Business School (1970's) Didn't Teach Me About This

Success in the modern work environment is a constant battle between too-many procedures and too-little creativity. It's all too easy to get buried in the minutiae--one can get reprimanded or even fired if one doesn't follow rules and catastrophe ensues--yet organizations wither and die if everyone's top priority is crossing the T's.

(Image from http://memegenerator.net/instance/55350082)

By-the-book types can point to unstructured environments that had a negative result:

Many rigid people grew up in turbulent homes that made them long for stability....Some people need reassurance because they’ve been burned in the past, when new projects or initiatives were managed poorly.

While patience is required when dealing with inflexible colleagues, your humble observer has been successful in getting what he wanted from them more often than not:

1) As a manager who has had to deal with thick rulebooks, I've also been "inflexible." Playing the misery-loves-company card during a discussion can be effective.

2) Most employees aren't blind to the necessity of keeping the company profitable--therefore, their jobs safer--and know that progress means sometimes changing or ignoring the rules. Pointing to the good of the organization, especially for a situation that the book-drafters hadn't thought of, often works.

3) If you're dealing in or with government, where people risk their jobs by bending procedures no matter how unreasonable, be prepared to forego talking. Go over their heads and/or enlist the aid of powerful outside person(s) to override objections. Even if you are successful, be prepared to wait a long time; taking up meditation frequently helps.