By HOLLY LAWTON
Kansas City Star

THE MANAGEMENT DOCTOR

Howard and Fannin, the sports editors for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Kansas City Star, held two "Management Doctor" sessions in Philadelphia that aimed to provide more than just a Band-Aid for difficult management situations.

Richard Bush, sports editor of the Miami Herald, reinforced the idea that spending time with employees away from the workplace allows managers to give them the one-on-one time they deserve. "In the office, there are too many interruptions, the phone's ringing, there's too little time. Plus, it gives you some good insight into people's personal lives that you might not get to see in the workplace." He prefers to take employees for an off-campus lunch.

Fannin recommended that sports editors go even further when they can, by getting completely "off the field" and spending time with employees after work, at dinner or even for a few hours on the weekends to develop a relationship that's separate from the daily grind. Sometimes, even lunches or meetings away from the workplace can lose their effect when everyone's watching the clock and thinking about how quickly they need to get back to the office.

"Do you have the option to open up your home and treat people like more than just employees?" Fannin asked. "I promise you, if you do, you will reap the benefits."

With that type of relationship, Howard said, come the trust and the comfort level that are so crucial to the morale of the department.

"Are you still calling your people every night to make sure they do the right thing?" Howard asked. "Believe me, they hate that. If you've built that relationship with people, then it's easier to reach that trust."

OK, so what happens when your people mess up and you didn't call to check on them? Handle it however you want, as long as you communicate, Howard said — don't feel like you can't say what's on your mind just because you didn't call. Trust also means you should be able to give people feedback — positive and negative — and they should be able to take it.

"Slap 'em if you have to, but make sure you're having a nice conversation with people so they know where you're coming from," Howard said. "People don't want to guess how you're thinking and what's important to you. Then they can think like you do."

Fannin agreed: "You have to have a standard and everyone needs to know that standard, but when they screw up, if you have a relationship with them, it'll make it that much easier to be able to express your feelings."

The two "doctors" also emphasized that managers should make sure their people know that they're taking responsibility for them when a mistake is made. "Don't leave them out there alone," Howard said. "Tell them they messed up and you don't agree with their decision but you're still on their side."

Other ways to bring people closer in the department: Make everyone feel involved. Howard said that in a previous job, the only people in the daily meetings making the decisions were managers. When he moved to Milwaukee, he invited the members of the copy desk in every day to give them a voice.

Bill Bradley, sports editor of the Nashville Tennessean, has a similar strategy, calling writers into his office every morning to ask them what the buzz is, tell them about the plan for the day and get their reaction and ideas for improvement.

Howard said he also added the names of wives (or husbands!) and kids to the staff phone list so that he could get to know the families of his employees in small ways when he called staffers at home.

"Take even the smallest opportunity to foster goodwill," he said.