281: How Managers Accidentally Fuel Imposter Syndrome

Aoife O’Brien [00:00:01]:

Imposter syndrome is something I get asked about a lot over the past six or seven years. I have worked with so many organizations in this area. It’s an area I’m so passionate about. I’ve done previous episodes on the different imposter identities, the business impact of imposter syndrome, as well as steps for overcoming imposter syndrome. So if that’s what you’re after, definitely go and check out those previous episodes. Today’s episode focuses all around the role of leaders when it comes to imposter syndrome and whether you as a leader could be unintentionally driving imposter syndrome within your team. This is the Happier at Work podcast. I’m your host, Aoife o’, Brien, career and culture strategist for People First, Leaders in global organizations.

Aoife O’Brien [00:00:48]:

And as I mentioned, today’s episode is all about imposter syndrome. What is imposter syndrome? It’s this doubt that we have about our own abilities, but beyond self doubt, it’s this fear that we’re going to be found out as a fraud, that we just got lucky to be where we are and that someone is going to knock on the door or tap on the shoulder and say, that’s it. You’ve been totally found out now as a, as a fraud that you think you are. And we can’t tell when other people have imposter syndrome, but we can create an environment where we don’t exacerbate imposter syndrome that people are feeling already. Some of the behaviors associated with imposter syndrome include things like not speaking up. So not speaking up in meetings. It could be people pleasing. So you want to keep everyone happy, so you just say yes, whether that’s to clients or other people.

Aoife O’Brien [00:01:41]:

Internally, you just keep doing the work. Overwork can be a huge sign of imposter syndrome. People are trying to cover up the fact that they are feeling this way so they’ll work through and just keep on working through to show people that they’re working really hard and that they’re worth it, especially after a promotion. It can also mean that people aren’t applying for promotions so they don’t feel like they’re good enough or they don’t feel like they’re ready for that next level. So they’re not putting themselves forward. They’re not putting themselves forward for opportunities like awards or visibility opportunities, new projects, because they feel like they’re not going to succeed in that role. My whole reason for doing today’s episode was I was reminded recently of an incident that happened to me, I was due to deliver a presentation. I had sent the slides in advance, and I just had this crippling anxiety that I wasn’t good enough, that I didn’t meet the standard that was required of the presentation.

Aoife O’Brien [00:02:47]:

There was all of these things going on in my head, and the people who had organized the presentation were having a meeting, and I was like, that’s it. I’m going to get fired. I’m not going to get paid. There was all of these things going on through my head. At the time, I didn’t know what imposter syndrome was, so I didn’t recognize it as that. In fact, I didn’t hear the term imposter syndrome for a long time after I had first experienced it. And I was recently reminded of that incident. And I wanted therefore, to start sharing this stuff again and talk about how we as leaders can create the environment where people can really, really thrive.

Aoife O’Brien [00:03:36]:

I also wanted to share about some of the research I’ve done into the triggers of imposter syndrome. So some of the triggers can be if you’re the only person. So if you feel like you are representing your entire race, your entire gender, your entire age group, whatever it might be, if you’re in a room full of who are different to you, maybe they’re all the same as each other, and you’re the odd one out, it can put a huge amount of pressure on us. We feel the pressure to prove ourselves and to represent our entire. In my case, it was gender, so I’m representing all women by being in this room full of men. So really coming at it from that perspective, it’s a huge trigger. And being aware of those kinds of triggers is really important for leaders. Another trigger is visibility.

Aoife O’Brien [00:04:26]:

So as your career progresses, you’re likely to be more vis. You are seen by more people, you maybe take on different clients. You have much more influence as your career progresses. And so as our career progresses, it can trigger imposter syndrome because we’re more visible, we’re more out there, we’re more likely to be judged because people can actually see us. And if we’re being judged and we’re felt, we’re left feeling a little bit lacking, or that people think that we’re not good enough. We feel this great sense of imposter syndrome. The other third trigger, the big trigger, is anything new. So something new can be taking on a new client, working on a new project.

Aoife O’Brien [00:05:11]:

It can be when you return to work after a period of absence, whether that’s maternity leave, caring leave, illness, Leave whatever it might be. Anything that’s new, it could be after a promotion, it could be a new job, a new organization. These are also triggers for imposter syndrome. And it’s so important for leaders to understand that that can be a trigger, that can be a triggering mom. And so in those moments in particular, we need to be so aware of our own behavior to make sure that we don’t exacerbate any sort of imposter syndrome that someone is already experiencing. There are three leadership behaviors that you may already be doing that I want to call out as something that doesn’t help or may in fact be detrimental to someone who is experiencing imposter syndrome. The first leadership behavior is vague or inconsistent feedback. So if you’re not giving someone feedback when they really need it, especially positive and reinforcing feedback, and especially in times of change, if they’ve recently been promoted, if they’ve recently started in a new job, and I know I’ve been at the giving end of this, this side of things where I someone was doing a fantastic job and I assumed that because they were doing such a good job that I didn’t need to give them feedback that they already knew.

Aoife O’Brien [00:06:30]:

But actually they came to me seeking out feedback and I had to reassure them that they were doing a really brilliant job. Just bear in mind you need to constantly give people feedback, and not just performance related feedback. It’s about feedback on what they’re doing really, really well. The other behavior that I see as well is micromanagement. So if you’re controlling something that people are doing, if you’re checking their work, if you’re really on top of everything that they’re doing, it can erode trust and it can create a barrier then and it can exacerbate our feelings of imposter syndro because we think that we’re not good enough and that’s why someone has to check our work. And so being on top of everything can really flare up these feelings of imposter syndrome in the people that you’re managing and linked to. This is the idea of perfectionism. So if you have perfectionist tendencies and you hold other people to those really high standards as well, this is something that can trigger imposter syndrome in them.

Aoife O’Brien [00:07:34]:

So if you’re holding them to those extraordinarily high standards that you set for your yourself, it can bring about feelings of imposter syndrome or exacerbate feelings that they already have. These issues or these behaviors impact not only on the individual themselves. So the individual might be feeling self doubt. They might be feeling unworthy. They might be overworking, which can lead to burnout. They might be afraid to speak up about what’s going on for them. It can also impact on the team level where there is reduced level of innovation because people are not necessarily necessarily speaking up. It can reduce engagement within the team because people are not sharing what’s going on for them necessarily.

Aoife O’Brien [00:08:17]:

It can also result in a lack of diverse thinking. So if people think that they’re not good enough, that their voice doesn’t matter, they’re not sharing their opinion, then this can impact on the diverse thinking within the team and you fall into a trap of having group think. It can also impact at the organizational level where there’s maybe no talent pipeline or succession planning in place because people are not putting themselves forward for opportunities opportunities. It can also result in attrition. At times. People feel such a sense of imposter syndrome that they end up leaving the role rather than facing up to it and sharing what’s going on for them because they feel like if I talk about what’s going on, then they’re really going to realize that I’m a total imposter. It also could mean that there’s hidden talent within the organization that’s not necessarily being recognized or moving on up those normal promotion channels. So some of the things that you can do and the behaviors that can really reassure people when they have those imposter feelings, even if they don’t admit to having the feelings, if you recognize some of the common behaviors in them, then you can take specific steps.

Aoife O’Brien [00:09:33]:

And even if they don’t experience this or even it’s just good practice as a leader to do some of these things to make sure that it doesn’t even come to that, that they don’t ever feel the sense like they don’t belong there, that they’re not good enough, that they just were lucky to land in the job that they have. So the first one is clarity. And especially when it comes to expectations. When I talk about expectations, I always talk about time and quality. How long should you be spending on this and what does the quality look like? Do you have an example to share that people can learn from example or just set some guidelines and boundaries around what that actually means. This will save people from overworking and trying to perfect something. Or if I think back to my own career, adding animations where we don’t necessarily have to have animations, you could be spending hours just tweaking the last bits of a presentation that really don’t need to be tweaked at all. The other thing around clarity is especially if someone is in a new role or if they’ve recently been promoted, we put so much pressure on ourselves to perform from day one.

Aoife O’Brien [00:10:39]:

But I think it’s up to leaders to remind people that there is ramp up time. You need to get to know the people that you’re working with, the systems that you’re using. There is ramp up time. You need to allow people to have that time to get to grips with the role, with the systems and with the people that they’re going to be working with. So as a leader, reminding people of that I think is really, really important. Number two then is recognition and feedback. So making sure that you’re recogniz recognizing people for the effort that they’re putting in, for the outcomes they’re achieving, but also the behaviors and values that they’re demonstrating. So making sure that you’re recognizing.

Aoife O’Brien [00:11:16]:

Don’t forget to give people feedback if they’re doing a really good job. This was the mistake that I made and I absolutely learned from. So make sure to tell people that they’re doing a really good job proactively before they come to you and ask for feedback. But be really open about feedback and developmental feedback as well. And if you find it hard, I’m the kind of person, I kind of find it hard to give positive feedback. Try and think of some things that they’re doing really, really well and communicate that back to them so that they know that they’re doing a good job, that they’re on the right track. Number three then is vulnerability. And that’s all about sharing your own experiences, Whether that is of imposter syndrome, previously, your experience in the role that they’re doing, if it’s a role that you previously did so, sharing about your own experiences, sharing the mistakes that you have made, sharing your thinking about decisions, sharing all of that kind of thing helps other people to know that they’re not alone.

Aoife O’Brien [00:12:13]:

One of the big things with imposter syndrome, when we feel it, is we feel like we’re the only person who has ever experienced that feeling in our lives. And that’s not the case. In fact, about 70% of professionals will experience imposter syndrome at some stage in their career. A number I always think is actually quite low, given the number of people I speak to who share openly of their experience of imposter syndrome. And number four then is about creating psychological safety within the team and between yourself and the person that you’re leading. So that’s about encouraging people to speak up, creating trust. And if you haven’t listened to the episode about how to build trust, then definitely go and check that out. Encouraging people to speak up in team meetings and how you deal with mistakes.

Aoife O’Brien [00:13:02]:

So if someone has made a mistake, maybe that’s the time when they’re feeling like I’m not up to the job, I just got lucky, whatever might be going through their head. But reassure people that mistakes are how we learn. And you’re not going to change your opinion about someone because of a mistake. You’re looking for the learning opportunity and most often it’s a system failure rather than a person failure as well in these situations. As I mentioned at the start, this is something that I get asked about a lot. I keep getting asked about imposter syndrome. I mostly work within global organizations on this type of stuff. So if it’s something that you need support with, whether it is within a team, whether it’s someone to come in and inspire people or educate people about imposter syndrome, or a longer term program to help people to understand their own imposter tendencies and to be able to recognize it and manage it for themselves, then definitely reach out to me directly.

Aoife O’Brien [00:14:00]:

I’d love to hear from you if it’s something that you’re interested in. That’s it for today’s episode of the Happier at Work podcast. I would love to know what’s one thing that you learned and what’s one thing that you’re going to implement from listening to the podcast today. I’m Most active on LinkedIn, so if you want to get involved in the conversation and share, head on over there. If we’re not already connected, feel free to reach out. If there’s someone else who you think might benefit from listening to today’s episode, don’t forget to share it with them. And I’d love to hear from you through a rating or a review on your favorite platform.