What to do when a colleague takes credit for your work
She presented your analysis as hers. How to name what happened without the word 'stole', ask for a correction that lands, and keep working with her.
Your churn model, three weekends of your own time, appeared in her leadership review with her name on the title slide. She accepted the praise in the room. You work with her every week.
Two things are true at once: you need the credit corrected, and you need the relationship intact. Most people get one by giving up the other. They either say nothing and resent her for a year, or they go in hot and win the argument while losing the colleague. This guide is for getting both.
Why this one is hard
It’s hard because she probably doesn’t think she did anything wrong. People rarely take credit in a single decision. They get told to “own the narrative,” they synthesise your work into their story, and somewhere along the way the line between the two blurs in a way that’s convenient for them. Her first reaction will be surprise, then a defence that sounds reasonable: the model was input, the narrative was mine.
It’s also hard because the word in your head is “stole,” and the moment you say it the conversation stops being about the slide and starts being about the accusation.
Before you walk in
The facts, in three words each. The slide. The room. The silence. Those are the things that happened. Her motives are not facts; leave them out.
The specific repair. Not “more credit in future.” A written correction, to the same audience, naming your work as the method. Decide the exact form before you go in, because she’ll offer something vaguer and you’ll need to recognise the difference on the spot.
What you can live with. Her name stays on the narrative. That’s fair; she did build the story. Your name goes on the model. The repair you’re asking for isn’t a reversal. It’s accuracy.
The line you won’t cross. You won’t accept “it was a team effort” as the end of the conversation. It may have been a team effort. Your name still isn’t on it.
Your opening line
State what happened, what it did, and what you’re asking for. No adjectives.
The churn model went into your leadership review with your name on the title slide, and the credit in the room went to you. I built it. I’d like a note to the same list this week saying the method was mine. That’s all I’m asking for.
That’s four sentences, and the last one matters most: it tells her this isn’t the opening bid in something bigger.
The version to avoid is the one that opens on the feeling:
I have to be honest, I felt really blindsided when I saw my work presented as yours…
True, and the wrong place to start. She’ll answer the feeling (I’m so sorry you felt that way) and never get to the slide.
The three pushbacks you’ll hear
“It was a team effort — everyone’s work goes into these.”
The first pass. Agree with the part that’s true and hold the rest.
A lot of people fed into the review, yes. The model itself was three weekends of mine, and that’s the part I want attributed. A note to the same list does it.
Fact, effect, the specific repair. The same three things as your opening, said again without heat.
“The model was input. The narrative was mine.”
The honest version of her position, and worth taking seriously. She did build the narrative.
Agreed, and I’m not asking for that. Your name on the story, mine on the method. Can the note say that?
You’ve given her the thing that’s actually hers. That’s what makes the correction possible instead of humiliating.
“Are you keeping score? This feels pretty junior.”
The one that’s meant to make you back off. Don’t argue with the label.
I’m asking for an accurate record of who built what. I’d ask the same for you.
One sentence. If you defend yourself against “junior,” you’ve accepted the frame. If you don’t, there’s nowhere for it to go.
Where you stop
When she agrees to the written correction, to the same list, this week, naming the method as yours, you’re done. Thank her and don’t add conditions.
If she offers something vaguer, like “I’ll make sure you’re credited next time,” say the difference out loud, once:
Next time is good too. I’m asking about this time, to the people who saw the slide.
If she refuses outright, stop here. Say you’ll send her a short note with what you asked for, so you both have it, and leave. The conversation with her manager, if it comes to that, is a different conversation, and you’ll have it with the facts written down rather than from memory.
Afterwards
Send the two-line summary that evening: what you asked for, what she agreed to. If the correction goes out, reply to it with one word of thanks on the same thread. Everyone on the list sees the repair and sees you accept it gracefully, which is the version of you that you want them to remember.
Then make the next one easier: the next piece of work you do together, agree up front who presents what. Most credit problems are caused by nobody deciding.