Dealing with colleagues who steal credit for work
u/psgmdub shared the following advice on a post titled, Colleague took credit.
People don't realise how important non-verbal communication skills are. Had you proposed the solution on a group-chat or an email thread or a jira ticket and asked for her feedback (in public), this issue wouldn't have come up at all. You might be wondering 'How can I do that?' or 'Is it not easier to discuss this on a call or in-person?' and that's where you need practice. You need to practice the art of giving words to your thoughts.
One tip that really helped me get better at this was to write down my thoughts before a meeting. I start with bullet points and then organise them in sections that make sense to me. For example in your case you could use something like this:
Agenda: Discuss solutions for issue so-and-so while implementing components so-and-so Solution 1: We can use library-1 - Pros: <List of pros> - Cons: <List of cons> Tradeoffs: <List of tradeoffs and edgecases> Solution 2: - Pros: <List of pros> - Cons: <List of cons> Tradeoffs: <List of tradeoffs and edgecases>You can keep this handy before the call and use this as a reference. Now if your senior or colleagues mention a pro or a con or a tradeoff or a new solution then quickly add it to this document. Do this 10 times and you'll find yourself much more confident in team discussions.
You also need to understand that if it's her first project as a senior, she also needs time.
For now, don't worry too much about this. Focus on what comes to your plate and give your best.
u/agarwav shared the following advice on a post titled, Project manager stole the credit i deserve. Explained me things in front of stakeholders, which i explained to him one on one..
- Tell your manager clearly that this is happening. Ask your manager to monitor such behaviour by the project manager in other forums that you may not be a part of.
- Start documenting. Document every discussion you have with your project manager with notes and action items. After meeting, mail them. TO: project manager, CC: manager. There should be no reservations in doing that as your manager is one of the key stakeholders and accountable for your performance. You can also do it retroactively for the discussions you have had until now.
- May not be the best option for you as you don’t like confrontation: tell your PM clearly that you would appreciate giving you credit wherever deserved by taking the current instance as the example. Whatever BS he tells you, he will be forced to think twice.
Ideally, this should restrict the PM from doing it again without the fear of facing consequences.
u/Dull_Sundae_9139 shared the following advice on a post titled, Am I overthinking this or is my co-worker weird?.
I had a colleague like this when I was 1 yoe. He was a senior manager and would regularly ask my updates and any ideas. All the ideas which I had were explained to the client by him and he got full credits and appreciation. I let it go on and then my TL noticed this.
Here are a few of the advices he gave me.
- Do not give him important details. Even if he's your senior. Just give the gist of it in high-level.
- Tell any ideas when in the call with the entire team.
- Anything that u help him with, inform your TL or immediate manager that you helped him with these things.
- if you have scrum, then mention the ideas if possible. Even if they guy mentions it before you in the scrum, then tell you and him had discussed on that point yesterday. Be polite and professional though
Start giving them subtle hints that you know they are trying to take credit for your work and you're not allowing that, they'll start backing off soon.
u/_paul_10 shared the following advice on a post titled, Am I overthinking this or is my co-worker weird?.
Ah credit stealers. You have many options here.
- confront them. Tell them in X situation, they behaved in Y way, and that made you feel Z. Ask them to not do that again.
- stop sharing any additional info with them. The less they know the better.
- if there's a superior/senior you can talk to, ask their advice on how to deal with this person so that they'll be aware of what this person is doing.
- now we're moving on to more drastic measures. Call them out in front of the team. For example, in the case of when they sent that message "FYI @myname, we need to do that work x". You can reply in the group itself saying something like "hey @theirname, we're currently in a call together and I just told you that we need to do x. So why are you Messaging me here to say the same thing back to me?"
- I haven't yet tried this one as it's a bit risky. You can give false or misdirecting information for which when they try to take credit, they'll look stupid. For example, in the case of "need to do x work", you could have said something to them like "we need to do Y work". And they will share that in the chat asking you to do Y work. Then you'll reply in the chat explaining how Y is a stupid action and X is what is needed to be done.
The basic thing to know is that, these kinds of people will be everywhere. You need to take action (confront, keep distance, or something else) otherwise they'll keep on leaching on you.
u/cinuxo shared the following advice on a post titled, Team member took credit for my work. Feeling angry and used. Help!.
That's not professional of your colleague
Anyway, let it be.. this water is under the bridge now. And you should focus on your role and skill development.
Simple point to consider going forward..
- Make your contribution formal and known (schedule calander time etc.)
- Always ask for a favour in return.. any small thing
- in your review meetings you should highlight you are a team player and that you go out and beyond your responsibility to help the team / organisation
- If someone asks “can you work on this for me” and if it is not your primary assigned work learn to say “No, but I can give you some pointers”.
- Set aside a small some % of your week for unplanned work. Plan your deliverables accordingly.
- If someone comes to you with an issue that you know is already solved guide them to the right direction and resource
- If it is tricky challenging issue or an interesting problem I help out of I can. But I hold the power here also to say No or set the time slot when to discuss the issue
- Provide only the needed help instead of trying to own and fix the entire thing. Just help them get back on track so they can continue
- Lastly and most importantly don’t be afraid to say No.
u/kiner_shah shared the following advice on a post titled, Team member took credit for my work. Feeling angry and used. Help!.
Few things I have learned:
- Don't expect anything from someone when providing help voluntarily. Just highlight your contribution to your manager. Very few people acknowledge and provide an official feedback to your manager about your support.
- Don't help if you don't want to. Give some excuse and get away from it.
- When helping, keep your manager updated. Tell him you are helping X to solve Y. If required, get your manager on a call with the guy you are helping, and tell him. Keep him updated about exact tasks you did.
- Make the other person know if you are frustrated, something like "you could have mentioned my support". Don't say anything else in frustration. Go for a tea/coffee/water/bathroom/exercise break for half an hour if required.
u/NotInterestedForsho shared the following advice on a post titled, Team member took credit for my work. Feeling angry and used. Help!.
When you work in a company, one of the most important things you need for self preservation is to create a visibility about all the work that you do. It's different than boasting about yourself, but if you don't keep track of your own achievements who will?
Here's some advice:
- Whenever you are pairing for work, please ensure that they add in your name as part of the commit message. This is team specific but an example of the commit message could be:
"BR1245 | Sachin, Mira | Save logs into a file instead of a database"- Include the work you did as part of your daily standup by thanking the senior colleague for the opportunity to work on something challenging.
- Write a micro-blog for your company's internal social media or for LinkedIn and get someone from your team to review it.
Your colleague may have given you a lesson in disguise. Fool you once, shame on her. We will ensure that she can't fool you twice. With the above checks in place, it's hard to deny that you contributed.
If you work in a high trust feedback driven environment, it makes sense to have a feedback session with the said colleague and tell her how bad you felt because of her actions and how you expected her to just give a shoutout for your help. Some people are just confused and an honest conversation can make all the difference. If she turns hostile, walk away don't argue. At least you will know that she is iffy.
Continue to collaborate with as many peers and seniors as possible. It's the quickest and most efficient way to build relationships and learn.
u/mozii_ shared the following advice on a post titled, Team member took credit for my work. Feeling angry and used. Help!.
This happens often, but its okay.
Going forward, try to document everything in an email with your manager on bcc:
- Set up a meeting to go over action items.
- Share meeting notes, say that this will help as a reminder (bcc the manager).
- Keep updating the email thread until the launch email goes out or all action items are complete.
- Close loop in the email. This thread can later support your promo doc or any reviews.
During busy periods or when handling multiple tasks (like P0) and my manager is aware of my workload, I do the following:
I avoid responding to the colleague directly and wait for my manager to request my assistance with them.
u/RikoduSennin shared the following advice on a post titled, Team member took credit for my work. Feeling angry and used. Help!.
This kind of situation usually happens in one’s career, it’s shouldn’t stop you from helping others.
Regardless, you need to know to handle this type of individuals.
- Mention it in your standup
- Give a hint to your manager (this is also one of skill to learn) - since she is a senior dev, chances are she will be working or leading a project. Say that you have one feedback to share and mention this incident and say that it would have been better if she had acknowledged your time in this.
From now on, make sure your time is visible when you are helping out others.
u/o_x_i_f_y shared the following advice on a post titled, How to stay away from credit stealers?.
If someone tries to act smart and hog on my work
I usually pulls a random question out of my ass and watch them make a fool out of themself in front of everyone.
Don't stay quiet and expect other to recognise that you did it all by yourself.
It might be working now but won't work forever and you will see others getting promoted and you doing the work.
If someone tries to cut you mid update politely ask in front of everyone if you can complete your update first , this will most probably embaress other one and he will shutup.
If by any chance they get to give update before you and tell your work as their update
Reiterate like this as he/she mentioned I spend a lot of time implementing that feature and it is now live.
If other person has contributed point the exact part she did and thank them for it.
E.g if they reviewed your pr tell in front of everyone that you are thankful that they spent time reviewing it.
If they have done nothing say thankyou for giving that work a second pair of eyes.
Mostly they will be embarrassed and won't even confront you.
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