Do Business Well

Consider the following examples of organizational credit-grabbing:

Your boss has delegated the job of organizing the annual meeting to you, which his boss has assigned to him. You spend two weeks lining up speakers, reserving accommodations, organizing the agenda, writing and distributing invitations and drawing together a myriad of other details. At the closing banquet, your boss publicly accepts accolades for his fine job of organizing a successful meeting without mentioning your work even once.

You’ve asked another manager to contribute to a proposal you’re writing for submission to your mutual boss at a departmental meeting. The proposal is well received at the meeting, but you are annoyed when your colleague takes equal credit, referring often to “our research” and “when we were deciding on budget recommendations . .”

Over lunch with another manager, you ask her opinion of an idea you’ve devised for cutting costs. She seems lukewarm, so you’re all the more taken aback when, two days later, she presents the idea to senior management as her own—and takes full credit for having conceived it.

Three examples, each illustrating this point: no matter how well you do the job, you cannot count on automatically getting the credit. Sometimes it’s a honest oversight—the preoccupied boss who forgets to give public acknowledgement. Sometimes it’s the result of a misunderstanding, or of others‘ overzealous efforts to shine, with no malice intended. Other times—well—whatever the case, you simply cannot trust that you will always get your just due. And, although you don’t want to seem overbearing or nitpicky, you do want (and should have) the benefits you deserve. To this end, here are some practical suggestions:

• Supply the pieces, but let others fit them together. For instance, you can sometimes nail down credit by sharing it. An announcement at the departmental meeting to the effect, “I want to thank Jill for her assistance on this project,” sets the record straight. So can a casual, “by the way” to the person who should know (your boss’s boss) without stepping on toes. For example, “When I was re-’ searching Al’s proposal, I found that the customers I talked to back up the library research on the competition.”

• Avoid accusations you can’t prove. You may be aware that your colleague has taken credit for your idea. But, making that public will not necessarily make others believe it. When you cast stones— even with full justification—people will always wonder who was right. And even when they have forgotten the specifics, they may still remember you as someone who made unproved accusations. It may be better to chalk it up to learning the hard way and put your energy into preventing a recurrence.

• A discreet confrontation could help. The credit-taker may or may not be aware of how you view the deed. If it was done without regard to your feelings, a quiet conversation could result in a public clarification. If the deed was done deliberately, then at least you’ve issued a warning.

• Take preventive measures. Once you’ve been burned, you’ll probably resolve to take precautions in the future. Better to let others know about your efforts while you’re doing the work rather than being informative after the fact. It need not sound immodest or aggressive—you are simply talking about the work you are doing. Or, if you have an idea, propose it publicly, with at least one witness. It may also help to put it in writing, but avoid such risky measures as a copy to your boss’s boss of a proposal you’ve submitted to your own boss.

• Consider whom you’re dealing with. When it’s your boss who is not sharing credit, you need to exercise special diplomacy. Yourapproach will depend on your relationship and the circumstances, and it may be helpful to proceed with an attitude that assumes the boss intended no harm—that it was an oversight you simply want to correct. On the other hand, it may be more realistic to note that your boss assumes that taking credit for an employee’s idea simply goes with the job.

• Present a valid reason for seeking recognition. This removes it from the personal realm and avoids overtones of blame or pushiness: “I think it would increase my credibility with our clients if they knew just how active I’ve been on their account.” Or, a direct question, “Since I spent a good deal of time on this, do you think it would be appropriate to include my name under yours?”

Observation: Lord Chesterfield advised his son that the world is divided between those who actually do the work and those who try to get the credit. Two hundred years later, people know their survival and success in an organization depends in part on making sure they get recognition for what, they have accomplished. If they don’t, then others will reach for it—just as they might for money left on the street–and their gain will then become your loss.

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