In our previous article, we discussed the various scenarios where credit theft can rear its frustrating head. This article will empower you with practical strategies and helpful scripts for navigating and reclaiming credit in the workplace.
Strategies for Reclaiming Credit:
1. Correct the Record in Real Time. If somebody appropriates your idea in a meeting, take immediate action and assert your ownership. Politely interject by saying, “"I'm glad you agree with the idea I shared earlier; I'd be happy to provide more insights into its development." Alternatively, you can thank the person for echoing your idea and elaborate on your thought process, “Thank you for pointing out my idea in a different way, here is what I was thinking when I came up with the idea…” The goal is to regain control of the narratives and ensure people recognize you as the idea’s owner.
1A. When your Colleagues Omitted your Credit. Graciously acknowledge your coworker and highlight your own involvement: "Glad you liked the presentation. Sandra and I worked closely on this project, and she led the way on this aspect."
1B. When your Meeting has been Hijacked. When somebody takes over your meeting because they are leading a part of the workstream, while you are the overall owner, you can reclaim control by clarifying your role. If the whole room starts following your peer Bob who has a minor role and he is becoming the point person for answering questions, you can say, “Let me jump in and answer this question. When I started this project, here is the intention and the initial problem statement my team and I put together. I brought on additional stakeholders, including Bob who is running point on this channel but for questions on any of the other channels, I’d be happy to answer them.” Or you can say, “let’s take a moment to zoom out and think about the overall purpose of this project. Here is how I designed it…. and for questions relating to how all the pieces fit together, I’d love to address them before we drill down on one of the channels that you might have specific questions about.”
2. Encourage Peers to Set the Record Straight and Redirect Credit. Peer intervention can be helpful. They can clarify the situation by saying, "Just to clarify, Sue brought up this excellent idea ten minutes ago, and I thought it was fantastic. Sue, could you provide more details about your proposal?" In a December 2023 Republican debate, Vivek Ramasamy attacked Nikki Haley’s character by saying, “She has no idea what the names of those global provinces are but wants to send our people to go fight in those locations.” Chris Christie swiftly intervened and said, “he has insulted Niki Haley’s basic intelligence (she doesn’t know regions, she wouldn’t be able to find something on a map that his 3-year-old can find), and not her positions. If you want to disagree on issues, that’s fine, and Nikki and I disagree, but I have known her for 12 years. She is a smart, accomplished woman, and you should stop insulting her.” Standing up for others can have a significant impact.
2A. Encourage your Boss to Correct the Record. If somebody gave credit to somebody else and your boss jumps in to say, “I’m glad you appreciated the idea, but Jenna was the one who came up with it. I’ll pass the floor to her for more insights.” It makes a difference. Be sure to thank them after the meeting or send an email letting them know how much it meant to you to support you in front of everybody. You can also let them know you are proud to have a leader like them in the company because you make them even more aware of the behaviors they should continue.
2B. Use Amplification to Gain Allies. This powerful strategy was employed at the Obama White House to ensure recognition of female staffers’ ideas. When President Obama first took office, 2/3 of his senior staffers were men, and they noticed sometimes women would share their ideas, they would get overlooked, and then moments later, somebody else would share that same idea, and it would get acknowledged by others. To combat this, when female staffers made a noteworthy point, other women would echo their points. This forced others to recognize their contribution and denied them the chance to claim the input as their own. For example, if one woman shared an idea and it got lost, another woman would jump in and say, “I want to return us to Jill’s excellent point, here is what she said that was so valuable.” As a result, President Obama started calling more on women and junior aides to voice their options and women gained more parity with men.
This strategy has so many benefits. Amplifiers usually go to the highest rungs of leadership because they are seen as competent and generous, and people want to be in the community with those individuals. We convey a kind of confident and generous leadership that attracts great people to our team. We also increase our colleague’s sense of value, belonging, and connection to the company and its mission. We increase positive perceptions of us by linking us in people’s minds to other successful people. We deepen our relationships with clients and create more opportunities to serve them. Adam Gran,t in his book Givers and Takes, talks about those who give away at every opportunity are the oneswhot rise. You can even amplify people’s voices outside the company. Invite experienced colleagues to join you on panels or feature your work in their series.
2C. Believe in & Practice the Shine Theory. This is where elevating others ultimately benefits you. When you have privilege and power, you have a greater audience and are better positioned to help others by shining a light on their work. Deloitte does a great job with this, they have their Conversation with Leaders Series where they showcase senior women on the front lines of the financial service industry through talks, articles, and podcasts. You can also connect colleagues with expertise to other people and opportunities to elevate their credibility. For example, “You mentioned driving innovation in this market, I was just talking to my colleague Beth who is the absolute authority on this topic, I’d love to connect you two.”
If you are in a meeting and there are lots of ideas, all swirl, but nobody is taking a stand, you can move the conversation along and give credit to others by saying, “Hearing everybody’s thoughts has been clarifying for me, here is what I think we should do to move forward.” You can even mention the few parts that stood out and shaped your thinking. These actions show humility, grace, and inclusion in your operations.
3. Set the Record Straight with Colleagues. If you notice that you are in your boss’ shadows and they are taking credit for your work, you can shed light on your significant contributions to your peers. Explain your thought process, involvement, and the efforts you and your team invested to drive that body of work. For example, “When I came up with that idea, I was thinking of this challenge, so my team and I spent months developing an initial prototype before we started recruiting partners. I am happy to share more about this technique and the broader finders with the team.” Alternatively, “I was having a great conversation with the CTO when the idea came to me to try this approach. My team immediately offered support, and here is how we went about it…”. You will be sending a clarifying message that you and your team are the owners of the idea.
3A. Correct the record with Peers in Writing. If somebody posts on a Slack channel (e.g., your peer Beth) and assumes the credit for your work, you can jump in and gently correct any misattribution by saying, “I’m delighted to see my concept gain traction, we formed the perfect team utilizing Beth’s data expertise to achieve these results.” Alternatively, “when I initially proposed the idea, it was because Beth inspired me, she immediately saw value in the concept and has been a great collaborator on this project.” Or, “Thank you Beth for taking a leap on the idea when I pitched it and making it even greater; I could not have done this without your help.”
4. Correct Record with your Boss. If you worked with John and he told your boss he did all the work, you can say, “I’m so happy you liked the idea, John and I spent hours brainstorming before we landed on the winning idea.”
If your internal partners try to inaccurately include you in some work when you are not part of the job, you can also share that. I had a client who was never consulted by her cross-functional partners when they put together a report to give to leadership team that provided key information on her team’s work. Her peers misrepresented the situation to leadership and acted like they consulted her to give the report more credibility. When she learned of what happened, she was frustrated because she had made several attempts to collaborate with those stakeholders and was blown off. She went to her boss and shared, “I wanted you to know there is inaccurate information in that report because my team was never consulted, and I do not want that piece of work to represent my department. I tried to schedule a meeting multiple times with them, but they could never find time.”
5. Have Direct Conversations with Credit Usurpers. Engage in open conversation when you observe someone wrongly attributing your work. Share your observations and ask for their perspective. Seek clarity and agreement on how you both can present your contributions more accurately in the future.
If your boss has taken your idea, you can share that one of your goals is to get visibility with senior leadership, so when you find out that your name was not attributed to the strategy, you are just curious to learn why. Then, you can say, “Next time there is an opportunity, I’d love to present this body of work to raise my visibility; how does that sound to you?” Or, “I’d love to own the part of the presentation based on the work I did; Would that be okay?” Get their commitment to you leading the work next time. You cannot sit around to get opportunities; you have to proactively carve them out for yourself.
Leadership Expert Liz Wiseman shares a story of when she was putting together a leadership program for new managers and part of that included a binder of materials. When she was at a meeting with the team, her boss started going through the binder and talking about some of the materials, to Liz’s dismay. So, she had a direct conversation with him. She began with questions, “Whose idea was the binder? Who did the work for it? Who should be the one to present the binder?” She shared that it may not have been his intention but when he shared the binder, it made it sound like he did all the work. She knew she had to speak up because she did not want to establish a precedent that she would do the work and somebody else would take the credit. The boss responded, did not even realize what he had done, and was grateful for her to point it out. Sometimes, these things will happen, and if it is an accident, after a conversation, there is a greater chance that the person will not do it again.
In other situations, credit theft is done intentionally. I had a client whose boss once said, “I’m responsible for this team, so I will present the work.” When that happens, you can say, “I understand that, and it is important to me that the work I do to advance our team is acknowledged.” Or, “I know you are responsible for the overall project, and would love to present my piece which I dedicated countless hours to, would that be ok?”
6. Address Mislabeling by Your Boss. When another client of mine spoke up to get credit for her work, her boss responded, “you are too sensitive; don’t be territorial and not a team player.” Just because the boss may have anchored a false perception, does not mean you have to take it at face value. One approach with your boss is to get curious and inquire about their viewpoints and definitions of team players. Say, “I’m curious, what do you view as a team player? “ Then you can share your approach to teamwork. “I view good teammates as not taking credit for other people’s work but giving credit where it is due. It is a joy when I highlight others’ work, I love to give credit, here is how I recognized somebody on my team recently….” Or, “When it comes to my take on teamwork, I take a lot of pride in my work and love to share it, the way I want my team members to share their work and not take credit.” There is a space for recognizing both the individual and the team.
7. Highlight Unwanted Behavior. In the example from the previous article, when the colleague introduced my client poorly to the CEO, you can directly talk with the person to clarify your role and importance. Here are some scripts:
· “I noticed when you introduced me to the CEO, you said this and neglected all these other things. I wanted to take a moment to understand how you introduced me in a way that did not capture my bigger and more important role.”
· "I appreciate the introduction, but I have a more significant role in this project than mentioned. Let me provide a broader perspective so my bio can be more accurately shared next time."
· You can use the intent and impact framework – “It may not have been your intention to dimmish my role in your introduction, but I was left feeling confused to be described in a way that does not represent my full scope. I’d love to learn more about that.”
· Be sure to share your expectations going forward. “Let me take a moment to explain my role and provide context in what I bring to the table so you can accurately present my bio.”
· “Going forward, please introduce me this way or say this line and turn it over to me, and I’d be happy to share my bio that matches the work I’m doing around here. Do you have any questions about that?”
· “You may not realize this, but I wanted to share with you my role so you can introduce me to people in her office going forward to capture the scope of work best adequately.”
8. Limit Information Sharing Until Trust is Established. As entrepreneurs, share information strategically. Communicate at a high level with few details initially, reserving your unique story and messaging for when trust is firmly established. While their message may try to be like yours, your authentic passion will be greatly felt more than somebody else’s superficial borrowing. You can even talk to the person and let them know you were disappointed to see the information they presented without your consent.
These strategies help you navigate situations where your credit is misappropriated, ensuring your contributions are rightfully acknowledged.
Quote of the day: "Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." - Vince Lombardi
Question: Which strategies have you found most effective in confronting others? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear.
As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to communicate effectively including strategically self-promoting; contact me to explore this topic further.
What do you do when somebody takes credit?
