How can I deal with a team lead who represents my work as his work?

Question

I am a new member of a small team.

I got a project from our project manager. Assigned a team leader with my project.

I have done the project and the team lead some times asked whether the project is done or not.

In project's presentation my project's team lead presented my project as most of logic done my him. And pointed several mistakes of the project done by me. But early days he does not pointed any mistake done my me.

I am totally frustrated of my team lead's presentation.

How better should I deal with my team lead?

Answer 1

Be assertive.

First, have a very private and honest conversation with your boss.

Way back in my first job, one colleague got a couple of promotions off the back of my work, and I didn't know how to deal with it. When I left, he wished me luck and I pointed out to him that I really didn't care much what he wished for, and went on to explain why. He was devastated. He genuinely didn't even realise he'd done that to me.

I swore there and then I wouldn't stay quiet again.

However, there is a time and a place. Don't compete in the meeting. Speak to him privately afterwards. He might apologise and never do it again. This has worked for me.

Or he might try to justify his actions, claim that as your boss, he is ultimately responsible for everything good you do. This is garbage. A good boss gives credit to the team and accepts responsibility for failure. This builds loyalty and, ultimately, he should let his bosses give him credit for giving you an environment in which to flourish.

Which leaves two possibilities: either he's a bad boss or his bosses are bad and encourage this kind of attitude (by failing to give him credit for doing his job -- managing).

Either way, you need to make yourself and your successes more visible. Your boss is being passive-aggressive. The best counter to that is to be assertive. Not aggressive (don't challenge your boss directly), not passive (don't just let it happen until he needs to throw you under a bus), not passive-aggressive (never play your boss at that game, he has more opportunity than you do), but be assertive.

Catch your boss's bosses in the corridor or at the water cooler and say "Hey, John never told me, were you happy with that thing I did?" or "Hey, if you ever need such and such and John isn't around, come to me directly." That kind of thing.

Imply nothing, just sell yourself. The implications will be obvious, if your boss isn't doing it already.

Be clear, I don't think that bypassing your boss is ideal. Try approaching him first. But if that doesn't work then you're not in an ideal situation and you have to act accordingly, otherwise you're going to be left with a choice of quitting or waiting til you're forced out to protect your boss.

Answer 2

If you have done most of the work, then by default, you understand the real issues that has been solved much better than the team lead. Show it when you talk - not in an aggressive or correcting tone, but with enthusiasm. By making it crystal clear how much you understand the depth of solutions that were presented, it will shine through that you are a valuable team member.

Trying to take credit for the work can be done outright by saying stuff like "this is the report I wrote" or whatever, but that strategy falls apart when facing someone who clearly demonstrates that he/she understands the subject to a much greater extent.

At the end of the day - who does the manager value? The guy who said "I wrote this", but can't account for it or the one who demonstrates knowledge of the solutions?