Jimmy Cheah, managing director,SAS Malaysia

What do you enjoy most about your job?
What I enjoy most is working with people. When I embarked on a career in IT 20 years ago, I thought I would work predominantly with machines. But I have been very fortunate because while I still work within the IT industry, I have the pleasure of working with people — understanding what they want to achieve, working with them as they stride ahead and achieve personal goals, providing the suitable environment for them to thrive in. These things make me grateful I’m in a management position.

How would you describe your management style?
I view my job as how I can enable others to be the best they can be. I’m here to facilitate their performance, and to do my best to ensure that they find their jobs enjoyable and fulfilling. Times have changed... It’s all about earning trust and engaging people. To me, being given the title of ‘manager’ doesn’t automatically make you one.

What would you say are your best and worst management decisions?
I don’t think there is a best or worst management decision for me. Overall I am satisfied with the decisions I have made. Even things that haven’t turned out well are a learning experience, and something good has come of it. Most fulfilling for me is when I’ve coached and trained a colleague who has gone on to find great success. Fulfilment for me is not measured in sales or bonuses — it is found in having played a part in someone’s life.

What lessons have you learned in the course of your career that you find most helpful today?
I once had a colleague who taught me to focus on the positive rather than the negative. I had a habit of highlighting things that were left undone, or were not done well enough. By focusing on the negative, I made the recipient feel bad — even if he or she had done quite well. Instead I now know that it is good to focus on what has been done well. If there are things that need to be improved, prioritise and only focus on the most important aspects — leave out the minor things.

Another lesson I learnt was from an American professor named Mario Martinez (founder of the Empowerment Code Institute), who gave a talk here on empowerment. I learnt that if you tell someone, ‘If you need further information, you can get back to me’ you are actually disempowering them. Because if they need something, they are reliant on you. Instead empower people by asking them, ‘What do you need to do?’ followed by ‘What do you think you need to achieve it?’. This grants them a sense of ownership. The odd thing is, even a simple rephrasing like this works! It cuts the umbilical cord and lets the person mature.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
I don’t look at life from that perspective. Looking back is unproductive. The potential for change is in you. Tell yourself, ‘That’s how I’m going to do it now!’ rather than ‘I wish I had’, or ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’.

This article appeared in the Manager@work, the monthly Management pullout ofThe Edge Malaysia, Issue 747, March 23-29, 2009.