategy through technology

• Lead major change and adoption programmes

• Bridge business and technology siloes

• Revisit sourcing, operating models, and capability mixes

• Operate credibly in the C-suite and boardroom

For many leaders, this shift happens faster than their role definition or support system evolves.

They are asked to act as enterprise leaders and change agents — while still carrying deep technical accountability. The pressure is intense, and the landscape is complex.

Common patterns emerge:

• Technology strategies disconnected from business priorities

• Persistent friction between business and tech leadership

• Leaders overloaded with delivery details and no time to think

• Change initiatives driven by technology adoption, but failing to land

• Tech leaders feeling underprepared for C-suite dynamics and expectations

The challenge is not technical competence.

It is growing into a broader leadership role while leading real change.

Our point of view

Technology leadership today is a mix of enterprise and change leadership.

CIOs, CTOs, and senior tech leaders must become Business Leaders of Technology:

• Establish business opportunities from the digital value chains

• Elevate constraints of the organisation to maintain quality and flow of execution

• Lead change across organisational boundaries that they do not control

• Educate and influence peers at the executive and board levels

• Hold long-term direction while navigating short-term constraints

This cannot be developed through generic executive coaching alone.

It requires a specialist sparring partnership, grounded in:

• Deep experience in digital strategy to recognise the opportunities

• Technology-enabled change

• LeanTech and flow leadership

• Strategy deployment and operating models

• Real organisational context

The aim is not to give answers.

It is to help tech leaders see differently, decide more deliberately, and lead change with confidence.

What we design and improve

We provide executive growth programmes explicitly tailored for CIOs, CTOs, tech leaders, and senior change leaders operating at the enterprise level.

The focus areas typically include:

• Technology and business strategy integration

• LeanTech and operational excellence leadership

• Flow and delivery effectiveness at scale

• Organisational change driven by technology adoption

• Executive presence, influence, and credibility

We offer two primary engagement models.

1. Focused executive coaching programmes

Used when leaders have a clear development focus.

• A structured 8-session programme

  (intro session / 6 coaching sessions / wrap-up)

• Continuous coaching on one or two specific leadership dimensions

• Time spent understanding the organisational context, including selective conversations across the business where appropriate

• Reflection anchored in real situations and decisions

These programmes are often run as recurring cycles, with checkpoints every six sessions, and can be organised on a retainer basis.

2. Executive sparring partner for change

Designed for tech leaders actively leading transformation.

• Monthly in-person or virtual working sessions

• Regular gemba connection on the change being led

• Development of a leadership kata, revisited every month:

  
  

  • Reflection on the past month

  • Key questions, tensions, and decisions

  • Reframing of the situation

  • Intentional focus for the next cycle

  
  

• Fortnightly check-ins to maintain momentum and intentionality

This format works particularly well for:

• CIOs and CTOs stepping into enterprise leadership roles

• Tech leaders leading large-scale change or modernisation

• Executives who have limited in-house support and need a partner sounding board support

The cadence keeps change visible, grounded, and deliberately led.

The business outcomes

• Tech leaders operating confidently at enterprise level

• Stronger alignment between technology and business strategy

• Improved quality of executive decisions under complexity

• Reduced friction between business and technology leadership

• Change initiatives led with clarity, intent, and follow-through

Leadership growth translates directly into organisational impact.

How to start

We begin by clarifying:

• The leader’s current role and aspirations

• The nature of the change or challenge being led

• The leadership capabilities that need to grow next

Engagements are organised through our coaching platform, providing flexibility, confidentiality, and continuity. Programmes typically run in six-month cycles or retainers, with scope to evolve as the leader’s role and influence expand.

In some situations, we can also provide interim or fractal CTO/CIO support to maintain continuity during transitions. This is positioned as secondary support, complementing — not replacing — the core executive growth and sparring partnership.