Taking Credit....Sharing Credit

The strong take from the weak and the smart take from the strong.
- Pete Carril, former Princeton basketball coach



I met 2 young executives who have just over a year or so been employed in a Malaysian blue chip company.They look and sound dynamic, passionate in what they do, supremely confident of their abilities and very much in love with what they do for a living. They are also, as they mentioned it a few times in our conversation, very thankful for being able to work for this company which is known for above market compensation and employee benefits.

Yet, these two guys came up to me with a real and burning issue. Their manager, it seems, is taking all the credit for the team's work AND is not playing the right kind of leadership role (in comparison to his predecessor). I think you can already see that there are 2 issues here. One is of a manager taking and not sharing enough credit and the other is of a team that is hankering to 'the good old days'.

OK. Lets look at issue no.1 : Bosses taking all the credit. I may be biased here but I am from the school that says 'make your boss look good'. As I pointed out to these young gentlemans, organizations by their very nature, are hierarchical.They have been so for the last 2000 years since the first Roman generals organized their armies to go to war. Each layer in this hierarchy is intended to make the layer above look good and the layer below feel good. The responsibility of executives is to ensure that their manager achieves all his targets and objectives. The responsibility of the manager is to ensure that his boss achieves all of her own targets and objectives.So it goes on and on right to the very pinnacle of the hierarchy.

A manager is supposed to manage. The rest are supposed to execute the resulting strategies and approaches of that 'managing'. If a manager's value and leadership is measured by how much he gets his hand dirty; we have got it wrong. Yes, we do want managers to manage'by walking around', to 'manage by example' to manage 'by objectives'. Agreed. But, they are to manage first and foremost. Period.

Now you see why sometimes when a particular manager is away, the whole department seems to come to a standstill waiting for his return? He has been doing a wonderful job...except managing others to do what they are supposed to do FOR him.

Now, as for taking and giving credit, it is a question of value. I remember during my early days in the world of consulting and corporate training, my boss/mentor often used my creative output when dealing with clients without once giving credit to me. I used to be a little upset about this ( a lot actually) but then I realized he gave me the credit that really matters to me at that point of my development....pay and reward. He also often gave me the credit I craved by giving me the freedom I need to design a particular program the way I see fit. He never questioned my approach or methodology. So, even if he had given all the credits to me in front of the client and stopped there, I am the looser. He knew when, how and what kind of credit to give. I am eternally grateful for that.

But that is not to say that there aren't managers who hoard credit and praise. These are weaklings. They will not go far and even if they do they will never have that one element of true greatness : Trust.

Issue no.2 is all too human. We have a tendency to hate the moment and hanker for the past. An effective manager is not the same as a 'nice' manager. Expecting a new manager to have the same style as the previous one, regardless of how nice and/or effective the previous was, is a game with no winners. Can you imagine what would have happened to GE, if everybody there started comparing Immelt with Welch and keep going back to 'the good old days'? Just look at what is happening in Malaysia. Get the picture.

For all you German fans : Prepare to cry tonight!