What you call imposter syndrome is not a syndrome and may not even be the problem you think. In 1978, psychologists Pauline R. Clans and Suzanne Eames introduced this concept, deliberately calling it a delusional phenomenon rather than a syndrome. The difference between a syndrome and a the phenomenon important to understand.
A the phenomenon describes an observable experience that happens to enough people to merit study and better understanding. A syndrome implies a diagnosable condition that requires intervention. When we attach “syndrome” to the word “imposter,” we are indicating that there is something clinically wrong with the person experiencing it.
However, for the vast majority of people I work with, not only is there nothing clinically wrong with them as an individual, but this feeling is often a sign that things are going well. In fact, it’s a normal feeling that often presents itself as a problem: discomfort.
Growth is uncomfortable
In their research and what I see among my clients, this seems almost impossible: the more confident and technically proficient someone is, the more likely they are to report bullying (a term I personally prefer to use).
Imagine a doctor, researcher, professor, or senior lawyer surrounded by other high achievers, constantly pushing themselves toward mastery, and passing through a phase. career which requires more and more experience, often in high-pressure roles within organizations where the level rises and the complexity never stops.
What did it feel like?
It feels like not knowing enough. Like you may appear. Like everyone else, they have it together more than you do. Like you have to hide what you don’t know and act like you do.
This feeling is not a diagnosable pathology. This is what growth really feels like.
The transition from an expert to a leader makes it difficult
Now imagine the technical experts who want to get into it leadership roles.
Leadership, team development and organizational dynamics are their special areas. And yet most technical experts, like those in the fields I mentioned above, come to leadership roles not through formal training but because they excelled in their technical work. What no one tells them is that by moving into a leadership role, they are entering a new area of technical expertise: leadership, team and organizational development. These expert technical leaders are expected to know how to lead people, develop strategy, make financial and resource decisions, manage competing demands without clear answers, navigate the unknown, impart technical expertise to others, understand the principles of change management, know how to solve compliance and HR issues, and more.
And so we are faced with a paradox: Some of the most highly trained, educated, and experienced management professionals report the highest levels of fraud experience precisely because they think they should already know. They spent years becoming experts. Moving into a new field does not change their assumption that they must be experts.
What would happen now? that does it feel You are afraid that you will be seen as a leader of “incompetence”.
The doubt that these leaders feel is not unreasonable or unexpected. This is the exact experience of starting in a new field. The problem is not that they are low-level self confidence or do not belong to their role; lack of road map and proper training of personnel.
Kark, Meister, and Peters (2021) found this type management imposterism especially common in “roles characterized by high expectations, high visibility, and high levels of responsibility.”
And for women and others who are left out, feeling cheated comes with the territory. How do you think you might feel if you were constantly told you didn’t belong and had to work twice as hard to get into the places you were told you didn’t belong? Like you don’t belong and you’re not good enough (even if you are). This is likely to have a negative impact on your confidence.
Imposter Syndrome Essential Readings
When it is something more
Now, in some cases, this experience is actually more about chronicity self-doubt or anxiety. The key is to know the difference, as it has significant implications for the best solution.
- Questioning self-awareness, which is contextual and changes with increasing competence, is more likely to be about extremism or intellectual humility.
- A persistent negative self-image that permeates multiple areas of life, is disconnected from actual performance, and does not change even with evidence of success may require therapeutic intervention.
What does this mean for you or your team?
In each of the above cases, the solution is not to show yourself, but to better understand what these experiences (or symptoms) indicate and may require, whether it is a simple repetition, a better coach, therapy, your traineror leadership training.
If you are in the position of a coach, supervisor, or mentor of someone who feels like a fraud, here are some things you can do:
- Don’t treat it as some kind of personal failure. Instead, help them manage their experience.
- Share your own experiences when stepping into a leadership role and trying something new or breaking into new territories.
- Discuss why you felt uncomfortable moving up to the leadership level.
- Ask what will help them build their confidence and provide adequate and appropriate resources to do so.
Each of these small actions can be empowering rather than disempowering. And each one requires your own willingness to be a little vulnerable in order to help someone else feel less vulnerable and alone in an all-too-common experience.
An extended version of this content can also be found there Hard Skills Podcast.
