As the short Chicago summer comes to an end, management shoulders on oblivious to the seasons.

The Heart of the Game

I saw an absorbing documentary the other night called “The Heart of the Game.” The movie followed six drama-packed seasons of a girls’ high school basketball team from Seattle. The Roosevelt Rough Riders were coached by an impassioned gentleman named Bill Resler.

Here are three decisions he made that I believe showed excellent managerial skills:

· One of the best players (Darnellia Russell) was deemed ineligible to play by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which sets policy and manages sports and other activities of high school and middle schools in Washington state. Coach Resler asked the girls to decide if Russell should still play with the team while her case was being fought in the courts. The problem was if she played, the team would be in danger of forfeiting all of the games she was in if Roosevelt lost the case. The team voted to let her play.

· When the team got to the state championship final, Coach Resler made good on his vow that every girl would play in the game, no matter what the score or the situation.

· Resler created an “inner circle” devoid of all coaches, parents, refs and fans. In this circle the girls worked through their issues themselves.

But what impressed me the most about the coach came as a comment while the credits were rolling. The narrator stated the coach’s style “encouraged everyone to the do the best they could do.”

And isn’t that what management all about?

Mentoring gone awry

Last week’s “Cubicle Culture” column (Elizabeth Holmes) in the Wall Street Journal discussed office mentoring. Holmes suggested that as a way of dealing with corporate cutbacks, execs are assigning a “buddy” or mentor to work with new employees. However, with no real stake in the mentee’s future many of these relationships are doomed to failure.

For example, in one case cited by Holmes, one mentor dutifully pointed out the supply cabinet to his new mentee, Miguel. After that, other than when he messed up, Miguel never heard from his mentor.

In another example, after a brief honeymoon, the mentor turned into the tormentor of one unfortunate employee.

I have mentored employees and found the experience to be very rewarding but it’s a skill in itself. And with managers to busy to provide sage advice delegating mentoring duties to personnel who may be unequipped with handle it, it can become a very unpleasant experience for all involved.

Apologize? Never

A few weeks ago, a head of a Chinese manufacturing plant where millions of toys were believed to have been coated with lead paint, hanged himself. In the view of many, this was an extreme reaction but at least it indicated a measure of regret. Unfortunately, pretty much any kind of humanity has been absent from the apology-bereft corporate world.

Just once, wouldn’t you like to hear an exec say, “Hey, we are sincerely sorry about what happened and here’s what we’re going to do to make sure there’s no reoccurrence”? I suspect, however, that the heartfelt apology is deemed corporately unsafe. Still, it would be nice to know that a corporate executive really cared.

Cellar-dweller Sox

As a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan and still giddy from 2005 it has been painful, I mean P-A-I-N-F-U-L, to watch their slide into the cellar. As of today, they are second only to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the worst team in the major leagues.

The bright spot is still Ozzie Guillen. He’s the most interesting person in Chicago sports and I believe the most passionate. It’s got to be so hard for him to manage through this season. Unlike the corporate toymakers, however, Ozzie takes the heat for the play of the team.

Talk about being accountable: He’s taken accountability for the dreadful performance of his team to new lows. How many times has he suggested he be the one who is fired? Talk about apologies- How many times has he apologized for the team?

Fortunately, at least for now, I think Mr. Reinsdorf and Mr. Williams recognize his worth.

And the fans? Well, we always have the Bears (and, oh yeah, the Cubs are still in it, aren’t they?)

Steve Wyrostek is owner of Rent-A-Manager, Inc., in Des Plaines. Contact him at 847-803-3963 or at swyrostek@comcast.net.