Impostor Syndrome is the psychological pattern of individuals doubting their accomplishments. Those affected can struggle to believe that their success or position has been legitimately achieved as a result of their own skill or hard work, often despite objective evidence to the contrary.
Even if that sensation doesn’t sound familiar, it has been estimated to affect as many as two thirds of working professionals, so the chance of it already impacting friends, contacts and colleagues is high.
The negative consequences for careers can be significant: overcompensating and overworking to the point of burnout, letting deserved praise go elsewhere and an unfair over-analysis of one’s own work (leading to delays) are all common behaviours amongst sufferers.
What can you do?
If any of this sounds familiar, it doesn’t have to last forever. There are useful techniques and strategies you can employ to help you move beyond the impostor mindset.
Examples include:
• Asking for more feedback and really listening and taking on board both good and constructive comments.
• Thinking of yourself as a work in progress – someone who learns from doing things right and doing things wrong, seeing both as inevitable.
• Finding someone you admire and seeing if you can talk to them about your self-doubt and asking them how they handle their own.
Awareness of Impostor Syndrome in the first place is a significant step towards tackling it – by recognising these feelings in yourself and casting doubt on their validity, you are starting to move towards the mindset where you believe that you are where you are, and have what you have, for a reason.
Eliesha has developed a Bitesize Workshop entitled ‘Understanding Impostor Syndrome’ which, at 90 minutes, is the perfect solution for introducing your employees to this phenomenon and starting them on the road to defeating it, without overloading them or abstracting them for too long.
If you think it could benefit your team, we’d be delighted to discuss the delivery of this impactful workshop at your premises. Just email us using the details below.
We pride ourselves in finding solutions for our learning partners’ problems, so if you require a bespoke programme or solution, or you think that Understanding Impostor Syndrome could fit well in a wider development programme alongside our other courses and products, please get in touch!
