What is Impostor Syndrome, and How to Prevent it From Affecting Your Workforce

What exactly is this topic of impostor syndrome and why is it important to pay close attention to? Impostor syndrome can happen to anyone at any time in their career. Whether someone is doubting their abilities or feeling like they aren’t qualified enough, these are signs of impostor syndrome, which can result in turbulent times and negative outcomes within an organization.

The idea of impostor syndrome has gained quite a lot of attention, specifically from HR and L&D professionals. This concern is with good reason something important to talk about, especially in the workplace. With the work environment becoming increasingly demanding, employees are sought upon to keep up with top performance objectives. The added stress to always perform better than before, on top of feeling incompetent, can lead to employees doubting their work and ultimately influence the company negatively.

HR and L&D professionals should especially recognize that impostor syndrome is a people-centric universal concept that, when undetected, can cause negative repercussions in the workplace.

The definition of Impostor syndrome is a term that refers to the internal discomfort that one experiences when questioning whether he or she is as competent as others perceive him or her to be. This happens often after a promotion or an achievement – an employee might wonder if he or she is truly “deserving” of the promotion or feeling the success.

What it really boils down to is those who experience this may feel as though they are not successful in what they accomplish, despite clear contradictory evidence against their feelings. Often, they may even live in fear that others would “find out” about their lacking in certain skills or confidence and expose them as being fake – hence the word “impostor.”

The effect that this phenomenon has on the workplace could lead to damaging an employee’s confidence and therefore directly affecting their output. Impostor syndrome can cause various issues, not only physically (like stress or anxiety manifesting itself in clenched jaws, bad posture) but also mentally (berating oneself, avoiding growth situations like public speaking, and so on).

In order to prevent impostor syndrome from nudging its way into your workplace, it’s important to identify its key characteristics so you can determine if someone is suffering from it. Again, this circumstance is not a one-size-fits-all situation, but in fact specific to each individual. However, no organization is immune to the effects of impostor syndrome. Understanding a few main indicators helps increase overall awareness around the topic, enabling you to support those who need it.

If any of the following attributes are observed in employees, HR and L&D managers should recognize that this could be an indication of impostor syndrome and put in effort to address any unease or general discomfort. As stated by Training Journal, HR and L&D managers should be able to recognize any of the following possible indicators:

• Workaholism- displaying difficulty logging off at the end of the workday and regularly working overtime (this usually indicates someone might feel the need to ‘overcompensate’ for something, or has anxiety about job security and the need to prove oneself)
• Overt Independence – struggling to be a team player and choosing to work mostly independently
• Perfectionism- striving for perfection and berating him- or herself when that isn’t achieved
• Expertism- seeking ever more knowledge and facts yet never knows enough; not being able to make decisions or move forward without arming him- or herself with even more data

It is important to first recognize how much of your workplace knows what impostor syndrome is. According to insights on a survey done by LeadMD, about three out of four people, regardless of gender, claim to be unaware of what impostor syndrome is. Surprising, as this has been a topic that’s come to the forefront of HR and L&D minds in recent years, especially with feminist movements, though it’s evident that both men and women can stand to learn a thing or two about identifying impostor syndrome – within themselves, and others.

As surprising as these results are, this only underscores that HR and L&D leaders should educate employees more on the matter and provide them with correct tools to identify and also avoid feeling like a phony.

Anyone can feel as though they have lost their way at any point in their career, no matter whether they’ve been working at the same company for 10 years or six months. However, some may be more prone to impostor syndrome than others. Depending on what sort of significance employees place on what they can contribute, as well as differing values or ways that people measure their own individual successes, ultimately determines how vulnerable a person may be to impostor syndrome.

So, what can be done in order to address this issue within the workplace? How do we keep our employees from being unable to believe in their successes being legitimately achieved?

Keeping an open discussion between employees along with implementing complementary training processes will help alleviate stigma around the topic.

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Actions can be taken within the workplace to squash impostor syndrome. Some are as simple as merely educating employees on what impostor syndrome is, to recognizing it in one another and better supporting each other, colleague to colleague.

Setting up trainings specifically on how to deal with this issue, including forming a different mindset around the topic, helps move an organization in the right direction. Understanding what internally motivates employees and what importance they put on their successes is critical to determine in order to set good practices in place to combat negative thoughts.

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It is important that managers have the right tools in place to help employees feel more inclined to open up and share work doubts. Maintaining a safe space for sensitive discussions will encourage employees to share and unburden themselves, allowing themselves in turn to receive the emotional support they might need.

Some tools that may be helpful to use:

• Lessonly – a platform that allows people to take ‘lessons’ in their spare time. This enables people to take some learning into their own hands and brush up on skills at their own pace, which might bolster confidence.
• Engagedly – a site that lets people all agree on objectives, track their progress and align on company and team goals.
• Unmind – this is a platform that focusses on helping to improve the mental health of employees through proactively measuring, understanding and improving their wellbeing. This enables managers to have an insight into helping employees improve and drive cultural change.

Indeed, communication around a very personal, potentially sensitive topic like impostor syndrome needs to be handled delicately. The more employees feel that their well-being is being looked out for, the more likely they are to air grievances and ask for help or feedback when they most need it.

And it’s not a one and done thing – there should be a steady cadence of check-ins. The longer people go without checking in and providing feedback for one another, the more likely someone is to be totally off-base on how he or she is performing – something we want to avoid as HR and L&D managers.

Even if an employee is performing really well, at a high level, he or she might be harboring serious feelings of insecurity; it’s good to always touch base for a temperature check and to let someone know when they’re doing well.

Impostor syndrome has not only a physical impact, but also mental repercussions that may not always be obvious. Health and the well-being of employees should be a top priority.

If an employee’s mental health is suffering due to the doubts they may be having, their output is also directly affected by that. They might not speak as confidently in a client meeting, or be as pleasant and affable when dealing with colleagues. They may even be distracted and make minor slip-ups. Support in this time is a critical element in driving an employee’s thoughts into a healthier direction – not only momentarily, but also for the long run.

This is where it might be worth considering some internal initiatives like setting up mentorship programs or career coaching for your employees. If you find that an employee is uncertain about his or her public speaking skills in a new role he or she assumed, which demands lots of speeches and talks, then perhaps you’d recommend they have (virtual or in-person) coffee dates with another, more senior colleague who often has to deliver talks in front of crowds.

Similarly, some employees may enjoy some workshops on building confidence, or learning other skills, from time to time. To be able to casually learn and exchange insights, best practices and lessons learned with other colleagues – in a way that isn’t directly related to day-to-day work – is a good way for colleagues to practice and flex new skills in a low-stakes, safe way, and also build relationships among one another that makes them comfortable with seeking out opinions among themselves.

In other words, they might become friends and be better suited to have each other’s backs or boost each other’s morals!

Having a clear reward system set in place in order to recognize the successes of employees can also be beneficial when it comes to preventing feelings of incompetence. Setting such a system in place eliminates the possibility that they may feel doubtful of the things they have achieved.

This could be something more programmatic, like a bonus system, or something fun and light.

Many companies, for example, employ the idea of some sort of “company awards” – every quarter or so, at an all-hands meeting, “awards” (whether it’s just a desk plaque, or some verbal recognition, bragging rights, or a bottle of wine) might be given for certain things: Measurable successes, like the employee who closed the most deals on a team, or someone who demonstrated remarkable team leadership or positivity in a difficult work situation.

Similar to the above: Giving credit where credit is due can keep employees motivated and maintain their levels of confidence. Openly acknowledging the employee achievements – not just monetarily, but also commending them in front of the whole organization (at a meeting, or over the company intranet) can also be the positive reinforcement one needs to stay confident and even start performing at a higher level.

Don’t let your employees and colleagues – or yourself! – fall victim to the pitfalls of impostor syndrome. While this is a common workplace experience, one that everyone will feel from time to time, doesn’t mean you have to get used to this or can’t use some techniques to drag yourself out of the hole.

The overall goal should be to lead employees (as well as yourself) in a happy and healthy direction regarding work and mental health. By being thoughtful about methods and approaches to addressing this syndrome, and ensuring communication is respectful and happening at a steady cadence, you’ll create a safer working environment where people might be more aware of how others are feeling, ready to support one another, and also feeling secure enough to ask for help when they need it.

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