Sometimes omitting your name behooves you.
Ownership is overrated. There’s a segment of society that swears by that statement. I’m still not sure which camp I sit with, but I do know that attempting to take ownership at work can have negative consequences.
I’ve witnessed two examples of people attempting to take ownership of projects in an ill-conceived way over the past two days. It should come as no surprise given how desperate employees are to get credit for their ideas and work.
(Names have been changed to protect the guilty.)
Situation #1
Vito was tasked with putting together a book that features a one-page snapshot of the dozens of franchise locations that the company owns. Each location gets a “stat” page, similar to what you’d find on the backside of a baseball card. From the number of restrooms to customer occupancy limits, each profile is rounded out with a Google streetview image and location information.
The looseleaf that Vito packed with information will prove useful to hundreds of employees, and perhaps eventually, the general public.
Upon completion of the three-month-long project, Vito prepared an attractive cover, one with large 16px font that read: WRITTEN BY VITO SANDS.
This ain’t a Stephen King novel. It’s not even a blog post. It’s cut-and-dry information that Vito’s boss asked him to prepare. Work that he was paid to do, and last time I checked, Vito wasn’t hired as an author with a byline.
Let me guess, your worker bee instinct is saying, ‘Of course he should get credit, he wrote it!’ And maybe in a normal world, he would get credit on every copy that’s distributed. But this is the corporate world, and there’s nothing normal about it.
If Vito includes his name, what about all of the staff members who helped him compile the information? Shouldn’t they get credit too?
The reality is, if you’re willing to think about it clearly, getting physical credit, in the form of a byline, will do absolutely nothing to help your career advance. Sure it might do your ego wonders and make your momma proud, but no one is bound to pick up a copy and say, ‘Find me that Vito and promote him at once.’
Situation #2
The office was buzzing; Tracey in accounting is pregnant. A stream of people lined up outside of her cube to congratulate her. After the good cheer was spread, everyone knew what was next: the requisite party around the conference room table. There’d be bagels, cookies, cake, and all of the awkwardness that the office dwellers could handle. That’s the way it goes down, every party, every time.
The head of the accounting department, Bill, genuinely happy for Tracey, stayed at work late, composing a festive email to announce the details of the party (a baby shower would follow months later). The who, when and where were all covered, but an extra detail ended the email.
“PARTY HOSTED BY ACCOUNTING AND CLERICAL”
A game show has a host. A house party has a host. An office celebration has a bunch of people chipping in money or buying boxed saturated fat on sale at the local market. No host required. At least not at the 50 other office celebrations the workers has attended.
Perhaps it was a simple error, or maybe a calculated attempt to curry points with upper management, but whatever it was, it pissed off the services department who shares work space with accounting and clerical.
It really is irrelevant who is “hosting” the party, but so is office life, leaving people grasping to non-existent situations and griping about nothing to simply pass the time.
My guess is that the Jobacle audience will be split with the two situations above. Some will believe that Vito deserves to have his name attached to a project he worked diligently on. Others will see that the corporation, and the benefactors of the information, do not care who prepared the compendium. The second example, where everyone needs to get a hobby, will also see a division. Does anyone really benefit by saying ‘look what I did for my coworker?’ Shouldn’t joy be spread anonymously?
The point here is that ownership is overrated, especially in the corridors of the office. Think twice before attaching your name to something at work. Odds are, it might create more waves than it’s worth.
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