Coworker who always takes credit for my work
What are some ways in which I can deal with daily situations with the coworker. This coworker is an "all talk" kind of person, who does like 5% of the work, but takes credit for work done by others and presents it as their own. When it's something they were supposed to have finished/fixed but haven't they quickly try to brush it under the rug by diverting attention and asking to "stay in my lane", especially when it's a dependency I've been waiting on. They behave and talk differently one on one vs in group meetings or chats, and are far from honest. They always call me out untriggered almost every day, like things I am already working and tracking, opening duplicate work items for the same thing and then passing them off as some novel work they identified, or, showing up in my meetings and presenting what I drove as completely theirs during status updates later. It was me who even organized the meeting in the first place or asked for some work items. They call me out when they just did their equivalent of the work during their status updates,, and I had already completed my work weeks ago, as if that is something that I'm lagging behind on The list goes on and on. The environment is so toxic with this person, and different issues keep coming up with the same person. Previously they wouldn't even let me or others talk in the meeting, or order me around, mostly they try to repeatedly gain visibility at the cost of others and passing off others work as their or always calling out others. They keep getting promoted too, so their strategy works pretty well for them. One or two times I tried to bring this up with the manager or them, and they make me out to be the bad person, for making a scene. I literally had to stand my ground and faced strong opposition for nearly two weeks just to get my voice heard: I was trying to suggest an alternative as there was a flaw in the approach this person was following, and they were not delivering nor giving estimates on a work I was being repeatedly asked on by a partner team. It was a struggle to get them to have a meeting and get clarity and next steps forward. However this person really tips the balance, especially manager absolutely siding with them. How do you manage up under situations and not let yourself be treated as a doormat? Needless to say, this person also keeps getting promoted at my cost.
Change jobs, and learn to be more like them
Oh god i have been there .. report it. I am a law abiding, god fearing & kind hearted person but feels like hitting such fellows on their face👊👊
I was asked this question in the interview last week - my answer was if the manager is ignorant to this, then I would rather quit the toxic work environment over putting on a fight.
What was the result
The hiring manager started laughing.... did get the offer though
Sorry that you have to deal with this. Such people are somehow always promoted, no matter what. Remember that no one else is going to stand up for you. Be more vocal and make sure to point out that you did this work. Make sure to mention in stand up that you are blocked because so and so work has not been done yet. And if someone asks who is supposed to finish the dependency work, you can say this person’s name. If they try to cut you in meetings, you do the same. Basically behave the same way that this person behaves with you. Your manager anyway seems to encourage this behavior as they continue to promote them.
Also keep looking for other jobs.
Not an expert here. Does he do the same with other team members as well ? Have you tried bringing up this with proofs before manager ex:- code commit details, document update history etc ? Do you have skip one level meetings as well ? If it's your work he is taking credit of, would it be possible for you to make a trap for him ex:- leave something intentionally and then point this out during standup and let him figure out a fix ?
Haven't seen them do this with other teammates, except for talking through the meeting and speaking over everyone, that they have no issues doing it even with SLT meetings. Now, that I think further about the other things they do with me, those are likely due to me being on the same level as them and they seemed to be competing to get promoted over me.
Manager doesn't have time to listen to the proofs, etc. they also designated this person as tech lead and said they will be taking feedback from the tech lead into account during our performance reviews.. Yes, we do have skip level, can I dm you on this? You seem to have some good suggestions
Sounds painful!
Work with your manager to document all of your results. If manager sides with the other person taking credit, either you are wrong, or you are in the wrong place. Leave the team, and find out... if it happens again, it was you.
Well, it only happens with this one person. Other people on my team are nice, they help each other out, credit other person if they helped, etc. There's definitely something unique to me in that I am not a very talkative person, I rather focus on the work, but when I do try to get my voice heard now and then, I get shot down, or its made to seem like I said something unexpected/made a scene even though I didn't. I think the psychology here is that the talkative person always talks a lot, calls people out, etc. everybody is used to it. When they hear someone who doesn't speak much point out, it's easy for the person to talk over them and either completely ignore it as if they didn't hear anything, and just continue with what they were speaking. If I try to persist, they bite back at me dismissively using words like "let's not jump the gun here", or let the work be done by the person it got assigned to, etc. this is a problem for me since there's a dependency and I'm blocked on it. When I call this out, they say things like why did you have to point it out in the group(when the whole thing happened in a group setting), that things didn't have to come to this, etc. when all I do is point out a dependency, and ask to meet to get clarity. 🤷♂️
The easiest way to "get" credit, is to "give" credit. It might sound counter-intuitive but it actually works. Appreciate and talk about other people's good work and qualities, and show you are a great team player. This gets noticed and managers will divert their attention to you. This results in promotions... Don't be the person who highlights flaws all the time and challenges other person's style of working or way of communication. They will remember that...
I have always given credit to other people no matter how little they help, including the person who does this to me. Been doing that since years. I do notice other people in my team start to give credit to me, etc. except for this one person who always turns it into their advantage. So, the reason for this post is that me giving credit to this person always makes me seem like a doormat to them and others, and empowers this person even more to start taking credit for things they didn't even do.. Your last para actually perfectly describes the other person..
If you have noticed this person's behavior, others have too... everyone has 1-1 with their managers, and if everyone has said something about this, then it will ultimately impact him... but the problem is, if only and you alone call out this behavior to the manager, then you'll become the bad guy... just ignore his behavior and let the cards play out themselves... you can talk to this person 1-1 and politely mention that it would be nice if he shared credit... but If I were you, I'd leave it alone... you can talk to your manager about team change, and mention that you aren't getting enough credit for the work you've done... mention about "what" work though... but don't mention the other guys' name...
I want to get some coaching from your coworker. Lack of these tactics is holding me back. You can blame your coworker but he is just playing the game. It’s you who doesn’t understand the rules of the game.
It's not about not understanding the rules, it's about techniques on dealing with this. When I try to speak up, they make it look bad, by saying things like setting up a meeting to address this person's concerns" as if I am creating"concerns" that don't exist, or wasting tine, or even deflecting entirely what the concern was in the first place. When the truth is that they don't know anything and are totally clueless on the questions I ask, especially when that can greatly change the design and add lot of new work effecting timelines.
Is coworker from India?
lol here we go