When Do You Want Your Credit?

When you think about receiving credit for a job well done, do you want immediate acknowledgement or none at all? Is your own satisfaction in the job you did enough?

I was interviewed recently for some internal communication articles about people development. I thought the article was shaping up nicely and that it was informative and crisp. I was quoted twice during the article and thought it represented the organization well. Round and round we went with edits and changes, we were on revision five and I felt encouraged that what was written would help people.

Revision six came in and a change was made. "Please remove Matt's name where he is quoted and place my name there. Where I am quoted, change my name with my bosses name." Queue the music...

I was on a business trip when I received the email about the change. I laughed because I didn't know what else to do. I had a few different emotions that went along with the laughter that you reading along could imagine. I didn't know whether to be complimented or outraged? I was frustrated for sure and wanted to be direct with my feedback. I wanted to be sarcastic and I wanted to take it all in stride.

So, how would you have responded? What would have been your first reaction?

What is the Character Matter?

Since this happened, I haven't brought it up to the person that requested the change and I probably never will. I have resolved to be gracious and learn as much as I can from how I respond and how I would handle it if the shoe were on the other foot. I have taken this as a personal lesson in how I give credit to the people that I work with. The people like the woman who puts all the data together and makes us look like Organizational Capability rockstars and the many other things people do that I forget to give credit to.

Does it matter that my name is on an internal article? Probably not. If it matters, that character matter is simply inflated pride in something that may be trivial and as temporary as a newsblast email.

Does Character Mater in this scenario? I think it matters when something like that happens again and I cringe or keep my head up. I also think it matters when I look at the things that keep me in the organization and the things that cause me to examine why I stay. I can take pride in my quality of work with or without public acknowledgement because the credit of a boss is too temporary or fleeting and as a Christian I am working for the "audience of One" not a "1" on my annual performance rating.

When do you want credit for the things you have done?

Would it change what you did day in and day out if you never received credit? Or if your boss' boss took credit for your work?