#465  from Innovative Leader Volume 9, Number 4          April 2000

FORUM—from our readers

It Was My Idea, Not His!

OK, we’re all part of a team.  The team wins, we win.  The team loses, we lose.  Teamwork is what it’s all about.  That’s the corporate “cheer.”  Most of our bonuses and salary raises are directed to teams rather than individuals.  Thus, each team member is treated as the “average” of the team.

This new pressure to be a great team player seems, in many cases, to work against the company’s objective—to be a winner in a very competitive market.  I’ll give you a personal example.  All by myself, I thought of a new process through which the cost of production of our main product would be decreased by 15%, a major contribution.  That was the idea part.

Next, we had to test the idea (it worked!) and reduce it to practice.  Of course, many people, and many talents, were involved in those steps.  With other people’s ideas, we finally brought the new process on-line and the company is reaping the benefits.

My supervisor, a “team player,” acknowledges the great team effort by “everyone.”  We even had a catered fancy lunch attended by the CEO and other big shots who congratulated “the team.”  My name wasn’t mentioned once.  It was always “the team.”  The only single person that could be associated with this process was, by default, the team supervisor.  He, by the way, initially didn’t believe the process would work and tried to talk me out of getting the other team members involved.

Now, I’m happy for the company and happy for my team.  But I’m miserable about me.  This was the most important contribution I’ve ever made at work.  I’m bitter that I haven’t received appropriate recognition.  Am I just a selfish person, more interested in myself than the team’s success?  Yes I am!  And I think anyone else would be just as selfish.  Isn’t it human nature to want to be openly acknowledged for a very important idea?

I’ll tell you one thing.  I’m not as effective as I had been.  My bitterness clouds my current work.  I certainly am not looking forward to contributing the next great idea.  Why put up with the usual negativity that comes with it?  Let’s all be average; that’s the way we’re treated.

Do you over-emphasize team playing?  Be careful.

Anonymous