Boss Taking Credit - How to Handle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You also need to see how this plays out in your review.

+1, the only person you need to impress is your boss. Are you a special snowflake who needs everyone to know how wonderful you are?

Not true. Your boss is NOT the only person you need to impress, especially if you have any ambition to move up or around in a company or an organization.

The anecdote is not a big deal. But your boss passing off something you wrote as his own writing is a big deal, especially if it wasn't made clear that that would happen (meaning part of your job is explicitly to write things for him).

Some bosses will use the work of the people under them to boost themselves while intentionally keeping their underlings in a corner, not allowing them exposure. It's a crummy tactic and a horrible way to manage.

But you have to tread carefully. I would not do anything about what has happened, but just adjust your style/approach going forward. Don't give him information without being in earshot of other people and/or copying people on the email. So, for example, if you rewrite something, email it to him and XYZ person with a blurb "I did some edits or I recrafted this because..." This gets your name out there and/or connected to the work.

Sure, the other PP is right that the work you do for a company belongs to a company, but that does not mean it's okay for a boss or a coworker to take credit for your contribution. If you allow that to happen, you will find yourself planted and unable to move your career forward while other people get recognition, promotions, et cetera, for the work you've done.

You also need to identify someone higher up -- either a colleague of your boss or above -- and really network with that person. Get to know them, keep in frequent contact. Make it impossible for your boss to shut you out.

OP, this is terrible advice. If one of my underlings engaged in these tactics they would quickly be gone. If your boss is not the kind of person who takes care of his people you need a lateral move. Picking political fights with people who are more powerful is a losing game most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You also need to see how this plays out in your review.

+1, the only person you need to impress is your boss. Are you a special snowflake who needs everyone to know how wonderful you are?

Not true. Your boss is NOT the only person you need to impress, especially if you have any ambition to move up or around in a company or an organization.

The anecdote is not a big deal. But your boss passing off something you wrote as his own writing is a big deal, especially if it wasn't made clear that that would happen (meaning part of your job is explicitly to write things for him).

Some bosses will use the work of the people under them to boost themselves while intentionally keeping their underlings in a corner, not allowing them exposure. It's a crummy tactic and a horrible way to manage.

But you have to tread carefully. I would not do anything about what has happened, but just adjust your style/approach going forward. Don't give him information without being in earshot of other people and/or copying people on the email. So, for example, if you rewrite something, email it to him and XYZ person with a blurb "I did some edits or I recrafted this because..." This gets your name out there and/or connected to the work.

Sure, the other PP is right that the work you do for a company belongs to a company, but that does not mean it's okay for a boss or a coworker to take credit for your contribution. If you allow that to happen, you will find yourself planted and unable to move your career forward while other people get recognition, promotions, et cetera, for the work you've done.

You also need to identify someone higher up -- either a colleague of your boss or above -- and really network with that person. Get to know them, keep in frequent contact. Make it impossible for your boss to shut you out.

This. Your boss is not doing it right. Just be very careful not to step on toes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess you are female and your boss is male.

I think this is highly likely and that OP believes it is a sign of sexism.

Well in my organization, I am male in a supervisory position and my boss in a manager's position is female. It is assumed that due to my role that I will provide her a lot of input to do her job. Over the last year, there have been dozens and dozens of cases where she has taken something that I've written and has submitted it with her signature on it as if it came from her. She sometimes asks me to write the text for her for a given message because I'm a better writer than she is and I have broader technical knowledge than she does. You know what? It's part of my job to make her look good. And believe me, it doesn't go unnoticed that she has been considerably more well-versed and polished since I started in this job.

I've been in my field for over 25 years, so I know what the business is. Your role is to make your boss look good and keep him/her informed on what (s)he needs to know and present. It's really, really annoying when people take up a lot of time trying to acknowledge all the people that provided input that your boss uses. It's a company/business/agency that needs to work; it's not the Oscars.

Your acknowledgment comes in your annual review and when your boss needs to recommend someone to do a job and you are assigned the job ahead of others. You know that your input is valuable when another boss comes to your boss and asks for help and you are the one that your boss says is the go-to person for X job. Or when your boss needs some input quick and you are the person they look to to give them that input and information. The better you make your boss look, the better you are doing your job and it will be noticed and acknowledged, but just don't expect that acknowledgment for every instance where your boss uses information or material you provided. That would be tedious for everyone involved and is only reserved when it is very distinctive, and made a huge impact, e.g. "we just won this multi-million dollar contract thanks to Larla who spent two weekends rolling together the key elements needed for the bid and did about half of the writing herself. Thanks, Larla!

[Anonymous]

When it comes to a rewrite I wouldnt expect credit- depending on the level of your boss, no one really expects him to be writing his own memos anyway.
The stolen anecdote would annoy me but what can you do other than not share anecdotes?
You definitely don't need to say anything to him about this. You need to find a way to see this differently and not be angry. If you can't do that, hold yourself together for another 6 months and look for your exit.

[Anonymous]

That is so VERY DC to take credit for insider information you passed on! Of course it's possible that he had hear that info himself independently. But being able to say "The White House things ... " is the absolute currency around here. It's all about hoarding information and deploying it the way that makes you seem in the know -- and not even in the know, but the first to know.

I find this whole game very exhausting and am trying to step out of it completely by being totally transparent and separating out ego from actually doing my job.

The hard part is that if your job depends on getting information quickly, you do have to play the game and make yourself seem like an insider so people treat you like one and give you information quickly. But there are ways to do that without playing the "connections game."

And of course, as you've seen, the other hard part is that even if you don't play the game, others will ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You also need to see how this plays out in your review.

+1, the only person you need to impress is your boss. Are you a special snowflake who needs everyone to know how wonderful you are?

Not true. Your boss is NOT the only person you need to impress, especially if you have any ambition to move up or around in a company or an organization.

The anecdote is not a big deal. But your boss passing off something you wrote as his own writing is a big deal, especially if it wasn't made clear that that would happen (meaning part of your job is explicitly to write things for him).

Some bosses will use the work of the people under them to boost themselves while intentionally keeping their underlings in a corner, not allowing them exposure. It's a crummy tactic and a horrible way to manage.

But you have to tread carefully. I would not do anything about what has happened, but just adjust your style/approach going forward. Don't give him information without being in earshot of other people and/or copying people on the email. So, for example, if you rewrite something, email it to him and XYZ person with a blurb "I did some edits or I recrafted this because..." This gets your name out there and/or connected to the work.

Sure, the other PP is right that the work you do for a company belongs to a company, but that does not mean it's okay for a boss or a coworker to take credit for your contribution. If you allow that to happen, you will find yourself planted and unable to move your career forward while other people get recognition, promotions, et cetera, for the work you've done.

You also need to identify someone higher up -- either a colleague of your boss or above -- and really network with that person. Get to know them, keep in frequent contact. Make it impossible for your boss to shut you out.

OP, this is terrible advice. If one of my underlings engaged in these tactics they would quickly be gone. If your boss is not the kind of person who takes care of his people you need a lateral move. Picking political fights with people who are more powerful is a losing game most of the time.

I agree that picking political fights with your boss is a bad idea, but the fact that you see this as a political "tactic" instead of commonplace networking belies your own, probably DC-based, paranoia! It is absolutely appropriate for the OP to try to get more exposure in this kind of organization. It will take a lot of tact - for example, it would be totally inappropriate to complain about any of these things. She just needs to make sure that her work and reputation are becoming known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess you are female and your boss is male.

I think this is highly likely and that OP believes it is a sign of sexism.

Well in my organization, I am male in a supervisory position and my boss in a manager's position is female. It is assumed that due to my role that I will provide her a lot of input to do her job. Over the last year, there have been dozens and dozens of cases where she has taken something that I've written and has submitted it with her signature on it as if it came from her. She sometimes asks me to write the text for her for a given message because I'm a better writer than she is and I have broader technical knowledge than she does. You know what? It's part of my job to make her look good. And believe me, it doesn't go unnoticed that she has been considerably more well-versed and polished since I started in this job.

I've been in my field for over 25 years, so I know what the business is. Your role is to make your boss look good and keep him/her informed on what (s)he needs to know and present. It's really, really annoying when people take up a lot of time trying to acknowledge all the people that provided input that your boss uses. It's a company/business/agency that needs to work; it's not the Oscars.

Your acknowledgment comes in your annual review and when your boss needs to recommend someone to do a job and you are assigned the job ahead of others. You know that your input is valuable when another boss comes to your boss and asks for help and you are the one that your boss says is the go-to person for X job. Or when your boss needs some input quick and you are the person they look to to give them that input and information. The better you make your boss look, the better you are doing your job and it will be noticed and acknowledged, but just don't expect that acknowledgment for every instance where your boss uses information or material you provided. That would be tedious for everyone involved and is only reserved when it is very distinctive, and made a huge impact, e.g. "we just won this multi-million dollar contract thanks to Larla who spent two weekends rolling together the key elements needed for the bid and did about half of the writing herself. Thanks, Larla!

True, to a point. I think it depends on the job description the OP has. If part of her job depends on being able to make her own external contacts and reputation, then her boss needs to be promoting her externally instead of taking all the credit.