Female Managers: Credit + Standing Up for Yourself

[oldtoyota]

I have had some good ideas. I know they are good because I manage people working on the ideas and get teams to work on them. Then, the ideas work and do what they are supposed to do.

A guy works for me. It seems like he is getting credit for the ideas and then not correcting anyone. Today, a colleague thanked my male employee for a project I initiated...so I pointed out that I had initiated the work and the idea.

In the case of the guy who works for me, he gathered together a bunch of ideas. He might very well feel like they are "his" because he collected all of them together and put understandable language around them....However, at least some of these ideas came from me (and others).

Is this problem common to other women managers? Does being a woman have anything to do with it? I think of Sheryl Sandberg at this moment....

I have had--two male and one female--colleagues try to steal credit for my ideas and work before, and I have no qualms about correcting the situation. Of course, because I am female, people would be quick to call me a bitch so I have to do it in a nice and friendly way. In some cases, I can't correct the misinformation because I am not there when the person is taking credit for my work. I sometimes find out about it later.

Any other female managers have similar issues?

[Cyrano]

Not a female, but I am a middle-ish manager.

I have more good ideas than I could possibly implement. If other people, especially the people who I supervise, find time to implement some of them, great. If they get credit for it, wonderful. Good ideas are frequent, the energy to put them into practice scarce.

[Taranis]

Not a direct answer to your question, but my $0.02 on the topic. Managers are successful when their direct reports are successful. If you are that concerned about being credited for your ideas, you might be better off as an individual contributor.

The key to "moving up" in the corporate world is simply to make sure the people in charge of YOUR future (i.e. your manager and your manager's manager) see the value you add. Do not worry about everyone else. Accusing people of stealing your ideas, no matter if it is true or not, will come off as petty. This is true for men and women. Work on managing your "personal brand" by giving your manager concrete evidence of the value you add, which as a manager is tied in to the value that your direct reports add.

[zataks]

I don't see this as a gender issue; I see it as a working-with-shitty-people issue.  But I'm probably excluded from the conversation as I'm a land-owning, employed, white male.

[oldtoyota]

Not a direct answer to your question, but my $0.02 on the topic. Managers are successful when their direct reports are successful. If you are that concerned about being credited for your ideas, you might be better off as an individual contributor.

The key to "moving up" in the corporate world is simply to make sure the people in charge of YOUR future (i.e. your manager and your manager's manager) see the value you add. Do not worry about everyone else. Accusing people of stealing your ideas, no matter if it is true or not, will come off as petty. This is true for men and women. Work on managing your "personal brand" by giving your manager concrete evidence of the value you add, which as a manager is tied in to the value that your direct reports add.

Well, yeah. I would never outwardly accuse someone of stealing my ideas. In some cases, I find it funny when I see someone above me saying verbatim what I told them. In a sense, this gives me more power...because they don't know enough to do anything beyond what I say!

I already do a great job of giving credit to my staff for their ideas and work.

I did correct my manager, because I do think it's important she realize that the value for this project is coming from me. And I should correct the title of this post. The employee did not "steal" my idea, but he did not correct the higher up either when he was given the credit for it.

[oldtoyota]

Is everyone who replied so far a white dude?

[Taranis]

Is everyone who replied so far a white dude?

Probably (I am). However I work at a large tech company, where white males are the minority, and these issues still exist. While I fully believe women have hurdles to overcome in the workforce, this does not seem like one that is gender-specific. It sounds like you feel under appreciated, which is understandable. But that is the case for many, many people who are unhappy with their jobs (male and female, white or otherwise). This is not meant to be mean, just trying to put things in perspective from an outsider's point of view.

[rujancified]

(white) Female here.

Technology manager. I don't have the credit stealing problem within the team. I do have problems with presenting ideas to internal customers, having them ignored at the time, then having them presented back to me at a later date as "a super idea I just had."

That's just a shitty working environment issue, though, not b/c I'm female. I'm careful to call people out on that when it happens. If that makes me a bitch, then I'm comfortable with that.

Have you read that article from a few months back about phrases we need to teach our daughters? Doesn't sound like assertiveness is a problem for you or me, but it was a good read nonetheless.

http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2014-05-10-simple-words-every-girl-learn/

[MillenialMustache]

To preface, I am a female and I work in a mostly female environment (education). However, sometimes I get quite annoyed with another female or male coworker when they have a good idea, I run with it, and then they still want to jump up and down at the end about how it was THEIR idea. Well, they did not do all the work. I did. It is very easy for everyone to sit around and have ideas all day, but who is the person who took the time to implement it? Also, the best supervisors praise the people who report to them to superiors, not play a petty game of who did what. I think you need to think long and hard each time you choose to do this, as it will often be viewed in a negative light.

[oldtoyota]

Is everyone who replied so far a white dude?

Probably (I am). However I work at a large tech company, where white males are the minority, and these issues still exist. While I fully believe women have hurdles to overcome in the workforce, this does not seem like one that is gender-specific. It sounds like you feel under appreciated, which is understandable. But that is the case for many, many people who are unhappy with their jobs (male and female, white or otherwise). This is not meant to be mean, just trying to put things in perspective from an outsider's point of view.

I talked about people giving credit to guys for my ideas and work. In my mind, that is separate from general appreciation. I've been appreciated with promotions, more money and other recognition. What I am wondering is WTF is going on with people assuming guys came up with the ideas...

[boy_bye]

I don't usually have problems with people trying to take credit for my ideas, but there are often shenanigans at my job. Just in the last week I was (behind my back) accused of not telling the truth about a project that I completed and shipped. Folks who haven't even been involved with the project are somehow convinced that the date slipped, but it didn't.

I smacked that shit down hard immediately and I don't care at all if these people think I'm a bitch. Maybe next time they will think twice before they fuck with me if they do.

[oldtoyota]

To preface, I am a female and I work in a mostly female environment (education). However, sometimes I get quite annoyed with another female or male coworker when they have a good idea, I run with it, and then they still want to jump up and down at the end about how it was THEIR idea. Well, they did not do all the work. I did. It is very easy for everyone to sit around and have ideas all day, but who is the person who took the time to implement it? Also, the best supervisors praise the people who report to them to superiors, not play a petty game of who did what. I think you need to think long and hard each time you choose to do this, as it will often be viewed in a negative light.

I have been in your position before and empathize with it. 

Good ideas take experience and strategic vision to develop. It's also important to have people to implement them. Both the idea creation and the implementation take work and a variety of skill sets. I find value in both and think both are necessary for success.

When my boss told me an idea and asked me to implement it, I damn sure gave him credit for it. It was a great idea, and I could not imagine taking credit for his idea even though I did the work to make it happen.

[KS]

I don't see this as a gender issue; I see it as a working-with-shitty-people issue.

^this, although I do suspect women in general may be slightly more likely to let it slide and just inwardly seethe about it than to speak up. So maybe credit-stealers do see women as an easier target for this. I (female) have been lucky so far in that most of my managers have really gone out of their way to give credit where it's due. (And I've mostly tried to avoid management roles myself so no experience with it coming from that direction.) But my husband has definitely experienced it in the past, so I think it's pretty universal.

Also, relevant quote that is true, (but doesn't make it any less frustrating):
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
― Harry S. Truman

[EarlyQuit]

For classification purposes - I am a white female manager.

I have experienced the credit issue in the workplace, but I did not see it as a gender issue, and also do not consider it a big deal. IMO, if you are full of great ideas and someone takes one and presents it as his, you are still full of great ideas and that cannot be taken away if that's what you consistently deliver. Plus, if people believe the idea is theirs, they only perform better and take more ownership in their work. Focus on the success of the project as your goal, and it won't matter who gets the credit for the idea. As an example, I had a temporarily hired person acting like he was the boss of a project I managed, and I let him. The motivation and results I got in return were totally worth it.

Standing up for yourself is a different issue, and you certainly have to be firm and stand up for yourself at work and outside of work. Because if you don't, who will?

[Cpa Cat]

I am female and I've never had it happen to me. I have had the opposite happen though - where more passive female coworkers give me credit for things that they were primarily responsible for. I've also had higher-ups assign (unsolicited) credit to me for work that my more passive female coworkers have done. Once or twice, it's been on projects I didn't even work on.

There's a general lack of ambition at my workplace, though. It's a strange environment.

[rocklebock]

White female manager. I haven't had this happen to me. More often, it's the opposite - Because I'm more visible to upper management, I'm praised for a departmental project as if I had done it all singlehandedly.  I often redirect and say, "oh, it's all thanks to ___'s great work." Not because I'm uncomfortable taking credit or accepting compliments, but because I work in an environment where talking up your amazingly competent and talented staff makes the manager look really, really great. Asking to be recognized over your own staff would be perceived as petty or insecure.

[gimp]

The hell is credit? Your team gets things done, everyone looks good, the only people to whom individual contributions matter are your immediate team and manager. And the people who need to ask you questions about how something works.

[Cressida]

All of you saying "this is not a gender issue," did you see this part of the story?

I have no qualms about correcting the situation. Of course, because I am female, people would be quick to call me a bitch so I have to do it in a nice and friendly way.

Women really do have obstacles in the workplace and this is one of them. Anecdotes like "I'm a woman and this has never happened to me" or "I saw a man's idea get stolen one time" do not change the overarching truth.

[Kepler]

Not a female, but I am a middle-ish manager.

I have more good ideas than I could possibly implement. If other people, especially the people who I supervise, find time to implement some of them, great. If they get credit for it, wonderful. Good ideas are frequent, the energy to put them into practice scarce.

I am female, but this is basically my reaction.  I am /so/ relieved when someone else /can/ implement my ideas - that's one less thing I need to do personally...  My problem is more preventing too many things from landing on my plate to implement, because I happened to be the first person to blurt out a possible solution to a problem or half-decent new initiative...

That said, it's not good if no one is aware that you have the capacity to come up with good ideas - you want the right people in your organisation to be aware of your talent.  And it can be an issue, as well, if you're regularly finding that you are making suggestions in meetings, for example, and no one is hearing what you're saying, but pick up on the same content when it's said by someone else.  This is a widely-observed gendered phenomenon but, on a personal level, can often be addressed by experimenting with your personal communication strategies.  I get the fear of falling into one of the stereotypes that can attach to assertive women - there is often a narrower line to walk - but experimenting with different communication strategies will often get yourself heard.

The strategy that works will be different for different people.  Personally, I can out-Spock everyone in my workplace - I'm unphasable, unshockable, good at processing and responding quickly to chaos - and I can calmly obliterate nonsense without it seeming like a personal attack on the purveyor of the nonsense.  But I'm also known for being driven by efficiency and problem-solving, rather than status, so I avoid triggering most people's threat response and, in my specific workplace, my approach yields much higher status, formally and informally, than the folks who are visibly seeking status out...  This wouldn't work in all organisations, and it wouldn't work for all people.  It's a trial and error process to see what sort of strategy will play where you are.

[YoungInvestor]

If my manager (a white guy) mentions something to me (another white guy)  that might be good and if Ipersonally decideto implement it because I see the value, then, yeah, sure, I'm getting credit.

Likewise, if I mention something to a coworker that might be nice, with no intention of implementing it myself, he's going to get the credit. You don't get credit for ideas, you get credit for implementing stuff.

And then there's also general human nature: plenty of white guys are treated poorly by plenty of female managers (and the other way around too). People are too quick to call discrimination, these days. Some people are a-holes, and there's not much to do about it.

as far as standing up for yourself, I'd see someone who needs to get credit for everything as insecure more than anything else. Good managers try to make their employees shine, and that's how they demonstrate value. A manager's value is mostly dependent on their team's perceived value, not on their own skills.

[The Resilent Dame]

Not a direct answer to your question, but my $0.02 on the topic. Managers are successful when their direct reports are successful. If you are that concerned about being credited for your ideas, you might be better off as an individual contributor.

The key to "moving up" in the corporate world is simply to make sure the people in charge of YOUR future (i.e. your manager and your manager's manager) see the value you add. Do not worry about everyone else. Accusing people of stealing your ideas, no matter if it is true or not, will come off as petty. This is true for men and women. Work on managing your "personal brand" by giving your manager concrete evidence of the value you add, which as a manager is tied in to the value that your direct reports add.

Yes.

I'm a female business owner, and my husband owns a business. There is nothing WORSE than dealing with employees who are worried about who gets credit for what idea.

Be someone who is excellent in your work and encourages others and gives MORE credit to others than due. That's called team building, and those above you see you as a great team leader and valuable person as part of the team. This takes time, but excellence will always be noticed. Little projects on who is receiving what credit, no.

[MandyM]

(white, female, middle manager type here).

I work in a male dominated field and for the most part, I have not been subjected to/noticed too much gender-bias. But its there, even though I am on the assertive end. One of my biggest issues is when male managers (that are otherwise known as no-nonsense, tough types) are nothing but passive aggressive and it ends up really stalling my development/advancement because they can't give me honest feedback.

+1 to the link from rujancified.

While I also agree with others that sometimes the best thing is to let your employees shine (you look good if they look good and all that), as a woman you have to stand up for yourself too. Its a fine line and, frankly, bullshit that we have to dance on it. But we do. My solution is to always be aware of my audience and act accordingly.   

[J Boogie]

White female manager. I haven't had this happen to me. More often, it's the opposite - Because I'm more visible to upper management, I'm praised for a departmental project as if I had done it all singlehandedly.  I often redirect and say, "oh, it's all thanks to ___'s great work." Not because I'm uncomfortable taking credit or accepting compliments, but because I work in an environment where talking up your amazingly competent and talented staff makes the manager look really, really great. Asking to be recognized over your own staff would be perceived as petty or insecure.

I couldn't agree more.  My fiancee has mentioned scenarios where she didn't get the credit for something and how frustrated she got.  I told her the worst thing she could have done is corrected whoever because it communicates a lack of a team mentality.

You have to stick up for yourself, but there's no way to win in that situation right then - better to have a private conversation with the culprit later than risk your career.

[EricL]

White(ish) dude here.  I don't think it would be considered out of line or "bitchy" to take this guy aside and privately tell him to stop claiming ideas which are not his.  But on a useful note, if a subordinate c develops an idea genuinely his or her own and it succeeds, you can make a lot of leadership points with them if you get up and state that fact publicly.  It may seem that you're giving away your power.  In a corrupt and inefficient institution you would be. But in a decent institution of any type it would be understood that it may have been his or her idea, but you as the boss okayed it implemented it.  Similar, though somewhat risky or, leadership is exhibited by claiming responsibility for a subordinate's bad idea without mentioning them by name.

And don't be too concerned about developing a "bitchy" reputation.  If you're hard nosed strictly to achieve the company's goals and objectives when no other options are available and not out of habit or malice most people will forgive you in the long run.  The people that won't do not have opinions worth respecting.