Don’t Let Impostor Syndrome Hold Back Your Career

Don’t Let Impostor Syndrome Hold Back Your Career

Impostor syndrome is a persistent way of thinking that involves doubting your achievements and abilities and worrying that others will view you as inadequate, or a phony. You could call it an ironic insecurity, given that most people who suffer from it are quite competent and have a track record of achievements. However, they are convinced that they are frauds, or “impostors,” and do not deserve credit. They downplay their capability and explain away their success as the result of either luck or fooling people into thinking they are better than they really are. 

Impostor syndrome is more common than most people realize. It can be temporary, triggered by a big promotion, the start of a new venture, even the beginning of a new relationship. Or it can be chronic, linked to anxiety disorders. Research indicates that impostor syndrome tends to afflict high-achiever-type personalities, as well as some ethnic groups who have had to overcome significant adversity, such as African Americans. And while women more openly report their struggles with this syndrome, it is just as common in men. 

One model on this topic that I find particularly helpful was developed by Valerie Young, PhD. She takes personality into consideration and sees impostor syndrome showing up most commonly in one of these five ways: 

The Perfectionist. You think you have failed unless you have done everything perfectly. 

The Superhero. You consider yourself a fraud, either at work or in a relationship, so you work extra hard to hide that supposed inadequacy. 

The Natural Genius. You judge your worth by how easily something comes to you. If you need to work hard to master something, you feel ashamed. 

The Soloist. You are driven to do everything yourself, because asking for help makes you feel incompetent.

The Expert. You judge your worth by how much you know but fear that you are not smart enough, so you live in constant fear of being exposed as unknowledgeable. 

Approaches to combat impostor syndrome include attending an empowerment workshop, seeking feedback from those who know you well, and reading self-help books on the topic. Those may be great first steps to increase self-awareness. However, I find that to truly move past this type of thinking pattern, much deeper, inner work is required. 

When I am coaching clients who are struggling with impostor syndrome, our first task of this inner work is to “quiet the gremlin.” I guide my clients through this three-step process: 

1. Discover the Root Cause. We all have an inner “gremlin,” which is defined in psychology and coaching as “the voice of fear and doubt.” It is created at a key moment in a person’s life and can be triggered for a variety of reasons. Our gremlin voice tells us we are not good enough and that we cannot or should not do certain things. The first thing I do is help a client discover the root cause of this issue.

2. Dismantle the Impostor Narrative. Once the client is self-aware and understands where the impostor syndrome originated, we can begin to dismantle the false narrative behind it. We examine what is triggering the fear and self-doubt, the assumptions and limiting beliefs that the client may have about his or her knowledge, achievements, and capability – and we get to the truth

One client I worked with, a marketing consultant, was struggling to refer to herself as a subject-matter expert because she was young and did not have as many years of experience as some of her competitors. It was impacting the way she marketed herself, the clients she targeted, even the fees she was charging. She was under-selling herself, second-guessing her worth, and making significantly less money than she could have been. I had her make a list of all the training and education courses she had taken, research she had conducted, and added the total number of hours (not years) she had successfully serviced clients up to that point. In addition, she solicited feedback from her clients on both their perceived value of her services and the measurable impact they had in time and cost savings. Soon it became crystal clear to her that she had – in truth – a ton of relevant experience and credentials. This realization, coupled with the new awareness of her gremlin voice and when and why it pops up at certain times, positioned her to move on to the last and most important step: reframing.

3. Reframe Your Self-Image. During the “reframe” step, I help my clients take their original thought or feeling related to their impostor syndrome and reframe it to focus on the strengths they bring to the situation. I empower my clients by reminding them that it’s the voice of the gremlin telling them, “I’m not ready for a leadership role,” and we replace that original thought with a positive truth, such as, “I’ve been informally leading people my entire career. I keep getting tapped for these roles, so that must mean I am capable of leading others.” 

The gremlin tries to protect you from failure or embarrassment, but in doing so stunts your professional growth by discouraging you from pursuing opportunities. Defeating the gremlin is a “game changer” that allows you to move forward with positive actions such as these:

Take a risk and step into your greatnessIf you focus on being engaged in the work or opportunity in front of you, especially if you are a high achiever, you will tap into your highest level of passion and creativity and your performance is bound to be stellar. Instead of making excuses or hiding in your office behind your fear, you’ll get advice and support from those you trust and then TAKE THAT STEP. It is like when people are afraid of heights: the best way to conquer that fear is to immerse yourself in the situation and work through it. Similarly, taking a calculated risk is a sure way to shake off your impostor syndrome and push yourself into your own greatness. 

Embrace your vulnerability. If you truly lack experience, knowledge or a particular skill, it’s usually best to be upfront about it – admit it, but then emphasize what you do bring to the table that can make a difference. One executive I worked for years ago offers a good example of this. He was transferred into a senior leadership role for a corporate function, human resources, despite having no prior experience in human resources. Why? Because the company was grooming him for a role as a business unit president, and to help him become more well-rounded, had mapped out a three-year rotation schedule in areas where he was weakest. The executive did not pretend to know more than he did or claim that he had a track record leading HR functions. Rather, he showed his vulnerability to his staff, sharing how he would be relying on them to get him up to speed quickly. At the same time, he showed staffers what they could count on from him – his leadership and influencing skills. These were badly needed for a project the staff had been working on for several months; it had become stalled, but the new HR boss was able to get key stakeholders to rally behind its implementation. He listened, learned fast, then leaned in to support his staff as they accomplished something that had seemed like a monumental task. 

The first key to putting impostor syndrome behind you is to do some deep inner work to explore its roots within you. Then, ground yourself in all the reasons why you already are successful and ultimately capable. It requires a lot of self-reflection and emotional self-management, which for many can be too complex to navigate without support from a coach or therapist. But as with any deeply rooted fear or insecurity, once you take control of it and make a conscious choice to let it go, you will have grown and developed an extremely useful skill that will serve you any time fear and doubt try to creep back in.