That was a sentiment expressed recently by Jim Leyland, manager of

the Detroit Tigers, and shared with the team’s broadcast television analyst,

Rod Allen, himself a former major leaguer. After contending for, or being in

first, for half the season the Tigers are out of contention now. But while his

team may be out of the pennant race, Leyland, a veteran manager, is not giving

up on his players. He is there as coach, counselor and sometime challenger to

keep his players focused.

Leyland’s approach has relevance for managers off the field,

too. Losing has a way at eating at a team’s confidence, and no wonder; they are

getting beaten. What a manager cannot allow is that loss of team confidence to

erode self-confidence. Put bluntly, the team may suck, but individual players

do not. It is a manager’s challenge to pull players up as well as together.

As the Great Recession lingers, and job growth remains

negligible, business is sluggish. Yes, profits have returned but morale is

uneasy. Better than a year ago certainly, but nowhere near what it should be.

Now is the time therefore for managers to step to the fore keep their teams

pointed in the right direction. Here are some suggestions, all being with the

letter A.

Advise. Share

what you know about the business, even when the news is not good. You make

yourself willing to listen to your employees’ concerns. Share your expertise as

well as yourself. That means you provide advice about the work as well as

insight into improving performance. So much of management today is coaching,

that is, putting the people in the right slots and then helping them achieve.

Just because business is down, spirits need not be. Managers fight negativity

by affirming the contributions their employees make.

Act. Managers

must do something. Leaders act for the good of the team. So consider ways you

can help the team does its work. Provide additional resources when possible. If

not, pitch in and help. Acting for the team also means spreading kindness. Mark

milestones of achievement. On an individual basis, look for employees who may

be struggling. Perhaps they need an extra hand or need to be paired with a

colleague. Additional training may be in order. This additional help should be

temporary; chronic underperformance means the person is not in the right job.

Admonish. Pay

attention to what employees are saying as well as not saying Grousing and

grumbling are of the everyday workplace, but if such words begin to encroach on

behavior, then the manager must step in. Complaints will be accepting, but not

complaining. The former may be justified; the latter is not because it affects

behavior. The manager needs to keep the team focused on the work and on the

goals.