How to Turn Around Imposter Syndrome Into a Competitive Advantage

One of the main barriers to people reaching their full potential is lack of confidence.

But why are they questioning their skill and ability to do the job they earned?

These doubts are the hallmarks of imposter syndrome, which is when successful people disbelieve their own competency. About 70% of people will report experiencing imposter syndrome at some point in their careers. And in today’s fast-paced workplace and social media world, it’s difficult not to feel inadequate.

When asked what they were most afraid of, 116 CEOs replied:

·  Being incompetent

·  Appearing foolish

·  Appearing too vulnerable

These fears resulted in:

·  Lack of honest conversations among their teams

·  Too much political game playing

·  Silo thinking

·  Lack of ownership and follow through

·  Tolerance of poor behavior

When asked to consider the consequences from these behaviors, CEOs listed:

·  Poor decision making

·  Focusing more on their own survival instead of business growth

·  Inducing bad behavior to the next level down—unless they were experiencing crisis

How To Identify If You Have Imposter Syndrome

Do you resonate with any of these?

·  Inability to internalize achievements and a tendency to downplay accomplishments

·  Fear of being exposed or found out as untalented

·  Avoidance of feedback

·  Reluctance to ask for help

·  Turning down new opportunities

·  Second guessing decisions

·  Overworking to point of burnout to prove you’re enough

·  Failing to start or finish a project

All of the above can have a positive spin, but when driven by negativity or doubt it becomes toxic. 

What Can Trigger Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome can pop up when: 

·  You have new experiences

·  You’re given a promotion

·  You’re facing new challenges

·  You hit a major milestone or accomplishment

The unknown can fuel the feelings and thoughts of imposter syndrome and drive down competence. As you rise to new levels of success, it can get more intense.

As you become aware of this, you can develop a strategy to deal with it.

How Do You Squash Imposter Syndrome?

The first step to changing imposter syndrome into a superpower is to be brutally honest with yourself.

Admit that you don’t have all the answers and that’s OK. It defines you as a leader your team can trust and solve problems together.

Good mental and physical health are essential to performance. You can empower your teams to tend to their wellbeing and do the same, too.

Understand, validate, and connect. As a leader, embrace the whole person perspective where you and your team have a balance of work, health, family, and constructive communication. This drives employee engagement, innovation, and business results.

Recognition. Celebrate the wins of yourself and your team, especially the small ones. These wins increase confidence, and more confidence counteracts imposter syndrome.

Get feedback from your team and peers. What blind spots are you missing, especially the things that you’re doing well?

Create an environment to talk. It’s easy to think that you’re the only one dealing with imposter syndrome. By creating space for candid conversations without fear, you can show yourself and your team that no one is alone, and you can support each other through this. As a leader, you can play an important role in bringing them out of a place of shame by creating a positive and inclusive workplace culture. Your actions can curb the doubt and lack of confidence and create a powerful level of trust.

As leaders, we can work to reframe imposter syndrome into positive characteristics that create a stronger, more well-rounded team and leaders for the future in the workplace. 

We rise by lifting others and I can’t think of an area where lifting each other is more important and more needed than with imposter syndrome.  

Based on an excerpt from IT’S PERSONAL, NOT BUSINESS podcast, Episode 11.