Praising your own work. AIBU to think ask if there's anything wrong with it

[user1486841477]

So you work in an office. Every week you have to give your final product to your manager for him to check over.

After a piece of work you're proud of you explain to Manager that the piece of work 'is really good'.

If your struggling you also say that a piece of work lacks detail or you need help on it.

But when you do good work, which is most of the time. Is there anything wrong with praising your own work before handing it over?

One person's idea of "good" isn't necessarily another's. I think saying "I'm quite proud of this." or "I think I've done a really good job with this." sounds less up your own arse, iyswim.

The work of a high standard as feedback confirms.

Ah so it comes across as arrogant?

I feel/believe this is really good.

But is there anything wrong with saying your work is good?

As others have said- use 'I believe' or 'I think', or 'I am quiet proud of this'.

To just come out with 'This is really good' etc, does come across as arrogant, and what you believe is really good, may not be anothers opinion, even if you have received excellent comments in the past.

I think stating that it is good or not implies you think you can judge as well as your manager. In fact if the manager was to disagree it would become quite confrontational:
"This is good"
"Actually no it's not".

It does show self awareness however to say "I think this is good" then await the managers verdict.

Stating as fact without the "I think" implies you don't need or value the managers verdict whereas in truth they are senior to you for a reason (more experience or qualifications or just because in their role they see the bigger picture)

But is there anything wrong with saying your work is good?
Yes. It's dogmatic. It opens you up to looking like a twat when your manager points out a glaring basic error

But is there anything wrong with saying your work is good?

Yes. It makes you look arrogant, which is not a good look.

I am making a load of assumptions here about the OP being a woman, so apologies if that's not the case, but I think that we (women) tend to have been subtly trained in being self-deprecating and not bigging ourselves up in a way that generally men aren't (generalisations I know). So when you say to a woman "Nice dress" she'll say "Oh this old thing - it makes my bum look big" and straight away you look at her bum (which is a little large) and think "yeah it does but I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't told me" ignoring the amazing thing it's doing for her boobs.

This appears in our working lives as well - so we present a piece of work and then undermine it by saying "I don't think the statistics section is very good" which then directs the reader to go to that section and find fault in it. Whereas someone else might say "My analysis of the marketing context is particularly relevant for our current situation" which is actually a stealth boast, and directs the reader away from the weak statistics section.

I think as a generalisation men tend to be good at talking about what they're good at and women are good at talking about what they're not good at...I know "not all men" and "not all women" but I work in a male dominated industry and I see it quite a lot.

So I would say Yes - praise your own work - point out that you are particularly pleased to have found the new opportunity for development of widget production (or whatever) and rather than asking for help say "I think we could bring down costs at this point and thought it would be good to involve the whole team in working through that"

Why would you praise your own work as you hand it over though? Isn't that a really, really weird thing to do? Did you predictable yourself an A* when you handed homework in as a teenager?

Usually an adult does their work and submits it without strutting and preening unless they feel this one piece is exceptional and they have gone above and beyond their normal level of effort and are unusually proud.

If your work is always good then handing it over week on week and saying "here is another stand out weekly report,it's bloody good as usual" makes you sound like an absolute prat unless you are doing it in jest.

Yes. It makes you look arrogant, which is not a good look.

Disagree. If I think that's something I've done is good, I'll say so. The world is free to disagree. I'm pretty self-aware about myself. For example, I recently described myself as having 'the face for radio but a body to die for'. And that, I think, sums me up.

Do I love myself? Yep. If I didn't, I'd change me

S xxx

CreakyWitch - I think you have a very good point about women being self deprecating, but I think if you are handing work to your superior to be checked then arrogance is a no-no for men as well as women.

Why say anything? Shouldn't the work speak for itself?

Creaky you are right about the gender issue, but if a man handed in a regular piece of work week on week and praised himself for it each time he'd sound like a wanker.

Your "the statistics section is particularly relevant for our current situation" is brilliant way to draw attention to your own good work whilst sounding as though you are objectively commenting on the statistics themselves, so is far better.

It depends what the OP means by praising his or her own work I'd say. Saying "my work is bloody good" every time you do any work is very arrogant but also makes the speaker sound immature (look at me! See how fast I can run! I drew a really good picture!) socially awkward and lacking in self awareness - not positive attributes in an employee. Drawing attention to specific parts of the work which the team / management may find useful is on the other hand a good way to present your work positively without appearing to be talking about yourself.

The only time to overtly praise your own work is in an appraisal or interview. Otherwise talk about how some aspect of the work report is interesting / useful in an impersonal and objective way to get it noticed.

"Self praise is no recommendation," said my primary school teacher many years ago. She was right.

For example, I recently described myself as having 'the face for radio but a body to die for'.

So you put yourself down before bigging yourself up. Not really the same as just saying "I've got a body to die for." Which is a bit wanky, no matter how much you like being a bit wanky!

I'm happy to tell people if I'm pleased with my own work but equally happy to say if it's a bit shite 😂.

I wouldn't say 'oh this excellent work that I've produced'. That would be arrogant and a bit weird however I would be quite happy to say that I was pleased with how a price of work worked out and that I was proud of it.

I'm asking as it's my old work place. Don't work there anymore. But I used to always hand over my reports and say they were really good.

I didn't even think about doing it.

Then my manager bought a stress relief ball and would pick it up whenever I handed my reports over.

It worked as I realised he was jokingly let me know not to boast about my work.

His references always say I was wonderful and his final report on me was very positive, he even offered me a job after I'd finished there but it just stuck with me.

I just do it without even think about it!

So you put yourself down before bigging yourself up. Not really the same as just saying "I've got a body to die for." Which is a bit wanky, no matter how much you like being a bit wanky!

I never put myself down; I'm not the self-deprecating type, sorry. Was merely stating the facts.

And also, I'm old enough and ugly enough to be wanky if I so choose, without your approval, or otherwise.

So you know what you can do with your milk and two sugars.

S xx

stevie69 - saying you've got a face for radio sounds self deprecating to me tbh. And saying you'll be wanky if you choose to with or without my approval? Well yes, that's what I was saying!

I tend to put my milk and two sugars in tea. Occasionally coffee. Thanks.

M x

Saying someone else has a face for radio would certainly be an insult, so saying it about yourself is self deprecating.

Saying someone else had a body "to die for" would be creepy hyperbolic sillyness, I'm not sure in what context anyone would say it about themselves!

It's really weird to announce how good your work is before giving it to your boss to look at. For one thing you're basically saying to him "hey its your job to say whether this work is ok or not, but I don't need you to, its great".
It also suggests you are not open to any suggestions for improvement.
Plus its work, not a primary school colouring contest, its either up to standard or not, its not an opportunity for a well done.

It's just all round weird and would drive me mad if I were your boss.