爭取應得的功勞

No question, teamwork is in and lone wolves are out in the modern organization, and that can make it tough for the individual to shine. Companies are loath to play up one employee’s contribution over another’s for fear of damaging morale or creating a star system. And coworkers hate a braggart.

But you don’t have to sublimate personal glory in the name of the team. Forget sacrificing the credit to others: Communism didn’t work, says executive coach Marshall Goldsmith. We live in a capitalist world--but when we go to work, we’re supposed to pretend we have no self-interest?

Given that companies aren’t likely to buck the team spirit anytime soon, we set out to discover how to take credit without coming off like a self-promoter.

In team-based cultures, highlighting your accomplishments does require a delicate balancing act. I’ve been screamed at for using the word ’I’ in emails and meetings, says Jennifer Handshew, a public-relations exec. Even though you have a personal relationship with the client, agencies want to give the impression that clients are paying for a team.

Handshew, who has 10 years of experience, has found that working with smaller clients lets her better spotlight her achievements. The highest-profile assignments, though nice, are the ones where the boss will invariably take the credit.

Even in a big-league situation, though, you can express what your contribution was, as long as you have the self-esteem to put yourself first. Being confident means being a little egotistical, says John Palumbo, a marketing executive who has launched major campaigns for Nintendo and ATamp;T.

But be honest and upfront. Walk through your thought process--how you presented the idea and how it came to be. If your idea was just the spark, say you were just the spark. If you’re concerned about how the team will react, remember to have a sense of humor. When I claim a project, I’m always a bit tongue-in-cheek, he says.

There are real risks to disappearing inside a team. Someone once told me to be a team player, to hide in the tall grass, says Blythe McGarvie, a former CFO at BIC Group. Later I learned that if you hide in the tall grass, you’re going to get mowed under when it’s time for a layoff or reduction. You have to stand out. Mowed around is better.

To make sure you stand out, establish a direct line of communication with someone above you, says Sunny Bates, author of How to Earn What You’re Worth. Follow up with summary notes to a direct report of meetings and personal achievements. Don’t hit people over the head with a laundry list of what you’ve done, she cautions. Just recap now and then.

And if for whatever reason your boss isn’t hearing it, try to find a mentor among your superiors. Regularly checking in, say every couple of weeks, will allow you to summarize your recent accomplishments while cultivating a personal advocate in the upper ranks.

When trying to convince upper management of your worth, you need to position your accomplishments strategically. Getting noticed isn’t about hogging all the credit but claiming the right credit. Remind them how your achievements benefit them, the company, and you, Goldsmith says. A good team player can be someone who has lots of self-interest.

There are times, though, when you simply have to share the glory. Since his Moosehead days, ad man Ernest Lupinacci has gone on to write ads for Priceline.com (yap, those William Shatner ads were his) and to work for Wieden+ Kennedy, where he penned ads for ESPN’s SportsCenter and Nike. He launched his own firm, Anomaly, last year, to early acclaim.

And when Jay Leno asked Shatner, on The Tonight Show, if crooning the Priceline.com ads was his idea, Shatner essentially claimed the credit. Was Lupinacci upset? Not really. He says he got ahead over the years by touting the achievements of groups, not his individual role in them.

Getting to the point where there is an achievement to tout at all, he claims, is the important part. If it doesn’t get produced and seen, it doesn’t matter how much ownership you have in the idea, he says. Better to be able to claim some involvement in a hit, rather than complete ownership of something that never saw the light of day.

爭取應得的功勞

本文是由盧卡斯．康利所撰寫，摘錄自《高速企業》（Fast Company）雜誌「爭取應得的功勞」一文）

毫無疑問地，在現代組織裡，團隊精神正大行其道，孤鳥早已退了流行。依照這樣的趨勢發展，想要嶄露個人成就愈來愈困難。企業擔心破壞士氣或製造明星員工，多半不喜歡過分凸顯某個員工的貢獻高過其他人，同事也討厭自吹自擂的人。

可是，你也無須為了團隊精神而放棄追求個人榮耀。「忘了犧牲小我、完成大我這件事吧！共產主義是行不通的，」主管教練馬歇爾．葛史密斯說。「我們生活在一個資本主義的世界。可是在職場上，卻必須假裝完全沒有自我利益存在？」

既然短期內企業不太可能反抗重視團隊精神的潮流，我們就要開始學習如何適度居功，卻又不會表現得像個喜歡自我推銷的人。

想要在重視團隊精神的企業文化中彰顯自己的成就，做法必須細膩、不亢不卑。「我曾經因為在電子郵件和會議裡用了『我』這個字，遭到強烈抗議，」身為公關主管的珍妮佛．韓修說，「即使你和客戶之間存在私人情誼，公司還是希望營造出客戶是付錢要求整個團隊為他做事的印象。」

已有10年經驗的韓修發現，處理小客戶的案件比較能夠凸顯自己的成就。至於那些最受矚目的大案件，雖然不錯，但功勞往往都是屬於老闆的。