September 24, 2003	Volume 3, Issue 39
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Devious Political Tactics:
Credit Appropriation

by Rick Brenner

Managers and supervisors who take credit for the work of subordinates or others who feel powerless are using a tactic I call Credit Appropriation. It's the mark of the unsophisticated political operator.

ordan peeked into Stephanie's office, and felt relief when he saw that she was in, sitting as usual with her feet up on her desk, talking into her headset. She waved him in and pointed to a chair. He sat.

As he waited, Stephanie smiled at him, then rolled her eyes as she wagged her head back and forth, indicating with her usual good humor that the person at the other end of the phone was droning on, and that she had to wait for it to end. Mercifully, it ended after only a minute, and she clicked off. Pulling off her headset, she punched "Do Not Disturb" on the phone. Jordan got up, closed the door, and sat down again. It was becoming their routine.

Stephanie took a pull from the water bottle next to the phone. "OK, spill."

Jordan began, "Joseph lied to Emmons about who did the estimates, and now every time Emmons asks Joseph a question, he tells him 'I'll get back to you,' and then he asks me. I'm sick of this. More than sick."

"What happened now?" Stephanie asked.

Credit appropriation
is the trademark of
the unsophisticated operator"Just now I find out that Joseph misunderstood Emmons' problem with Marigold's budget, so my latest version wasn't what Emmons wanted. Now Joseph is blaming me."

Jordan is entangled in the consequences of a tactic I call Credit Appropriation. In Credit Appropriation, the appropriator (in this instance, Joseph) takes credit for the work of the target (Jordan), who's usually a subordinate or someone who is or feels vulnerable.

Since credit appropriation is the most obvious, least effective, and perhaps the most common of all political maneuvers, it's the trademark of the unsophisticated operator. Still, it hurts. Here are some tips to keep in mind if an Appropriator targets you.

Be aware

Even if you haven't yet been targeted, the Appropriator will likely get around to you, eventually. Notice patterns of appropriation, not only from your peers, but from the Appropriator's peers, too. Awareness is preparedness.

Watch for blowback

What can be taken can be returned. If the "credit" turns negative, the appropriator is likely to blame you. Resist making modifications or doing any follow-ons to the appropriated work, since these activities can lead to trouble. This is what happened to Jordan.

Complexity is your friend

Seed your work with complexities and nuance that you alone understand. Eventually, the complexity will compel the Appropriator to reveal the work's true author. If the complexity is evident enough, it might even deter appropriation altogether.

Credit Appropriation is the first item in my catalog of Devious Political Tactics — more are coming. Have you found yourself in this situation? Or others? Tell me your story. Making these tactics public — and giving them names — is perhaps the best way to prevent their use.  Top    Next Issue

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Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. Order Now!

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More articles on Workplace Politics:

Illegal Dumping

To solve problems, we change existing policies or processes, or we create new ones. We try to make things better and sometimes we actually succeed. More often, we create new problems — typically, for someone else.

Devious Political Tactics: The Three-Legged Race

The Three-Legged Race is a tactic that some managers use to avoid giving one person new authority. Some of the more cynical among us use it to sabotage projects or even careers. How can you survive a three-legged race?

There Are No Micromanagers

If you're a manager who micromanages, you're probably trying as best you can to help your organization meet its responsibilities. Still, you might feel that people are unhappy — that whatever you're doing isn't working. There is another way.

Devious Political Tactics: Cutouts

Cutouts are people or procedures that enable political operators to communicate in safety. Using cutouts, operators can manipulate their environments while limiting their personal risk. How can you detect cutouts? And what can you do about them?

Patterns of Everyday Conversation

Many conversations follow identifiable patterns. Recognizing those patterns, and preparing yourself to deal with them, can keep you out of trouble and make you more effective and influential.

See also Workplace Politics and Managing Your Boss for more related articles.

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I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact me for details at rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com or (617) 491-6289, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

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Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons for Project Managers

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communication for Project Managers

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program you'll learn a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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The Politics of Meetings for People Who Hate Politics

There's a lot more to running an effective meeting than having the right room, the right equipment, and the right people. With meetings, the whole really is more than the sum of its parts. How the parts interact with each other and with external elements is as important as the parts themselves. And those interactions are the essence of politics for meetings. This program explores techniques for leading meetings that are based on understanding political interactions, and using that knowledge effectively to meet organizational goals. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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Human-Centered Risk Management

Most of us can assess technological risks, but risks related to human behavior tend to resist our best efforts. This session provides a framework for evaluating risks related to the behavior of individuals, teams, organizations and people generally. Human-centered risk differs from technological or market risk, because objective evaluation requires acknowledging personal and organizational limitations and failures. Since some of those limitations and failures might apply to the people assessing the risks, or to their superiors, there's a tendency to deny them or to explain them away. Our approach examines capability, organization, context, risk mitigation, and workplace politics. It has tools for guiding the assessment and management of human-centered risk, and we show how to extend these tools to suit your situation. You'll learn how to identify sources of risk in human behavior; recognize systemic and individual barriers to acknowledging risk; assess the effects of organizational turbulence; determine the risk associated with inappropriate internal risk transfer; estimate the effects of team dysfunction, toxic conflict and turnover; and measure the impact of workplace politics. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Managing Virtual Teams for Real Results

Managing global or dispersed teams is challenging — miscommunications, misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflict all thrive in the typical environment of the distributed team. And they're even more common in global teams, because of time-zone offsets and language and cultural differences. We'll inventory the challenges distributed and global teams face, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees will learn concrete techniques for preventing and dealing with the problems that accompany global and distributed teams. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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