Junior colleague taking credit

[Workdilemma6789]

I have been tasked with working with / helping a junior colleague for about half of my workload. I am not their line mgr but they are supporting on several of my work streams and have been for a few months.

they are competent, smart and enthusiastic; however I have about 6 more years experience in the workplace than them and this is their first proper job. I am also a qualified lawyer and they are not.

i really try to go above and beyond explaining things to them, helping, correcting mistakes and reviewing etc. They recently Asked if they could be copied onto all internal emails (sometimes only me and my senior are in these for efficiency) as they wanted to understand what was going on - I immediately agreed and felt a bit bad they hadn’t been. I also invite them to work socials etc.

I felt a bit betrayed when I saw them in a call with our boss. They would have the call, call me to update me and then ask me for help on the task. I immediately asked if I could be looped into the next call for efficiency - saves me repeating myself and ensures I know what we are being asked to do. Lo and behold, happens again. By this point I’m annoyed - seems like they are asking me for help then presenting the work as their own while cutting me out of the process. I politely called our boss directly and explained we couldn’t do said task and managed the situation. But I’m annoyed it had to get that stage.

any ideas on how I can handle this? It makes me want to step back a bit and stop teaching / mentoring them. They may be good but they do need support and lack experience. I feel taken advantage of and definitely do not trust them now.

for context I’m one of the only women in a male workplace and this isn’t the first time this has happened, although disappointingly it’s the first time it has happened with this guy.

I feel like he is leveraging my experience and knowledge to shine whilst I’m seen as the one who gets things done in the corner.

Also in the work forum but have posted here for more insight

My current thought process is tell junior I need to be in on all project meetings with him and our boss as it’s important I’m on top of key updates - especially if I’m then asked questions from him - as I have no background context and it’s not a good use of anyone’s time.

Im not a lawyer but yeh, i feel like my labour is taken for granted freeing other younger people up to SHINE

SO all of my sympathies
Looking forward to responses

Definitely tell him this and make it very clear that his behaviour is extremely inappropriate. He’s undermining you. Can he be assigned elsewhere? He shout-out be taking credit for your hard work. If he doesn’t need to be in on your emails with the boss, cut him out.

It depends on the culture of your organisation. if it's one where managers "deliver through people", it allows for and encourages supporting the junior staff owning tasks and getting credit, with the senior management mentoring/coaching and being given credit for bringing on their internal talent.

Your approach seems worryingly like your micromanaging the junior staff and only allowing interface with seniors through you because you want the credit

If the culture in your organisation is quite competitive and individualist, that will sometimes show by how people manage their team. If its collectivist, the team take the credit as a whole with less care about who did which bit.

It isn't an easy mindset to get into but ultimately it will make you stand out as a nurturing and selfless Leader to step back and let your staff member have their time in the spotlight. Hopefully you are not being excluded from that, for the contributions you are personally making in other ways?

Also to mention, you can show leadership by giving the junior staff some guidance on protocol as regards updates.

How I manage it for my team is having a weekly meeting where we each give an overview of what we're working on to management so it's clear who's doing what. Often I will ensure the team speak before me as I have separate 1x1 with my manager where I have the chance to do the strategic overview of progress rather than the detailed task specific deliverables.

hmm @daisychain01 in theory ours is very much the former and I consider myself very much in the “nurturing and selfless” model, having unfortunately suffered at the hands of those who are not in previously roles!

there are a lot of sharp elbows though and I have remained attuned to this alongside the gender disparity and underlying competition.

I will happily go above and beyond for junior colleagues but this scenario just felt odd and as if I was being completely used. I had asked deliberately to be included in the call just to know what was going on - and that was ignored - but I was still expected to help and support while “the men” chatted. It felt like I had been relegated to a supporting role whilst basically managing the project and I want to nip this in the bud straightaway...

@daisychain01 thats exactly what I do re. encouraging junior staff to speak before me, I always assume I’m indirectly judged on the quality of their outputs - as have reviewed these and assisted in the production of them. Fully agree. Where I take issue is being deliberately cut out of team comms but then looped into support after... also having my requests ignored. It’s not how I would ever behave to a more senior colleague and it’s not really appropriate either

You need to train your manager too. Any requests he receives for meetings without you need to be bounced back to Whipersnapper.

I have a person in my line that persistently tries to go around me. My LM is scrupulously polite and then persistently says “please go via 100 problems with that”. We have a little bet on how fast the penny will eventually drop.

NB it’s not that I don’t think all staff should have access to seniors, and neither does she, more that lines are there for reasons and should be observed particularly where decisions are being requested.

Can you be honest with junior about how it has come across?

“Junior, I did ask to be included in the X project call and for some reason that didn’t happen. Please could you ensure I am looped in on the next occasion? Not only is it more efficient if I hear all the details on the project call with Bigger Boss, it’s also just a better reflection of how these projects are being handled - I’m very happy to assist and mentor but it can come across as dismissive of my contribution if I’m not visible in the project. I’m sure you didn’t intend it that way but it’s worth noting! Blah blah lighthearted end to conversation etc etc

I think you need to sit down and calmly say exactly what you have said here, about it appearing to cut you out. Explain that's not how things are done at your company and it's important to keep your mentor on side

I'm a senior lawyer. Assuming you went a traditional route you are what, 4 years qualified - it's pretty junior too to be honest.

I wouldn't advise dealing with this how you are planning. I think you need to take more control of your project (part of which seems to be supervising trainee).

1. You need to speak to your actual boss not the trainee - trainee is needing quite a lot more supervision and mentoring than anticipated - please can I be included in the internal meetings for the time being. It's not the trainee - it's your boss excluding you. If they are having a meeting regarding info you need to know and the trainee can't pass that on efficiently to you.

1. One way of doing this is when they come to you document what they don't understand in email to boss - trainee should be able to efficiently pass on information to you to enable you supervise. "Just wanted to check xyz".

1. Finally make sure your narratives are bang on and fully record all of your supervision time On the client file. Make them have to go to the trouble of writing off at the end if necessary - otherwise your contribution is not visible. If I were a client I wouldn't want to pay for three lawyers to have a discussion about everything. Boss should be able to give trainee work. Boss is either not briefing trainee properly or trainee isn't as good as they think they are (in either case he should then brief you). I would expect trainee to speak to associate about things they don't understand rather than coming back to me every time though.

My current trainee thinks he's the bees knees. He's about to qualify. He makes significant mistakes regularly that lots of other fee earners don't notice because they don't check his work properly. I'm a pedant and a control freak. I suspect he doesn't like working for me but I don't care. He's the same as yours though and goes off to our senior partner all the time. I just drop him in it to his face. Law firms are elbows out environments. Sadly you need to embrace that (at least whilst proving yourself) or you will get walked all over. I'm regarded as one of the nice ones!

In my experience the best lawyers are the ones that are all over everything. That's what makes it a full on job.

If there's an element of The Boys Club and sharp elbows in your organisation, which I hadn't picked up from your OP - which it sounds like there is, that's a whole additional layer of complexity for you to navigate. Unfortunately it becomes a negative cycle but you need to stamp your authority on the situation. It doesn't sound like being the bigger person is going to work here.

I would definitely have words with your new mentee and spell out how things need to be done. There's a big difference between exuberance, and someone deliberately stepping on your head. if it continues then I agree with the PP that you may need to manage your manager as well. Main thing is, you are the qualify and experienced one here, so you shouldn't feel threatened (albeit being pissed off is natural in this situation!)

Wise advice OP.

Continuing to tolerate this and going above and beyond will not IMO serve you well.

You need to take the advice given, stiffen your spine and firmly take control of a junior who is trying to manage you, rather than the other way round.