Building digital confidence: emerging lessons for leaders from Beyond the Promise

These one-page briefing sheets are designed to share key insights from the Beyond the Promise report in a practical, accessible format for different audiences.

They offer a clear summary of findings, why they matter for your role, and immediate actions you could take, with references to the full research for those who want to explore further.

Whether you’re leading digital change, supporting delivery, funding innovation, or working on the ground, these sheets highlight how small shifts can build stronger, more resilient digital practice across the cultural sector.

Access to the full report is free for subscribers, sign up now to dive deeper into the insights, archetypes, and strategies shaping a more effective digital future.

The context for leaders

Over the past decade, digital investment in the cultural sector has grown significantly but the impact hasn’t always matched the ambition.

Beyond the Promise explores why: digital projects rarely fail because of technology. The root causes are often cultural, structural, or strategic, and leadership has a defining role to play.

Leaders shape not just what gets funded or approved, but how digital work is positioned, supported, and understood. That influence can either unlock meaningful progress or reinforce fragmentation and fatigue.

What the report found

• Leadership engagement shapes outcomes.
  As explored in the section of the report “Without Leadership Nothing Sticks”, digital projects without consistent leadership support were less likely to stay aligned with goals and adapt to change.
• Clarity at the outset makes a difference.
  “Be clear about goals and rationale” shows how quickly projects drift when their purpose isn’t agreed and understood across teams.
• Digital is an organisational shift, not just a project.
  “Stop calling it a digital project” is a call to reframe digital work as part of broader organisational development, not a bolt-on or separate workstream.
• Reflection is not a luxury.
  Many organisations deliver fast but learn little. Leaders can change that by making space to pause, reflect, and adapt, even when under pressure.

What this means for leaders

Strong leadership isn’t about knowing everything about the latest technology, it’s about setting the tone, ensuring clarity, building trust, and shaping the environment where digital work can succeed.

This doesn’t always mean doing more. It often means being clearer, asking better questions, and helping others see digital work as part of the whole, not as a parallel or isolated track.

Actions to consider

• Make space for reflection, even in pressured timelines - it improves delivery and reduces waste.
• Ask how digital work aligns with your organisational strategy, not just what it delivers.
• Be comfortable setting clear priorities and allowing some work to stop or pause to make space for important new initiatives.
• Support cross-team collaboration, not just digital delivery in isolation.
• Frame digital work as shared, not specialist, help shift perceptions across your organisation.
• Use your influence to protect learning time, even after launch.