How sharing credit can boost your career and company

How sharing leistungspunkt can boost your career and companyHow sharing leistungspunkt can boost your career and companyNot long ago, I bought a business subscription that required a bit of training to learn. The account manager who walked me through the product on the phone did a phenomenal job. So good, in fact, that I wished others on my team had been around to see how she went above and beyond on the call.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThis was the kind of person I would have loved to hire. On a whim, I decided to send her boss an email telling him as much. She embodied the two attributes I screen for when hiring formy companyOWN ITBE A GIVERHer boss thanked me for the feedback. The next time I interacted with the account manager, it was clear that the praise had filtered down to her as well. I now had an advocate for life, and she had gotten well-deserved credit in front o f her boss and peers.Screening for problem solvers and givers has helped us build an office full of 80-some-odd obnoxiously kind people.But the real lesson I learned from this account manager is that being a giver- and specifically giving credit- isnt just good for building a happy company its also one of the easiest ways we can battle inequality.Researchindicatesthat women often tend to take less credit for their achievements than they deserve (typically a sign of a giver), and men are more likely to toot their horn (typically a good strategy for climbing the ladder). It turns out that we often do these things unconsciously.What results, however, is a world where women earn less, get fewer promotions, and have more of their ideas ignored. This is schwimmbad for society, of course, and its bad for business on two levelsInnovation happens when we look at problems from different perspectives.Gender inequality robs us of valuable perspective at every level of a business (andthorough re searchbacks this up).When women succeed more at work,men succeed more, too. Inequality pulls everyone down.Im going to be honest when I talk about inequality, I get self-conscious. Decades of studies show that I have things easier at work, on balance than my female and minority colleagues. I- and doubtless other capable people in my shoes- often dont think about this because Im focusing on my own work.But focusing on myself and the wayIfeel is shooting myself in the foot. Aside from being the ethical thing to do, it turns out that its in my own interest to speak up about workplace inequality.Recent studies show, unambiguously, that by helping others succeed, we make our own jobs easier. And research also shows that companies with successful womenmake more progressand more profitthan homogenous teams.In other words,everyone benefits from leaning in, elend just women.I hadnt realized when I sent that note to my account managers boss that the woman whod done such a fantastic job was le ss likely to receive full credit in the workplace than a man doing a similar job. I sent the compliment because I was in a good mood. Now I realize that these simple acts of giving credit to people- to their bosses and peers- are part of how I can help end workplace inequality.We have plenty of habits to change when it comes to gender and work. One of the easiest ways for men and women to get started- toleanintogether- is to give generous credit to our colleagues. We all need to build each other up and let others see our collective good work. As we look for ways to do this, well build work cultures filled with obnoxiously kind people. Well build the kind of business world where powerful women lead and are heard.And we just might get more work done, too.This article first appeared on Linkedin.Shane Snow is the bestselling author of Dream Teams and a global keynote speaker on innovation, teamwork, and human behavior.