6 ways impostor ‘syndrome’ manifests (and what to do about it)

5 minute read

First off, you might be wondering why I’ve put the word syndrome in apostrophes? It’s because the phrase impostor syndrome isn’t the correct one. I know, right?! For years, I also used the term ‘impostor syndrome’ but then when I started my doctoral studies, I came across the original 1978 research. In it, Drs Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, referred to it as impostor phenomenon. Syndrome suggests something wrong with the individual, almost as if it’s a disease or something seriously wrong with a person. Whereas phenomenon suggests that it’s something interesting, unexpected, and there might be other things going on that play a part. In their original research, Clance and Imes define it as:

“The term impostor phenomenon is used to designate an internal experience of intellectual phoniness which appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high achieving women.

Despite outstanding academic and professional accomplishments, women who experience the impostor phenomenon persist in believing that they are really not bright and have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise.”

6 ways impostor feelings manifest

1. It’s sheer luck that you’ve got to where you have.
2. The belief that anyone can do what you do. You’re nothing special.
3. Good enough is never good enough. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable.
4. Ignoring positive feedback – struggling to internalise it and accept it.
5. Focusing on failure and ignoring your successes.
6. Thinking you’re going to fail at something before you’ve even tried.

Things to pay attention to

• Not putting everything at the door of the individual – is it systemic issues leading someone to feel like they’re not good enough or that they don’t fit in?
• Not assuming impostor phenomenon is something that only affects women.
• Are there other things going on? For example, undiagnosed neurodivergence that might be leading to the person feeling ‘less than’?
• What is the work environment like that the person is in? For example, is the pressure unrealistic because of job cuts with not enough people to do the work and therefore, leaving people feeling like they’re always failing or falling short?
• To what extent is it the person’s own inner voice? Might it be other voices such as parents’ expectations?
• Being out of our comfort zone means we’re learning. Not everything is ‘impostor syndrome’. Sometimes it just means we’re in a period of growth. It means we’re learning.

5 ways to overcome impostor feelings

1. Focus on your strengths

One study, involving more than 80 education professionals, suggests that a strengths-based intervention might have a direct, positive effect on self-belief, with a slightly less direct effect on personal growth. The researchers found that a strength-based intervention was particularly effective for people with low to medium levels of self-belief.

One thing you can do:

• Professor Martin Seligman, famous for his work in the field of positive psychology, has developed a strengths inventory. You can complete the assessment here https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter

2. Practice self-compassion

Through her research, and subsequently outlined in the book Self-compassion: The proven power of being kind to yourself, Dr Kristin Neff suggests self-compassion has three elements:

 Dr Kristin Neff suggests there are three elements of self-compassion. These are:

1. Self-kindness – taking the time to understand rather than judge yourself.
2. Feeling connected with others in life – recognising there is a world outside ourselves.
3. Mindfulness – seeing the situation in real-time without focusing on ‘what ifs’.

One thing you can do:

• Keep a self-compassion journal. Write about any difficult events of the day (or the week) and then note down at least two things you did as best you could, given the circumstances.

3. Notice and disrupt unhelpful thoughts

The A,B,C Technique, developed by Dr Albert Ellis, is used in rational-emotional therapy (RET) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). It can be useful in disrupting unhelpful thoughts.

As you can see from my sketchnote, the first two stages (the A and the B) refer to the Adversity we’re facing and the Beliefs we hold in relation to that adversity. A and B, together, are known as our explanatory style. Our explanatory style is the thing we can disrupt, as the way we can explain things to ourselves can be affected by cognitive distortions. Depending on how we explain things to ourselves will affect the Consequences. You can see the example I’ve given in the sketchnote and the questions that can help disrupt the cognitive distortions.

One thing you can do:

Use the A,B,C Technique to disrupt any distorted thoughts you might have about a situation. In particular, reflect on your explanatory style (the A and the B). What are the facts of the situation? To what extent are your Beliefs based on your interpretation versus hard facts?

4. Normalise not knowing everything

Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, was an exceptional learner. His secret? He accepted that he couldn’t know everything and that he always had something to learn. He kept a notebook which he called ‘Notebook of things I don’t know about’.

If someone like Feynman can have the humility to acknowledge what he didn’t know and accept that this is normal, then there’s no reason why the rest of us can’t do the same.

One thing you can do:

Get your own notebook of things you don’t know about and update it each week. Alternatively, you can use technology. For example, a long time ago, when I stepped up into a more senior role, working in IT, I kept a spreadsheet where I noted terminology I was unsure of. Once I found out what something meant, I’d update my spreadsheet with the definition. This wasn’t only helpful for me. It was something I was able to hand over to the person who took over from me when I moved on.

5. Be careful with feedback

At a webinar I delivered recently for the British Psychological Society, I shared a case study of a client I helped overcome impostor feelings. One of the things that helped was involving the person’s line manager. This was because the way the line manager was giving feedback was amplifying my client’s impostor feelings. In fact, one study reiterates how important it is that managers think carefully about the type of feedback they give and how they give it, particularly if managing someone with low confidence. This same study suggests that negative, critical feedback can lead to a real drop in performance and subsequently self-esteem. It’s worth noting that this was particularly the case for men in the participant group.

One thing you can do:

This isn’t about avoiding giving negative feedback. Rather, it’s suggesting you need to think and plan more carefully how to give the message. Using a coaching style can be helpful, using something like the Pendleton Method, often used in medical training:

Step 1: Ask the person what they think went well/what they did well in relation to the situation.

Step 2: Acknowledge what they think they did well and add what you think they did well.

Step 3: Ask the person what they would do differently or better next time.

Step 4: Acknowledge the person’s ideas and then add your feedback here on things they could do better or differently.

Step 5: Agree any actions the person needs to take before the next one-to-one.

REFERENCES

1. Badawy, R.L., Gazdag, B.A., Bentley, J.R., & Brouer, R.L. (2018). Are all impostors created equal? Exploring gender differences in the impostor phenomenon-performance link. Personality and Individual Differences, 131, 156-163.
2. Clance, P.R., & Imes, S.A. (1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women. Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15, 241-247.
3. Ellis, A. (1991). The revised ABC’s of rational-emotive therapy (RET). Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 9, 139-172.
4. Neff, K. (2011). Self-compassion: The proven power of being kind to yourself. London: Yellow Kite.
5. van Woerkem, M., & Meyers, M.C. (2019). Strengthening personal growth: The effects of a strengths intervention on personal growth initiative. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 92, 98-121.

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