Have you ever shared an idea with a colleague only to hear him repeat it in a meeting or stayed late to finish a presentation your team member takes all the credit for? Perhaps you’ve led a long overdue project to completion only to have your boss tell the higher-ups that he did it? If any of these scenarios sound familiar, then you know what it feels like to have someone else take the credit for your work.
Getting credit where credit is due isn’t always easy. Sure, you can do amazing work, but if no one knows you were responsible, you won’t get recognized, and that could lead to loss of future opportunities and compensation. It’s even harder to get credit in group situations. A study released in December by Harvard Business Review suggests women do not get their fair share of credit for group work, especially when they work with men. Although this study looked primarily at women affected by far lower tenure rates than men in academia, I have seen this promotion gap in business also.
Success is best measured by the strength of your ideas, and the key, whether you’re in academia or in business, is to achieve impact with your work. My “Leading Women” co-author Claire Damken Brown pointed out that, “If women are seen and not heard, they lose the opportunity to contribute their ideas and be evaluated equitably for that next promotion.”
In business, it’s more important than ever that you own your ideas, when they soar and, yes, even when they flop. So how can women and men get credit appropriately and make their voices heard?
Lois Frankel, another of my co-authors and an internationally renowned coach to businesses large and small, makes five specific recommendations for making your voice heard:
1. Sit at the table. When entering a crowded meeting room, avoid the temptation to sit on the periphery. Your contribution is important.
2. Get to the point. Before you speak, think about the most important thing you want others to learn from your comments. Start with that.
3. Get in the risk game. When you are in a meeting with people who tend to be more verbal than you are, take a risk and jump right into the debate rather than waiting for the right moment.
4. Think strategically. Before starting an assignment, ask yourself if it is the right thing to do, if doing it will add value, and how you can do it most efficiently. Once those questions are answered, develop the tactics to achieve the goal or direction you agreed upon.
5. Resist perfectionism. Thinking you have to be perfect constricts your strategic thinking and makes you doubt yourself. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it, own it and move on.
No one really gains when recognition gets sidelined away from the person who deserved it. The resulting sense of loss on the part of the diligent worker who missed out hinders further loyalty and creativity, while the person who benefitted from idea theft is encouraged to try it again.
We all want to believe our work speaks for itself, but the truth is, it doesn’t. Realizing jobs increasingly require group work, we need to make sure our voices are heard and contributions are recognized. We need to work together to make sure credit is given where credit is due.
That means it’s the employers’ responsibility to make sure all employees get the recognition they deserve without gender bias, and it’s up to employees to make a solid case for the credit they’re owed.
Nancy O’Reilly, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist and author of “Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life.” Through DrNancyOreilly.com and the WC4G Foundation, she urges women to connect to create a better world.
