Impostor syndrome can affect anyone at any point in their career.
getty
Impostor syndrome can affect anyone at any point in their career, particularly those who are stepping into a new role. The feeling of being found out that you are incompetent and unsuited for the position you were hired to do is extremely common and tends to affect women more than men.
Women tend to undervalue and underestimate their abilities while men are – generally – overconfident about their abilities.
While someone may bring their own insecurities to the table when it comes to impostor syndrome, leaders and organizations play a major role in either fostering confidence or reinforcing someone’s insecurities. An employee may enter their role feeling capable, but if they are never acknowledged for their work and/or contributions, and are simultaneously overlooked for advancement, it can plant the seeds for impostor syndrome to flourish.
Leaders can help their people overcome impostor syndrome by implementing a fair, just, and inclusive company culture. DEI initiatives and one-on-one check-ins can go a long way to help bolster confidence and a sense of equity in the workplace.
Additionally, they can implement certain practices to help everyone along the way feel like they belong and are right where they should be.
Celebrate Successes
It’s important for managers and leaders to acknowledge wins, no matter how small. Celebrating and acknowledging wins propels people forward, and confirms their abilities, which bolsters their self-efficacy; they will, in turn, feel like they are equipped to do the job at hand.
Celebrating successes – big and small – is validating for an employee. It confirms that their ideas have value and motivates them to take more chances in the future.
If wins go unacknowledged, employees might feel unnoticed, unimportant, and expendable. Unacknowledged wins can heighten impostor syndrome when an employee is left to wonder if they are appreciated or if their leader secretly thinks poorly of them, or worse, thinks nothing at all.
Allow For Mistakes
Environments that stress perfectionism are fertile grounds for cultivating impostor syndrome as well. For innovation, agility, and curiosity to thrive on a team, workplace, etc, it’s imperative that people feel comfortable making mistakes and trying new things.
In a workplace culture where everyone is walking on eggshells, fearing imperfection, status quo thinking will be maintained and only those with past successes will feel comfortable taking risks; however, everyone will only feel as competent as their last success.
Being punished for mistakes will boost impostor syndrome and feelings of inadequacy as an employee’s worst fears about themselves will be confirmed.
On the flip side, allowing for mistakes sends the message that being wrong does not equate to being incompetent. It encourages innovative thinking and seeing things from a fresh perspective. When people are encouraged to be themselves and use the brain that got them hired they will more likely feel like they are in the right position.
Share Your Own Failures
It can greatly help to diminish the perfectionism complex in an organization if a leader can show their own vulnerability.
Vulnerability humanizes a leader and consequently has a bonding effect. When people see their leader share their own failures, it can mitigate the feelings of impostor syndrome, as employees realize everyone at some point has felt like they fall short of their job title.
If a leader stresses that it is OK to fail – as they have done in the past themselves – as a result of trying something new, then employees will not measure their self-worth against each failure and win.
Assess The Company Culture For Inherent Bias Towards Marginalized Groups
Sometimes it is not the employee that needs to work on themselves, but rather the company culture itself. If women and BIPOC find themselves continually overlooked while their white, male counterparts continue to advance and get promoted, then they may start to feel inadequate by default.
Leaders can conduct one-on-one consultations with employees to gauge their feelings about the company culture. Anonymous feedback surveys can also help so people feel safe to voice their opinion without fear of punishment.
Sponsor / Mentor
Since anyone suffering from impostor syndrome is likely not to advocate for themselves, it can be hugely rewarding and beneficial for leaders to take on the role of either sponsor or mentor (or both).
This would manifest as leaders recommending employees for promotion, if they weren’t in the position themselves to do the promoting, or write letters of recommendation.
Leaders can also tout the expertise or a job well done to others in the company on behalf of an employee.
Sponsorship and mentorship is particularly important for those that are historically overlooked, like women, BIPOC, and/or any marginalized groups. As these groups typically start out at a disadvantage it can do wonders for self-confidence for the individual, as well as help to curb bias from others in the company, be they others who hold management positions or employees on the same level as the mentee.
It’s an easy scapegoat for leaders – and whomever – to place all responsibility and blame on the individual when it comes to impostor syndrome, and certainly in many cases it may be the individual’s personal issues that are contributing to the feelings of inadequacy.
If an organization’s culture is partly or wholly responsible for creating an atmosphere that breeds impostor syndrome, it is ultimately going to be responsible for losing talent and limiting its own potential.
It’s more progressive for leaders to take a comprehensive look at the organization and question whether external factors are contributing to an employee’s impostor syndrome. When it comes to profit, company culture, employee engagement, and professional and personal development, it will only serve the company as a whole down the line.
