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IT managers can fall short of expectations even when they are technically strong. The problem may be a poor transition into management, a mismatch between a person and a role, unclear success measures, or priorities that pull attention away from users and business outcomes. For CIOs and senior IT leaders, the practical response is to make the role explicit, provide support, and assess results against agreed expectations.
The seven reasons below are a framework reported by CIO, not a ranked list or a proven causal model. They are useful prompts for diagnosing an individual situation—not a claim that every underperforming IT manager has the same problem.
1. They have not been prepared to manage
Technical expertise can make someone a strong candidate for promotion, but it does not automatically prepare them to lead people, set priorities, or handle difficult conversations. Thomas Phelps, CIO at Esri and Innovate@UCLA chief strategist, describes the gap plainly: “They’re not being readied for the role.”
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteBroader management surveys indicate that this preparation gap is not unique to IT, though their findings should not be treated as IT-specific. Robert Walters’ 2024 survey article on European professionals reported that 35% of managers surveyed had not yet received management training: 27% had received none, while another 8% had training promised but pending. The same article reported that 65% of professionals who became managers did not feel supported. [Robert Walters, 2024]
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In UK research conducted with YouGov, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) reported that 82% of managers entering management positions had not had formal management and leadership training. These figures come from broader employee populations, not a survey of IT managers alone. [CMI, 2023]
Before making a promotion permanent, leaders can provide formal learning, coaching from the prospective manager’s own manager, mentoring, or a temporary assignment with real management responsibilities. The aim is not to guarantee success with a course; it is to let the person build and demonstrate management skills with support.
2. They lack interpersonal and leadership skills
An IT manager must do more than understand systems. The job often requires explaining a direction, building cooperation across teams, securing resources, and guiding people through difficult situations. A manager who struggles to communicate or rally others may have trouble turning technical plans into coordinated work.
Coaching and mentorship can help develop these skills over time. CIO’s feature also names SIM’s Rising Leaders Forums as a development route for IT professionals. A useful development plan should connect the learning to actual responsibilities—such as leading a cross-team initiative or communicating a change—not treat attendance as proof of competence.
3. They are a poor fit for the specific role
A person can be capable and still be mismatched to a particular management job. Some roles demand steady, methodical oversight; others require a fast pace and frequent change. A candidate whose strengths and work style suit one setting may struggle in the other.
Compare the role’s demands with the candidate’s strengths before selecting or moving someone into it. If the mismatch is developmental rather than fundamental, give the manager time, relevant experience, training, and mentoring to grow into the position. If the role itself has changed, reassess the fit instead of assuming the person alone must change.
4. Expectations and measures are unclear
Managers cannot reliably meet expectations that have not been made clear. A job description should explain the responsibilities, how they support organizational goals, the capabilities required, and how quality and performance will be assessed.
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Kevin Earnest, co-founder and president of Manageable, frames the key question: “What quality metrics will [the manager’s] manager use to determine if the person is meeting or exceeding or not meeting expectations?” Leaders should be able to answer that before evaluating performance. Earnest’s suggested management system emphasizes three activities: Define, Coach, and Recognize.
Measures should reflect the actual job, not merely what is easiest to count. For an IT service-desk manager, for example, ticket volume alone may not show whether service is effective; relevant measures should connect to the quality and outcome of the support being delivered.
5. They want advancement but not the management work
Some technical professionals pursue management because it appears to be the next step in career progression or compensation, even if they would rather continue hands-on technical work. That mismatch can leave the organization with a manager who does not want the core responsibilities of managing people.
One response is to create distinct paths for technical expertise, people management, and leadership of projects or initiatives. This gives talented employees ways to advance without treating management as the only route upward. Nyariana Maiko, CIO for the Port of Long Beach, said of this kind of design: “That really made sure people were in the right places.”
Career conversations should establish what work a person actually wants to do and what the available paths require. A title change alone does not resolve a mismatch between someone’s interests and the job.
6. They cannot prioritize competing demands
Even a capable manager can struggle when core responsibilities compete with a steady stream of side projects. Senior leaders need to give managers clear organizational direction, avoid piling additional work onto existing commitments without discussion, and reset priorities when plans change.
Managers, in turn, should surface the trade-offs when new work arrives: what will be delayed, reduced, or stopped to make room? That conversation gives leaders a chance to choose priorities rather than allowing every request to become an assumed commitment.
7. They optimize technical delivery instead of business outcomes
A technically correct fix can still fail the user. In CIO’s service-desk example, closing a laptop ticket is not enough if the person still cannot access the application across devices. The meaningful outcome is whether the user can do the work, not whether a task was marked complete.
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How to diagnose a performance gap
Use the seven reasons as prompts for a focused conversation, not as labels to assign in advance. Start with the expectations for the role, then examine whether the manager has the preparation, fit, support, and capacity needed to meet them.
- Role and person: Do the position’s real demands match the manager’s strengths and preferred work?
- Definition of success: Are responsibilities, quality measures, and links to organizational goals explicit?
- Preparation and support: Has the manager received relevant training, coaching, mentoring, and opportunities to practice?
- Workload and priorities: Are commitments manageable, and do leaders resolve conflicts when new work is added?
- Outcome: Does the work solve the user’s or organization’s problem, rather than only produce a technical deliverable?
The stakes can extend beyond one team. In its 2023 UK research, CMI reported that 50% of workers who rated their manager ineffective planned to leave within 12 months, compared with 21% of workers who rated their manager effective. This is a finding about the report’s broader UK research population, not IT workers specifically. [CMI, 2023]
CMI’s report identifies management apprenticeships, CMI-accredited qualifications, Help to Grow: Management, and Chartered Manager status among development routes. Those are options cited by the organization, not guarantees of better performance; the right support depends on the manager’s actual development needs.
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