People Leader

Lim Eng Weng, Managing Director, Ricoh (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd

Lim Eng Weng uses people-oriented leadership skills to win over the hearts and minds of his team and steer Ricoh Malaysia to the top of its industry.

Creative and chatty Lim Eng Weng, Managing Director of Ricoh (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd believes his rating as a CEO has moved up the ladder since he joined Vistage in 1996. He sees varying degrees of improvement in the six roles of a CEO – strategist, learner, ambassador, coach, investor and inventor. Significant leadership advancement was made when he became conscious of the clear distinction between leadership and management. ‘I discovered the need to lead the people and manage the work, rather than the other way round ,’ he discloses.

In his 18-year tenure at Ricoh Malaysia, Eng Weng has tackled many marketing and manpower issues. He and his team have taken Ricoh Malaysia to number one position in the country in the document management solution business in terms of units of installation. Ricoh markets a wide range of copiers, printers, scanners and document processing solutions.

Eng Weng walks the talk when it comes to delegation of responsibilities and people empowerment. He displays leadership talent in building teamwork and good corporate culture.

‘Habits last a lifetime, culture lasts a generation,’ Eng Weng notes. From experience, he knows that it takes a long time to build or change corporate culture. He uses many techniques as well as best practices learnt from Vistage and other sources.

Similar to Vistage’s one-to-one sessions, Eng Weng conducts ‘heart-to-heart’ sessions with his key managers once a month. They will discuss any issue related to work that bothers either party. Other staff can air their grouses by requesting a ‘coffee session’ with Eng Weng, with the knowledge of their department heads.

To improve rapport between head office and branch staff, Eng Weng created ‘Ambassador Meetings’. At such meetings, staff from different locations get to know each other and learn interactive and teamwork skills. What are the results? He is of the view that this ‘has helped to eliminate hierarchical borders, remove nepotism, humbled managers and made them people-oriented’.

Eng Weng agrees that it is not possible to eliminate office politics totally. As a proactive boss, he practices what he calls the ‘red Indian ears to the ground’ methodology to hear the vibes and feel the heart beat of his workforce. He also takes regular walkabouts in his office to meet his staff and let them know he is ‘one of them’.

The creative managing director also applies what he learns from war movies for people-oriented leadership. To win battles, Eng Weng says that the boss must act like a General who always keeps morale high among his troops. He reveals that he treats his ‘soldiers’ (junior staff) ‘like angels’ but acts ‘tough’ on his direct reports.

In the real corporate world, Eng Weng has been able to reap the rewards of good people leadership. This is evident from his office display of messages and mementoes from his staff that expresses gratitude to his care and concern for their welfare.

Eng Weng continues to hone his people skills as he prepares Ricoh Malaysia to face new business challenges. The company is moving into ‘green marketing’ where the sales pitch hinges on helping customers reduce their carbon footprint.