Colleague asking to see my work

[Dibble135]

My firm does a training course for a limited number of candidates each year which ends with you being asked to come up with and present a new idea to take the business forward.

It was my turn last year and it went really well to the point I am now looking to develop my idea from the theory to reality.

A colleague who is doing it this year has approached me this morning saying he is planning on doing a similar thing and after originally asking a steer in the right direction, has now said he wants me to give him my actual presentation.

I’m surprised he would ask as I don’t know him that well and in any event it’s my work which I spent a long time getting right.

AIBU to say no?

Ignore him.

Say no!

Why give reasons? Just say no.

Why not ask him if he's going to acknowledge that it's your work or reference your presentation? He could be genuine and not looking to steal the credit.

I would have no issues with this in my industry because the people I've worked with aren't snide. Holistically, my industry is stronger when knowledge is shared. So gatekeeping knowledge isn't a problem but accept it's not always the case.

Keep an email trail and ask the question. What do you stand to lose if you did give him your work and the business benefitted from his work?

I wonder if he copied other peoples' homework at school too!

Who owns the intellectual property of work you've done for that employer?
Be careful you don't cross any lines that could put you in a difficult position, and leave you wide open to future coercion from the colleague.

DH once had a similar request from a colleague.  

He knew perfectly well the colleague could never use DHs work material within the company and pass it off as his own, because its content and sensitivity marked it as DH's. Therefore the colleague's only motive, was selling DH's highly sensitive material outside the company. He immediately reported the request to the MD. Colleague was sacked on the spot.

Don’t do it.

When I was young and naive I once lent a colleague the notes I’d made for a project when he asked me, very earnestly, because he was ‘preparing for an interview’ and he’d be oh so terribly grateful.

I didn’t find out until years later that he’d taken my notes - the fruit of much hard work - to the interview and simply pretended they were his. He was highly praised for them and got the job. He’s now a well known person in his field but obviously I know that he’s a shameless grifter and user.

What did you do about it?

Hi Steve,

Unfortunately it won't be possible for me to give you a copy of my presentation from last year bc I'm not an idiot who is going to let you steal my work. The idea as presented is currently being developed into a working process and therefore all relevant material is confidential, including the original presentation in its final format, until the process is completed.

If you were just wanting to see it in order to get an idea of tone/structure etc then I'm happy to provide a general guideline of how my presentation was set out, but I cannot share the actual information contained in it.

Kindest regards and good luck plagiarising someone else's work

@Dibble135

I'd say no and be honest why, that you don't want to risk anyone else taking credit for your ideas and copying your work.

Short and sweet ‘ I don’t think that’s appropriate ‘.

'Hi Dave.

The idea is already being developed and if I remember correctly, you should be formulating an original business idea so it wouldn't be appropriate to share this with anyone.

Kindest Regards

OP'

@Quebeccles
Did this impede your career? Would you be where he is now otherwise?
What a terrible person he is!!!!😡

I was going to suggest sending it as an uneditable powerpoint (not sure if that is possible) with a watermark through it saying it's your work.
However, he may be sneaky enough to make a new one and copy your wording.

A simple response along the lines of 'No' should suffice :)

First thought is that he is just after a template to use for his own idea, as yours went down well last year. If this is the case, then YWBU not to help - presumably the presentation belongs to your employer rather than you if it was done in the course of your employment.

Where you say he is planning on doing a similar thing do you mean a similar idea or a similar presentation? Is the former, then surely it will be obvious it's yours. If the latter, you would come across as pretty petty refusing to help with a template.

To hell with giving this idiot reasons why. I wouldn't respond at all.

ignore it.

I’d just respond with you are happy to look over his presentation and offer any tips (if you are). See how happy he is to send you his idea…

Tell him to show you his ideas, work so far, and you'll critique it for him. Cheeky sod.

When I got a promotion recently two people including one more senior asked me to send me my personal statement / application form. I’d never ask anyone for that personally

Easy peasy then. Cc their manager.

Dear colleague,

Here's the presentation I did last year. Xy and z will need updating because I was working in the Insert Clever Context.

Boss - colleague asked for this as a starting point, but as I recall, you thought Context at the time. Happy to give any further help you need with this colleague!

Regards, etc.

@Windmille and @CassandraBarrett sorry, just seen your posts.

As I mentioned, I didn’t find out about this until literally years later, by which time we’d both got different jobs, albeit in roughly the same general field. I didn’t end up doing anything directly related to the notes I’d made; he kind of did, but in a rather tangential way (sorry, I’m being slightly vague here). So I never confronted him or anything, I’m afraid.

I think the present-day me would have had it out with him, but actually, as things turned out, I've had a good and well-paid career in a stimulating field which most people would see as enviable and interesting. I very much doubt he’d have done what I ended up doing, in fact I’m sure he wouldn’t! And I’m known in my field too - so, take that, sneaky note-stealing colleague! 😂

Ignore!
Lazy, cheeky fucker.

Sounds like you’ve done well!

Ah great. Well done 😊