Leadership today means engaging others to pull toward corporate objectives
"Management is nothing more than motivating other people" - Lee Iacocca

Seasoned management experts have seen fashions in corporate leadership come and go over the years, and there is none they're happier to see vanish into the sunset than that that of the corner-office autocrat.

It is becoming increasingly clear that leadership blossoms only when the corporate environment places the achievement of common objectives ahead of an organization's hierarchy. That's when people start showing their talent for innovation, when good people tend to grow.

Leadership as the ability to engage others to achieve a common goal is a definition shared by management experts and human resources professionals across the business spectrum.

Jack Welch for one. The former CEO of General Electric offers an oft-repeated list of "lead more, manage less" lessons, including: Energize and inspire rather than control; make it okay to question authority in your organization; spark productivity by making people feel challenged and empowered.

Heather Collins, director of human resources for the U.S. advertising and marketing agency Archer Malmo Inc., emphasizes the importance of identifying and developing leadership talent. In a white paper prepared for the Society for Human Resource Management in the United States, she notes that accountability for developing leadership skills falls upon organizations and individuals alike. "Some employees falsely expect that by merely enrolling in the required courses their efforts will be immediately recognized once a leadership position becomes available."

The key thing, according to David Bell, director of human resources with Ceridian Canada, is for companies to be focused on results rather than who came up with what idea. "The traditional management stereotype was for a manager to sit in his office and tell people what to do," Mr. Bell notes. "But that's long gone in most industries, having disappeared with the workforce's increasing level of education and tendency to question the status quo."

Such stereotypical power leaders can sometimes be effective in the short term where radical change is needed.

But the viewpoint expressed in the popular management book Good to Great by Jim Collins is much more prevalent these days. Mr. Collins emphasizes that the leaders who are able to turn things around are very different from the stereotype. They tend to be low-key individuals, very good listeners, good about making sure that credit is spread to everybody, not just focused on themselves. And they are highly trusted because of the value system and integrity that they demonstrate.

The philosophy translates into corporate strategy at Ceridian, where the emphasis is on teamwork and common goals.

"We're very focused on employee engagement," Mr. Bell says. "It's part of our core values, and it's also providing us with a tremendous competitive advantage."

Human resources professionals agree that people learn to lead by putting themselves in a situation where leadership is required. The ones who are going to be future leaders are the ones who know they can contribute outside the scope of their own job. If there is a special task force going on or a special assignment, they're pushing for it. Such opportunities enable them to grow and result in improved retention rates.

Are leaders of that calibre made, or are they born?

According to Mr. Bell, "the consensus is that many people are born with traits that help them develop into leaders. The issue is getting them the needed experience, training and exposure to enable them to develop those skills and enable them to channel them into a leadership capacity."

Ms. Collins, in her paper, cites a study of 300 company presidents and CEOs completed by Caliper. Only 40 per cent of the leaders said they were born with the necessary leadership abilities. The rest said their skills were learned through training and experiences. Even people who don't see themselves as potential leaders can rise to the occasion under certain circumstances. For example, an IT group might involve a brilliant, but low-key person - somebody who sticks to himself or herself. Then something happens and all of a sudden that's the person whose expertise is needed. And then at the end of it they might be very happy going back to their traditional role. Alice Freedman, senior training specialist with Ceridian Organizational and Consulting Services, underlines the point. "You expect your management team to take a leadership role within the organization," she says. "But what about the rest of your workforce? Whether your employees are managers, entry-level workers or someone in between, they can be leaders.

"Instill passion and commitment in your workers by encouraging and fostering leadership skills throughout the entire organization," Ms. Freedman urges. "Your employees will likely take more pride in their work, feel better about their contributions and have increased opportunities to achieve goals that support the organization's vision and strategies."

Clearly, empowering employees to stretch when the occasion demands it is simply good management. In fact, employees often have a lot more power than they realize, but they tend to disempower themselves. They think, 'this isn't my area' or they say 'I know it's a great idea but it won't fly around here.'

Indeed, it has become widely recognized that overly rigid organizational structures will tend to create a culture in which traditional management is perpetuated and leadership is deprived of oxygen.

At Ceridian, the oxygen comes in part from a decidedly non-traditional emphasis on teamwork, which generates a kind of leadership all its own. "Sometimes they appear to be leading one another," Mr. Bell says. "We have a peak workload period at certain times of the year and that's where standing by your teammates is very important. That's where the team itself is providing leadership."

Ceridian has a special component adding a note of complexity to the leadership equation: virtual employees, whose boss may be a thousand miles away and nearest colleague 500 miles away.

And what that means is managing by achievement of objectives. The company has found that it has been able to attract and retain some good talent because many employees like the idea of being able to work virtually or taking a new job without having to move from one city to another.

"We are always thinking about how we can engage our employees; how we can make sure they are intensely committed to our customers and their teammates," Mr. Bell says. "It's all part of attracting good people in a tight labour market and, what is even more important, retaining them."