A: You don’t. The punch line here is, if you are in an environment where you need to worry about getting credit vs. doing great things, change the environment or get out. What’s a shame is, you yourself are probably part of the problem: this coworker you want to rat out… have you given him the courtesy of direct feedback?
The way our school system is set up does young professionals a great disservice, in that it inculcates and then reinforces (over a period of about 17 years) the idea that individual credit is of paramount importance, even relative to a job well done. The hierarchical structures companies have been using for years exacerbates this issue: teams filled with rock star talent are constantly undermined by their members’ own ambitions when members simultaneously try to support and one-up one another for a promotion at every step.
It’s kind of a stupid model, when you think about it.
If we’re serious about leveraging the power of the team to excel, then we need to do a few things, right away:
Team members
Get comfortable giving feedback. Playing on a team means being honest, with yourself and with others. By “with yourself,” I mean that you need to understand and accept your strengths and shortcomings as they are perceived by others. By “with others,” I mean that you need to tell people honestly what you see their strengths and shortcomings to be. These are tough, sometimes awkward conversations, and if you haven’t developed the guts to have ‘em yet, you need to. Fast. Some tips for having tough conversations:
- Own the problem. “I’m having trouble… My expectations are off… I think I’m screwing up…” and mean it. You cannot use this language to mask your contempt for the other individual. It doesn’t work.
- Be patient; solutions take some time to implement.
- Don’t couple positives with negatives. Everyone says to do this, and everyone’s wrong. When someone comes at you with a positive and then immediately hits you with a negative, you learn quickly to ignore the positives.
Take 100% responsibility for solving the problem. I don’t care who started it: you end it. If your teammates don’t see what’s going on and adjust to help you, go find a team who will.
Know the difference between “I” and “we.” There is most definitely an “I” in team, and it’s the most important part of that team because it’s you. If you don’t know what your value to the team is, then you are not brining value to the team. You should be able to say, “We build widgets. I do X, you do Y, she does Z, and voila: a widget.”
Managers
Support you team. Start by recognizing your role: you do not “do” anymore. You have a team full of functional experts now to “do” for you. Your job is more social now: you attract talent, build a team, solicit resources, get clients, maintain important relationships… and so on. If you are not operating on a social plane as a manager, you are not at the right level.
Hire strength. Have the guts to hire someone who challenges you. When I assess people, I want to know that they hire strength. Why? Because strength likes strength: the person who surrounds himself with weaker players lacks self-confidence, and that lack of self-confidence will put a lid on how great this person’s team will ever be. Look at your team: is it strong? Not just to you, but objectively, is it a strong team? If not, look at yourself. Do you understand what your value is? Are you good at what you do? Focus on building yourself up–not functionally… you don’t need another Master’s degree–and gaining a better understanding of what you are supposed to be doing as a manager.
Choose metrics wisely. People will do what you measure: if you want team work, measure team work.
Say yes. Your job as manager is to figure out a way to succeed. Bear in mind that if you are constantly saying no, you are not succeeding, but merely avoiding failure. That’s not good enough.
It’s their credit, but your fault. This one’s worth it’s own blog entry… to be written…
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I'm Jason. I make people shine. My mission is to help 1 million people tell their stories better. 