Imposter syndrome in the workplace

Imposter syn­drome — that nag­ging feel­ing that you’re a fraud despite obvi­ous evi­dence of your com­pe­tence — can affect any­one, regard­less of their suc­cess or expe­ri­ence. Imposter syn­drome at work, imposter syn­drome at school, imposter syn­drome at home–it can be any­where! That’s right. No mat­ter how suc­cess­ful or con­fi­dent or tal­ent­ed, no one’s exact­ly out­side the influ­ence of imposter syn­drome.

Imposter syn­drome isn’t a tooth­less feel­ing and can severe­ly affect your pro­fes­sion­al life and rela­tion­ships if you let it. A drop in job per­for­mance, stunt­ed career growth, and deep-seat­ed feel­ings of unwor­thi­ness are just a few of the neg­a­tive con­se­quences of giv­ing into imposter syn­drome.

Some­thing inter­est­ing about imposter syn­drome:

Not many peo­ple rec­og­nize it while it’s hap­pen­ing to them.

In this post, we’ll explore:

• The most com­mon expres­sions of imposter in the work­place in rela­tion­ships
• Strate­gies to over­come imposter syn­drome.

If any or more of these expres­sions or thoughts pop up in your head more often than you’d like, you may be deal­ing with imposter syn­drome. And, by iden­ti­fy­ing it you’ll be bet­ter equipped to over­come it.

 

Imposter syndrome new job

Old job or new? Doesn’t mat­ter to imposter syn­drome. It can rear its ugly head in the shape of the fol­low­ing thoughts/expressions: 

 

In a New Job

• “They’ve made a mis­take hir­ing me. I’m not qual­i­fied for this.”
• “Every­one else seems to know what they’re doing. I’m just pre­tend­ing.”
• “I am not sure I belong here. I need to work twice as hard to prove that I belong.”
• Feel­ing over­whelmed by new respon­si­bil­i­ties and doubt­ing your abil­i­ty to han­dle them.
• Hes­i­tat­ing to ask ques­tions for fear of appear­ing incom­pe­tent.
• Over­an­a­lyz­ing every inter­ac­tion with col­leagues, look­ing for signs that they’ve “found you out.”

 

In a role you’ve held for a while

• “I’ve just been lucky so far. One day, I’ll make a big mis­take and every­one will see that I’m not as good as I seem.”
• “My suc­cess is due to exter­nal fac­tors, not my own abil­i­ties.”
• “I don’t deserve this pro­mo­tion because “Per­son X” doesn’t think so.”
• A sink­ing feel­ing of incom­pe­tence every time you dis­cov­er some­thing you didn’t know in your field.
• Con­stant­ly com­par­ing your­self to col­leagues and feel­ing inad­e­quate.

 

How to help someone with imposter syndrome

If you rec­og­nize these thoughts and feel­ings in some­one you know, here are some strate­gies to help over­come imposter syn­drome:

Listen without invalidation

No mat­ter how much a per­son has achieved, they are nev­er beyond the reach of imposter syn­drome.

Don’t dis­miss their doubt because you think it’s unrea­son­able. Instead, cre­ate a safe space for them to express their feel­ings.

Offer specific praise

Instead of gen­er­al com­pli­ments, pro­vide con­crete exam­ples of their skills and achieve­ments.

Encourage realistic self-assessment

Help them see their abil­i­ties more objec­tive­ly by dis­cussing their strengths and areas for growth.

Promote a growth mindset

Encour­age view­ing chal­lenges as oppor­tu­ni­ties for learn­ing rather than cos­mi­cal­ly-inspired set­backs.

Encourage professional help

If imposter syn­drome is sig­nif­i­cant­ly impact­ing their life, sug­gest speak­ing with a ther­a­pist or coun­selor.

 

Therapist Henrico VA

Over­com­ing imposter syn­drome is a process. It takes time and prac­tice to shift deeply ingrained thought pat­terns.

Be patient with your­self and your col­leagues as both of you work on these feel­ings. Be atten­tive enough to rec­og­nize expres­sions of imposter syn­drome and feel con­fi­dent in know­ing what to do.

If you’ve tried things and you’re not sure how to move for­ward, let’s have a con­sul­ta­tion and dis­cuss what’s going on for you.

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