Bruce Tulgan

<p>This is the third in a seven part series based on our manager's boot camp. <a href="/SITEFORUM;jsessionid=102A694EC25FD392FCF30A1DEBA430CB?t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1116423256281&l=0&e=UTF-8&active=no&ParentID=0&sort=Price&StoryID=1139338037097">Part 1</a> focused on the ten hardest things about managing people. <a href="/SITEFORUM;jsessionid=102A694EC25FD392FCF30A1DEBA430CB?t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1116423256281&l=0&e=UTF-8&active=no&ParentID=0&sort=Price&StoryID=1139338912169">Part 2</a> focused on the principles and tactics we teach managers. In Part III, we focus on the most common obstacles preventing managers from practicing these principles and tactics:</p> <ol type="1" start="1"> <li>I don't have enough time.</li> <li>I manage too many people.</li> <li>I manage people in a remote location.</li> <li>I manage people who do work in areas where I don't have knowledge or experience.</li> <li>I don't have direct authority over certain people I have to manage (I'm a project leader or I manage people who answer not only to me but to other bosses as well or I manage vendors or contractors or customers).</li> <li>I'm afraid of micromanaging.</li> <li>I'm afraid people will think I'm being unfair if I don't treat everyone the same.</li> <li>I'm just not a natural; leader, manager, coach, people person, etc.</li> <li>I have persistent problems with certain individuals that just won't go away.</li> <li>The problems with my employees are intangible, like bad attitude.</li> <li>Some work can't be easily measured. How can I hold employees accountable?</li> <li>My problem is conflicts between and among team-members.</li> <li>In our company, it's very hard to fire people. So how do I lose the losers?</li> <li>In our company it's very hard to get any kind of special rewards for high performers.</li> <li>My boss (or another manager(s)) fails to back me up.</li> <li>The corporate culture is very conservative---"don't rock the boat"---and therefore hands-off is the norm.</li> <li>The corporate culture is very entrepreneurial---"do your own thing"---and therefore hands-off is the norm.</li> <li>We are already understaffed and everybody on our team is already overworked. How can we afford to fire a low performer? Isn't 50% performance better than nobody in that role?</li> <li>The talent available---the quality and skill of our labor pool---is just not up to the level we need.</li> <li>Language barrier.</li> <li>Priorities shift and change. How can I maintain clear expectations when expectations change daily?</li> <li>I've been accepting mediocrity for a long time already. How do I change standards?</li> <li>I've inherited one or more employees whose manager(s) have been accepting mediocrity for a long time. How can I suddenly change the standard?</li> <li>I'm managing people who were peers or even friends before I was their manager?</li> <li>My employee has an odd source of power (his uncle is my boss, or his friend is our customer, etc..).</li> <li>Unions.</li> <li>I want to be liked by my employees.</li> <li>Corporate rules and procedures make it hard to do anything around here.</li> <li>I don't have the discipline and fortitude necessary to be strong consistently.</li> <li>The list goes on...</li> </ol>