In “Getting to the Heart of Impostor Syndrome, Part 1,” I explored how Impostor Syndrome can make a person feel as if they are a fraud. In Part 2, I will explore what we can do about this syndrome on both an individual and organizational level. What can you do when these feelings arise in you, and what should employers be looking for in order to identify and mitigate those feelings within their companies?
In the book The Impostor Phenomenon: When Success Makes You Feel Like a Fake, Dr. Pauline Clance included a self-assessment (also available online) which you can take to determine the extent of your impostor syndrome characteristics. Once you determine the extent of your impostor feelings, it is time to take steps to mitigate their impact. Writers such as Gill Corkindale and Celestine Chua have suggested the following:
- Recognize impostor feelings when they emerge. Self-awareness is the first step toward change. Make sure to track your thoughts – not only what they are but also the circumstances under which they emerge.
- Talk about your feelings. There may be others who feel the same way. Instead of harboring all these negative thoughts alone (fear, self-doubt, anxiety), have an open dialogue about what you are feeling and how it is impacting you. You should not go through this journey alone.
- Reframe failure as a learning opportunity. Many projects fail at first. Michael Jordan once said he failed over, and over, and over again in his life and that is why he succeeded. Learn from your failures and use those lessons constructively in the future.
- Stop selling yourself short. Impostors tend to think they are frauds and aren’t really as good as people think. You need to start believing that whatever place you are in your life, you are there because you earned it and you are ready for it. You probably have a lot more experience than you think.
- Make a list of your achievements. We tend to be our own worst enemies. We are quick to cast doubt on our talents and abilities, convince ourselves we are not good enough, and that we lack what it takes. This, of course, only exacerbates our feeling-like-a-fraud sentiments. Ask yourself: What unique strengths do I possess? What have I achieved? You may surprise yourself at how much you have actually accomplished through merit and hard work. This list should serve as a reminder that you indeed have something to offer and allow you to take steps to achieve your goals. It is a great snapshot of your professional journey.
- Stop acting like you know all the answers. In other words, “lose your expert hat”. Impostors tend to feel they need to live up to their role of experts, and when they do not meet those expectations, they feel like frauds. It is okay if you don’t know all the answers, and it is okay to make mistakes and to own up to them while striving to do better next time. Most importantly, accept there will always be things you don’t know, and humbly acknowledge your knowledge gaps while continuously striving to close them.
- Most importantly, be kind to yourself! You are entitled to make mistakes. As mentioned above, remember that no one has all the answers and that there can be a lot of opportunities in failure. As George Washington Carver said, “set backs are set ups for come backs.” Most individuals have experienced moments when they did not feel 100% confident. There may be times when you feel out of your depth and self-doubt can be a normal reaction. If you catch yourself thinking that you are a failure or incompetent, reframe it and think instead: The fact that I feel useless or incompetent right now does not mean that I really am. Start rewriting your mental narratives!
Although we can all do our own personal work to mitigate the impact of Impostor Syndrome within ourselves, employers have some work to do as well. Effective leaders work hard to relieve stress and burn out, increase a sense of community, show care and empathy towards their employees, and learn to see the world from their employees’ perspectives. To mitigate the impact of impostor syndrome, employers should be attuned to the following:
Impostors tend to overwork. Overworking is common among impostors, and it becomes problematic when the amount of effort and energy invested in a task exceeds that for producing work of reasonable quality. Needless to say, it will also interfere with other organizational priorities. Even though individuals with impostor fears recognize this overworking pattern, they often find it difficult to break this cycle as they strongly believe that they will fail if they do not put extreme amounts of effort into their tasks. For impostors, making mistakes and not performing at the highest standard precipitates feelings of shame and humiliation which will, inevitably, impact performance. Effective leaders pay attention to employees’ work patterns and make sure they are not burning the proverbial candle at both ends.
Impostors are plagued by self-defeating sentiments. For impostors, success does not bring about a sense of joy, relief, or accomplishment. On the contrary, impostors often feel uncomfortable with their achievements because success brings about fear of being exposed to others as fraudulent and lacking in ability. These self-defeating sentiments interfere with employees’ abilities to recognize their achievements which, in turn, impact their psychological health and well-being.
Impostors are perfectionists. Perfectionism is a common trait of impostors. Employers need to be aware of their tendency to set extremely high and unrealistic standards for themselves. The need to be the best and the need to be able to do everything flawlessly go hand-in-hand with their tendency to overwork and are consistent with their need to achieve perfection. It is through perfection, after all, that they gain approval of others. Impostors feel overwhelmed, disappointed, and generally like a failure when goals are not achieved.
Impostors have difficulty with success and accepting praise. They tend to discount positive feedback and objective evidence of success. It is not uncommon for impostors to develop arguments to prove that they do not deserve praise or credit for particular achievements. Managers or supervisors should not confuse this debilitating tendency with false modesty.
For many of us today, our professional lives are laced with anxiety, self-doubt, and fear—fear of being exposed as a fraud, fear that our achievements are undeserved, fear of not having what it takes, or fear of not meeting expectations. Even when we do meet those expectations, that joy is short lived because, surely, someone will soon see the “fluke” we are. We deny our expertise despite our many accomplishments, and we miss out on many opportunities because we are constantly self-sabotaging ourselves.
With increased self-awareness and self-compassion, we should all come to understand that if we do indeed possess the talent, then luck, timing, connections, and personality have very little to do with success. We need to reframe our thinking and start accepting the fact that our success came about because we deserved it!
