Imposter Syndrome: What It Is, Where It Comes From, and What to Do About It

May 3

As the landscape of the global workforce so drastically shifted amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, conversations around mental health in the workplace and the importance of a healthy work/life balance have pushed their way to the surface more than ever before, and Imposter Syndrome in particular has found its way back into the spotlight.

If you’re struggling with the anxious feeling that you are not deserving of the role you have or accolades you receive, or if you fear that you may lose an opportunity once someone “finds out” that you are not as competent as you “should be,” know you are not alone. Before a team training, we’ll often send participants a pre-assessment survey asking them about communication challenges they want to address, and we always include a question about struggling with Imposter Syndrome. Over the last five years, approximately 400 people have completed this pre-assessment survey. Wonder how many people have experienced Imposter Syndrome at work? Every. Single. One.

Read on for more on how to define Imposter Syndrome, how it may be affecting us at work, and what you can do to mitigate its effects.

Understanding Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome was first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes and is loosely defined as feeling like a fraud, or like you don’t belong in a certain setting. As the notion has evolved over the years, the syndrome has been broken down into five specific types:

The Expert who feels pressured to have every answer at any given time
The Superwoman/Man, an over-achiever who faces a certain addiction to validation
The Perfectionist who holds themselves to unattainable standards
The Soloist who’s afraid to ask for help
The Natural Genius who feels easily frustrated by not being able to learn something right away

Imposter Syndrome can grow out of a myriad of internal and external factors, including a history of bullying, being held to unrealistic standards by authority figures in your life, or being told, directly or indirectly, that you were unworthy of something you needed to receive in order to thrive. This can also come as a result of favoritism and affinity bias in school or in the workplace; if you are never given a chance to do something, you may eventually come to believe you are unworthy or incapable of doing it.

But there’s a sneakier cause that is seldom acknowledged: feeling like you don’t belong in a particular setting or that you don’t have what it takes to succeed can also come from a lack of mentorship or direction. When entering a new position with little guidance, it can seem as though you are expected to know how to do everything perfectly right out of the gate with little to no training. Left unchecked, that nagging feeling can stay with you in every new job, new role, or new task.

How Does It Affect Us?

While Imposter Syndrome can affect us in any part of our lives, such as among a group of friends or in school, it’s particularly damaging in a professional setting, where our livelihoods can depend on our faith in our own capabilities.

It’s hard to quantify how imposter syndrome may hold us back, especially when its presence exacerbates other issues, such as inequitable workloads, lack of opportunities for advancement, workplace discrimination, or simply a lack of passion for the work. But a constant feeling of self-doubt is bound to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and all of it is undoubtedly made worse by remaining silent and suffering alone; Imposter Syndrome may lead us to push ourselves harder and strive to address it on our own, which is more likely to lead to burnout than to any significant change in our mental health or our performance at work.

And, though we may all be constantly tied up in the specifics of our own industries, it’s easy to overlook just how pervasive the issue is; it’s common from entry level employees to C-suite executives, and at the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, Writer/Director Daniel Kwan even acknowledged his own Imposter Syndrome in his Oscar acceptance speech.

One reason the issue remains so persistent is that many of us have a hard time advocating for ourselves and our ideas in such situations. Instead, we stay quiet and convince ourselves we should be grateful for any job or opportunity we have and that it’s not worth rocking the boat. With so many of us constantly battling a barrage of anxieties regarding our place in the workforce, it’s easy to see how this exacerbates a common struggle with stress, self-esteem issues, and a lack of work/life balance.

What to Do About It

The first step toward battling Imposter Syndrome is acknowledging it for what it is: fear. It’s a persistent presence of wondering “what if they find out that I don’t actually know what I’m doing?” This is rarely caused by anything concrete, like an obvious mistake that created some kind of damage to your reputation at work, existing in the realm of the hypothetical, and as such, it can be combated with real examples of what you have done well. Keep a folder on your desktop full of screenshots of any compliments you receive or even any good news that has come across your inbox. It’s also helpful to fill your workspace with things that make you feel happy and confident: photos of people who support you, treasures from adventures you may have had over the years, or things that make you laugh will help keep your spirits up throughout the course of the workday.

Embodied cognition, or the theory that the physical choices we make influence our self-perception, is a direct and effective tonic to Imposter Syndrome. When we choose to exhibit aligned posture, direct eye contact, and a supported vocal tone, we are signaling to ourselves on an unconscious level that we are confident and capable. Consequently, when we are perceived as capable by others, we invite more positive and respectful treatment, thereby creating a positive feedback loop for ourselves which diminishes feelings of incompetence or unworthiness.

When burdened with the fear that you should just inherently know how to do everything perfectly, it’s not easy to ask for help, but doing so is critical to building confidence in yourself as you grow in your career. Developing effective habits early on, such as reading the trades over coffee each morning and following anyone you look up to on social media, as well as pages and networking groups that align with your specific areas of interest is a great start; however, Imposter Syndrome becomes more complicated as you advance in your career. When you find yourself in charge of many people, large projects, or substantial budgets, Imposter Syndrome can come with a heavy amount of fear and shame. Mentor/mentee relationships are often forgotten about once a professional moves on from entry-level work, but there is no level at which effective mentorship ceases to be of value. Professional relationships with others at your level in different organizations can be of service as well. Approaching your attempts to build confidence and battle Imposter Syndrome doesn’t have to look like admitting defeat or exuding desperation as long as it’s framed as a desire to learn and to excel as an effective leader in your industry.

There’s also plenty that can be done outside of work. Private coaching can help you identify how your social style may be influencing your workplace communication and relationships with your colleagues and find any gaps in knowledge or support you may be experiencing at work. More importantly, it can help you take steps to overcome any roadblocks these issues may have placed in front of you. It can also help you learn to effectively communicate your needs to managers and co-workers, adapt to the working styles and personality traits of others around you, and focus on emotional intelligence as it relates to professional performance.

Finally, it’s important to assess not just how you view your own skills, but how you view the success of others. It’s tempting to look at someone you admire and think “they have it all figured out and I don’t.” The truth is it’s not so simple. There is no one path, one personality trait, or one inherent gift that will bring success to any one person, and there are steps you can take to build confidence and passion for what you do, enhance your working styles and communication with your team, and elicit trust from others while finding your own path forward.

About the Author
Jackie Miller launched Bespoken in 2015 to channel years of professional performance experience into techniques that improve public speaking, presenting, and professional communication skills. She holds a B.F.A. and M.A. both from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.