Getting Credit for 'Not My Job': Succeeding Beyond the V2MOM
How to gain recognition for the vital work inside your company that falls outside your job description or company priorities.
“If it’s not on the V2MOM, it doesn’t exist.”
It’s a classic corporate mantra meant to drive relentless focus on core company priorities. In reality, it often leads to people missing out on recognition for crucial work simply because it doesn’t map neatly onto a rigid quarterly goal.
It begs the question: How do you get credit for work you’re doing that’s outside your job description or official company priorities?
You document. And you communicate.
1. Start with a Comprehensive List
Be flexible and open with what you consider to be work. Traditionally, people only thought about things they got paid directly for as “work,” but that mindset leaves out massive amounts of value creation:
-
The “favours” you do to help out another team or team-member when they’re blocked, or slowed down
-
Internal enablement, mentorship, or culture-building activities
-
Maintaining the docs, tools, or processes nobody officially owns
Some invisible work lives entirely outside the office—volunteering, community organizing, side projects. Here, we’re talking about the work happening inside the company that no roadmap captures.
2. Maintain a “Brag Book”
All of the best managers I’ve ever worked with kept a brag book for me during performance review season—and even then, it only contained half of what I actually did because I didn’t tell them about everything.
Regardless of whether you have an active manager keeping track for you, maintain your own ongoing log of accomplishments, thank-you notes, and side initiatives. When review time rolls around, you’ll have a clear record of impact that spans both your core responsibilities and your vital “not my job” contributions.
3. Say It Where Credit Gets Assigned
A brag book nobody sees is just a diary. Credit gets assigned in standups, status updates, and review conversations—so put your work in the room. I’m currently piloting the Traction EOS Level 10 Meeting, and I always try to highlight at least one thing I did outside of my job description, or kudos I got in the “Customer / Employee Headlines” section:
- Drop one win into every weekly update
- Bring one brag-book item to each 1:1
- Forward thank-you notes to your manager with a line of context
If you’re a manager, start each meeting with gratitude and kudos. It takes 5 mins, but allows people to call out each other and their accomplishments. I’ve seen this small change truly change culture in a team.
“If it’s not on the V2MOM, it doesn’t exist” only stays true if you let it. You’re still doing the work, the credit only becomes real when you make the work visible. You document. And you communicate. Worst case scenario? Your boss sees what you’re doing, and helps partner with you to stop doing things that don’t move the needle.