Imposter syndrome causes people to feel like they don’t belong, despite their accomplishments. While it may seem benign on the surface, it can feel paralyzing and lead employees to self-sabotage. So, overcoming it presents a challenge for most organizations. Taking action to correct imposter syndrome will prove vital to enhancing employee well-being and growing as a company.
As many as 82% of people have experienced imposter syndrome. In this article, we’ll explore several key questions:
- What is imposter syndrome?
- How does it affect individuals and companies?
- What strategies can help a person overcome imposter syndrome?
After discussing its symptoms, we’ll explore how to overcome imposter syndrome using evidence-based strategies. As you learn how to deal with imposter syndrome, you’ll expand what your teams can achieve together.
Table of Contents
1. Understanding Imposter Syndrome
2. Impact on Employees and Organizations
3. Key Strategies to Decrease Imposter Syndrome
Understanding Imposter Syndrome
What is imposter syndrome? Essentially, people suffering from this condition feel like they haven’t earned their success or don’t deserve to be in their position. They may feel like a fraud, as though they’re pretending to be someone they’re not—even if they rationally understand they have the qualifications for the role. Lacking confidence in their own abilities, they feel like someone else could perform their job better.
Because imposter syndrome (IS) isn’t a clinical diagnosis, many prefer to call it imposter phenomenon, says Ashley Abramson in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology.
Symptoms
Here are some common signs and symptoms of imposter syndrome:
- Worrying about not being able to match past successes.
- Viewing past accomplishments as rooted in luck, not skill (external locus of control).
- Believing they can only meet goals by overworking.
- Experiencing a high level of anxiety or depression at work.
- Minimizing their own achievements and being highly self-critical.
- Not voicing their ideas due to fear of looking foolish.
- Avoiding risks rather than striving toward bigger goals.
- Believing that anything less than perfection is not acceptable.
- Fearing success, as it may lead to increased responsibility or expectations.
- Over-preparing or procrastinating when faced with a tough project.
Imposter syndrome is a vicious cycle. For a person with IS, the tendency to overprepare or procrastinate solidifies the idea that they are a fraud. “Sure, I got the project done, but I needed all that extra time,” they might think. Instead of internalizing their successes, they laser in on what they did wrong. And they continue to chalk up goal achievement to mere luck.
People with IS may also relentlessly pursue additional training, feeling like they’re never prepared enough. They’re unwilling to call themselves experts, even if others would. Some feel they can never turn down a request, as Nicolas Cesare writes in Newsweek, while others feel that asking for help will unmask them as a failure.
Who Imposter Syndrome Affects
People from marginalized groups have a higher likelihood of experiencing imposter syndrome. For example, people of color who work in primarily white contexts might be predisposed to experience it, despite their knowledge and talents, says the APA. And women are especially likely to experience it as well. (Meanwhile, men with imposter syndrome are likely to push through it but not address the underlying feelings at play, leading to mental health issues down the road.)
Often imposter syndrome affects early-career professionals or mid-career people moving into a new type of role. For example, new managers who excelled as individual contributors might doubt their ability to lead. Or, a person undergoing a career transition may experience IS.
Impact on Employees and Organizations
Imposter syndrome affects performance, mental health, and job satisfaction. This has broad implications not just for individuals, but for team dynamics and productivity.
When employees suffer from IS, it hinders whole teams and companies from achieving their full potential. As individuals choose to play it safe rather than taking risks, exploring innovative ideas, and pushing themselves further, companies fail to capitalize on their abilities. Whole teams can take on a fear of failure (or success) that causes them to strive for lesser goals.
Further, as individuals overwork themselves in an effort to reach perfection, a company’s work/life balance can suffer, leading to burnout. A UK study found imposter syndrome to be one of the biggest contributors to burnout. They found that 62% of participants struggled with feeling like an imposter every day and that 34% were at imminent risk of burnout.
If leaders themselves have imposter syndrome, they may unintentionally convey that they expect less from their team. Or, they might micromanage people—a form of overworking that stems from self-doubt in their ability to guide a team to success. (In turn, this might predispose employees to imposter syndrome by shaking their confidence.)
Moreover, imposter syndrome can be a symptom of a toxic workplace that holds back its employees, particularly women, people of color, and others with marginalized identities. Dissatisfaction will fester among whole teams if it goes unaddressed.
Next, let’s discuss how to deal with imposter syndrome effectively.
Key Strategies to Decrease Imposter Syndrome
How to overcome imposter syndrome? First, know that it can stem from internal causes, company culture, and societal factors. Rather than just supporting the individual—as important as that is—work to shift organizational culture in ways that promote confidence-building. Take each of these steps to correct course and enhance confidence among all employees.
Promote Transparency and Open Communication
Create a culture of sharing personal challenges and successes. Encourage leaders to talk openly about hurdles they’ve overcome—and even some that they’re currently experiencing. When managers open up about the rocky path to their successes, employees will realize they’re not the only ones who experience self-doubt and setbacks. Likewise, work to destigmatize imposter syndrome as an organization, robbing it of its power, by encouraging leaders to talk about their own experiences with IS.
Similarly, approach mistakes as learning opportunities. During one-on-ones and team meetings, talk through how you could have better handled a situation. Through constructive discussion focused on curiosity rather than blame, leaders can empower their team to act with confidence.
Provide Regular, Constructive Feedback
Use 360 feedback to help each person gain a balanced perspective of their own abilities and contributions. A person with imposter syndrome might feel afraid to hear what people really think about her. However, she’ll likely be pleasantly surprised about the results. Regular 360 feedback can help employees maintain a clearer picture of their true competencies.
When sharing the feedback, focus on strengths and approach areas for improvement in a supportive way. Emphasize the person’s accomplishments and how they have benefitted the team, showing how they can build from them.
Look for signs of imposter syndrome, too. Initiate open conversations about IS if you suspect it’s affecting employees. Discuss their concerns and provide reassurance.
Offer Professional Development and Mentorship
Continuous personal development can help instill confidence and challenge self-doubt. Take these steps to deliver high-quality developmental support:
- Provide plenty of opportunities for skill development and growth. Regular training will help employees keep their skill set fresh and gain self-assuredness.
- Assign employees peer buddies or small groups to discuss new material they’re learning. Through these relationships, they’ll realize that others have insecurities as well.
- Pair employees with mentors for guidance and support, too. A trusted mentor can act as a mirror, convincingly showing employees their true range of talents. Whereas people may doubt peer compliments, a mentor’s words carry a deeper gravity.
Mentors can also help employees internalize new skills, discussing what they’ve learned and any questions. Employees can learn to apply newfound knowledge through these conversations. Moreover, mentors can help them learn to trust themselves, recognizing when they’re ready to put new skills to use.
Encourage Self-Reflection and Mindfulness
Promote practices like journaling or meditation to help employees feel calmer and less stressed. Journaling gives employees a space to reflect on anxieties and challenges. The act of writing prompts them to reflect on the real causes of their self-doubts, along with healthy ways to address them. And meditation can help quiet anxious thoughts, allowing them to take proactive steps forward.
As a company, practice mindfulness as well by seeking employee feedback. Take a listening tour to gain input from people throughout the organization about how to help them build confidence.
Recognize and Celebrate Achievements
It’s a lot harder to ignore a personal success if the whole team is celebrating it. Acknowledge both big and small wins as a team, bolstering employees’ confidence. Name the specific skills or qualities that led to a given success, so they can’t attribute it to luck.
Urge each employee to maintain a monthly “wins tracker” to document accomplishments. Basically, this is a spreadsheet that prompts them to detail the actions they took to achieve success. Instead of forgetting about wins as soon as they occur, they’ll then have a clear log they can refer back to, showing not just what they achieved but how they achieved it.
Another strategy: Prompt employees to pretend to tell their own story as though they’re describing somebody else’s life. They’ll probably find themselves more clearly highlighting the strengths that got them to where they are.
Connect Employees with Supportive Services
Forty-eight percent of employees find employer-supported mental health care highly valuable. For 42%, it plays a major role in their decision of whether to stay at their job. And a good therapist can help employees overcome their imposter syndrome by working through its root causes.
Make sure each employee knows how to connect with a mental health professional. Regularly remind them of their access to employee assistance programs. Assert that these options aren’t just for crises, but for promoting general well-being, as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) emphasizes. Work to destigmatize mental health care so it feels more on par to basic hygiene.
Leverage Performance Management Tools
Tools like 360 feedback software can help mitigate imposter syndrome by presenting a reality-based picture of an employee’s performance. Use performance management tools as well to set clear, achievable goals. When employees can track their goals day by day, it will be harder to doubt their contributions.
Adopt instant feedback tools that let you share appreciation or quick tips in the moment, too. Continuous positive feedback and helpful input will bolster employees’ confidence.
Addressing imposter syndrome is vital to fostering a healthy and productive workplace. By taking proactive steps to create an atmosphere of support, empowerment, and psychological safety, you’ll guide all employees to believe in themselves. And by doing so, you’ll unleash the full power of every team in your organization.
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