I wrote a very long, funny post about the frustrations you are facing. It's based around being a lead, but having no authority because you have no influence over salary and hire/fire decisions.
However, I never never published it because I'm afraid people won't read to the end where I realize you need to be able to show how management's problems are their problems, and likewise the solutions. And if you can't articulate in a convincing way why best practices are really best for your team, it may be time to revisit the source material. To be fair, I had to do this myself, but I came out way more confident in my knowledge of what makes a productive team.
However, I never never published it because I'm afraid people won't read to the end where I realize you need to be able to show how management's problems are their problems, and likewise the solutions. And if you can't articulate in a convincing way why best practices are really best for your team, it may be time to revisit the source material. To be fair, I had to do this myself, but I came out way more confident in my knowledge of what makes a productive team.