How to get Recognized at Work
You’ll find no shortage of helpful articles about how to get recognized at work. If you take the time to read them, you’ll find advice like
- have confidence
- speak up
- claim credit
- network
- give others the kind of recognition you would like
Like most advice on the internet, it might work. Or it might not.
But I noticed a trend across many of these articles. They focus too much on you, the person looking for recognition, rather than the people who can do the recognizing.
Much of the advise out there doesn’t embrace the fact that your company can’t give you recognition — only people can give you recognition. And people tend to have this quirk where they do what they feel like doing.
The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun, one of Aesop’s Fables, illustrates what I mean.
As the story goes, the north wind and the sun compete to see who can make a traveler remove his coat. The wind tries a direct approach but it doesn’t work because the traveler clutches his coat tighter the more the wind blows.
The sun, however, shines brightly, heating up the traveler, who decides to remove his coat.
Just like the traveler in the story, the people you work with are, well, people. They don’t simply respond to your input like a computer. They have their own minds and choose their own actions. In fact, the people who can give you recognition have the same basic human fears and desires as you. And although every individual is different, it’s not a bad idea to assume most people will react to situations in a manner similar to how you would.
So how would you react if you were in a meeting and somebody made a point to mention that he was the one who did something? That’s right. You’d clutch your coat.
The good news is if we shift our focus from “How to get recognition at work” to “How to get people to want to give me recognition at work” we can identify some good strategies.
Solve People’s Problems
Everybody has problems. Some of them are small problems, like formatting a chart in a presentation. Some of them are big problems, like hitting a sales goal. Take a few minutes to think — what are the problems in your department? What is your boss struggling with? What are the CEO’s goals for the company? Try to align your work with these things.
Solving somebody’s problem is a great way to make somebody want to give you recognition. Unless they are a psychopath, they will naturally want to thank you and see that you’re rewarded for what you did for them.
Be open about your own mistakes and struggles
In your fantasy — you know, the one where the CEO is recognizing you in front of the whole company and begging you to take a higher salary — you’re probably being recognized for doing something amazing or heroic, like doubling sales, or launching a new inventory system with no bugs — NO BUGS!
But who would you be more likely to want to recognize — the guy walking around the office like he’s Captain America accomplishing one great feat after another, or the guy who failed at something twice and then succeeded on the third try?
When you’re vulnerable with others you develop trust. And when others see you struggling they’ll be more happy for you when you succeed.
As an added bonus, being open about your struggles and mistakes can be really helpful for your coworkers. So “speak up,” but don’t just do it when you have something to brag about. Do it when you’re struggling with something that others could benefit from hearing.
Sit at the right table
Poker players know that the decision that makes the biggest impact on their winnings for the night doesn’t happen during the game. It happens before the game even starts when they decide where to sit.
Truth is some companies simply do not encourage recognition. Some managers don’t want to promote you or give you a raise. If that’s the case, it really doesn’t matter what you do — as long as you’re sitting at that table, you’re going to lose.
Life’s too short and unemployment is really low, so look for a better place to work.
If you’re in a position of management, do what you can to give people recognition. Make it part of your culture. At my company we have several efforts to recognize and appreciate everyone. For example, Karma Bot is a neat Slack app that allows everyone to publicly recognize coworkers.
This isn’t trivial or selfish
You might sometimes tell yourself, “I don’t need recognition. I’ll just do my job and collect my pay.” That would be a mistake. We all need to feel like what we’re doing matters, and having your contributions acknowledged by others at work is a big part of that.
Sure, it’s possible to take it too far, but as a human being you need to get some recognition for your work if you’re going to be happy and perform at your best. Sticking around in a toxic environment could have significant long-term negative effects on your life, and by extension those you love. It’s a big deal and certainly worth changing jobs if that’s what it takes.
