“Virtue would not go far without vanity to escort her.” –-François Duc de la Rochefoucauld

A good part of my coaching practice comes from betrayed clients, who, despite their stellar work, lose out on good reviews, raises, promotions, and visibility in circles that matter inside their company. In almost each case an angry, defeated client comes with a story that is familiar: “I came up with this great idea to develop a new product and worked on its development. When it was released it soon went on to become a major revenue and profit generator for our company, badly in need of both. Yet my most recent Annual Performance Review (APR) barely mentions it and with four areas of improvement for myself, including innovation. I did not get any raise this year to boot.”

When you read this it almost makes your blood boil in anger and disgust. But, in corporate America—and the world, overall—this is the norm. When I dig into the story deeper and try to understand what role the client played in their own plight I realize that they lost control over their idea as soon as it got traction within their company and as soon as the “carpetbaggers” within their circle of work got the whiff of where the next locus of glory was. Sadly, even their immediate boss can usurp this glory and use the client’s success to elevate themselves.

So, what is my advice to such clients? Here it is itemized, in priority and sequence of how you should conduct yourself in such matters:

1. When you have an idea that is worth its salt, make sure first that it is sound and whetted enough to make it practicable. You may want to verify its merit by doing some analysis, research, talking to people or customers, and documenting your findings in a logbook with dates, names, and details.
2. Once you are reasonably satisfied that it is worth presenting to your boss make a well-organized presentation of your idea, the research you have done, and what it will take to implement that idea if those in the chain of command approved it. Make sure that you augment your presentation with inputs that come from your boss.
3. Make a business case for why your idea should be considered for implementation, with resources needed, timelines, and the impact of the outcome in business terms. At this stage a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate of such outcomes (savings, profits, increased market share, etc.) is acceptable. Often, once the idea gets the attention of the right people in the company a more rigorous analysis of these factors takes place through Finance, Marketing, and other departments. Make sure that you are involved in such proceedings and your name shows up in exchanges that take place during such steps.
4. Once your idea reaches this stage of attention it is on a serious track for action. Regardless of how confident you feel about its success it is time for you to put a stake in the ground by meeting with your boss and by getting an agreement that benefits you when the idea becomes reality.
5. The best way to reach this agreement is to use the data that came out of the analysis from Finance, Marketing, and others to present your “demands” to your boss and to get specific about what outcomes you want out of the success stemming from the initiative that you launched. It may go something like this: Marketing has estimated that once we release this product we’ll be the first mover in the market and can get a revenue bump of almost 12% in the first year. I want to make sure that this benefit translates into something that helps my career. I’d like to propose that once the product is released I am given the promotion to my next level (you can be specific about what that is) and a raise. Remember that you said, When the product is released, and not when it receives the 12% revenue bump. Often, you cannot manage what you cannot control. So, keep the ambit of your influence limited to your activity.
6. In most cases your boss will listen to your demands and reply by saying, I cannot promise anything just yet unless my superiors agree to this. You must not back down and respond back by saying, OK, please let me know what you hear and let us agree to what I get out of this for myself.
7. Once you boss gets back with a “promise” that accommodates what you requested (or some variation thereof) it is time to formalize that understanding. You go back and write an email to your boss exactly reflecting the promise that was just made and send it them. Unless you heard something very different from what was said your boss is not going to challenge that email.

Most bosses will NOT acknowledge such an email. So, what you do is insert something innocuous at the end of such an email and say, I also want to talk to you about some other matter that is personal. Can we meet at 3:00 PM today? When your boss responds by saying, let us meet at 4:00, instead. You have their acknowledgement to the message that really matters.
8. Once you have this understanding it is difficult for someone else to hijack the credit for your work—even just your idea—if what you started ends up making an impact in how your company benefits. So, by proactively managing your role in what you initiated you have protected your position and extracted a promise that can help you further your career.
9. The most important aspect of this lesson is knowing how to become proactive and protecting your interest in what you started. Merely assuming that you’ll be rewarded because your idea panned out is naïve and misguided.
10. Throughout the time your initiative is underway make sure that you keep yourself plugged-in and visible regardless of how many others try to hijack that credit away from you. Fortunately, many would not be aware of the groundwork you have already done to protect your interest and any success that flows from it.
Always remember that you do not get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

Good luck!