This is the sixth in a series based on our manager's boot camp:
   - Part I: the ten hardest things about managing people.
   - Part II: the principles and tactics we teach in the manager's boot camp.
   - Part III: the most common obstacles holding managers back.
   - Part IV: partial solutions to the top three obstacles (1, 2, and 3) in order of readers' requests.
   - Part V: partial solutions to the next three obstacles (12, 10, and 13).
Here in Part VI, partial solutions to three more obstacles, in order of readers' requests:

(22) I've been accepting mediocrity for a long time already. How do I change standards?
There is no easy way. That's why I often say "it takes guts to take charge." You should work hard to prepare them in advance and every step of the way. Be open and honest. Don’t pretend you are not making a change. Explain, “I’m making a change. I’m going to be a better manager.” Explain why. And explain what the changes will entail. When employees say, “But you’ve always done it this way or that” or “you’ve always accepted thus and so” or “these standards are much more demanding,” you should respond by saying, “you are right.” Admit, “The way I did it before was less demanding, in the past I accepted a lower standard, and managed in a more lax manner. Not any more!” It will be hard. People will resist. It will require discipline and technique on your part. You must be consistent. You must stick with it. There will be casualties. People will get used to it. They will adjust.

(24) I'm managing people who were peers or even friends before I was their manager?
First, decide which is more important to you. Is it the friendship? Then maybe you shouldn’t be the boss. You have to accept the fact that your role as boss might compromise or damage the friendship. Second, protect the friendship by establishing ground rules with your friend about keeping the roles separate. Then make it very clear exactly what kind of boss you are going to be, exactly how you are going to manage, and what your standard operating procedures will be. When you are outside work, try to leave your authority behind. But remember, it is probably harder for your friend to leave that behind than it is for you. You both have power in the realm of each other’s livelihood, but you have more. Third, protect the friendship by being a really good boss. Make sure things go really well at work. Minimize the number of problems and you will minimize the number of potential conflicts. Fourth, recognize and embrace the fact that the work you and your friend do together will become more and more of what you have in common and talk about. That's ok.

(28) Corporate rules and procedures make it hard to do anything around here.
Sometimes managers blame the law. Sometimes they blame internal paperwork. Sometimes it’s the union. HR is always involved somehow. Managers tell me every day that, despite their best efforts, they are held back by rules and red tape and contracts. By the way, some managers hide behind this challenge as an excuse to not manage. And almost always, right beside them, in the very same organization with the very same rules and red tape and contracts there are lots and lots of managers who find a way to work within and around the rules and red tape and contracts. It’s difficult and they do it anyway because that is their job. How do you work within and around the rules, red tape and contracts? I am a lawyer technically. So let me tell you what lawyers do when confronted with rules and red tape. They learn the rules and red tape and contracts backwards and forwards. And then they work the rules and red tape and contracts. What else is there to do? Learn it and work it.