Consigning imposter syndrome to the bin
Pervaze is about to start a new job. He’s very excited as it’s a promotion he’s been looking forward to for a long time. CFO. Chief Financial Officer. Every time he says it to himself he gets excited. Although…(and he will only admit this to a very few trusted people) he also gets slightly nervous. Actually, quite a bit nervous. The previous incumbent in the role was just excellent. Everyone loved her, she was brilliant at keeping on top of everything and at her leaving do the CEO said (rather unhelpfully) that she had left a very big pair of shoes to fill.
Pervaze is worried that he might be succumbing to something he has heard called Imposter Syndrome. Fortunately his partner has just attended a talk delivered by someone who is on a crusade to consign the term imposter syndrome to the bin. For good. And his partner takes him through what she took away from the talk…
The Power of Language
We need to be more effortful about the language that we use. If we go around using the term ‘Imposter Syndrome’ then our brain is constantly receiving the negative message of being an imposter. Who does that help? So let’s reframe it.
It’s not only normal, it’s beneficial
Thinking that we’re not good enough, understanding and appreciating that we can and should continue to get better and improve, is a good thing. It stops us getting complacent. It ensures we reach out for help and support. And that we focus on continued development. Top performers across industries and sectors share this mindset. What’s important of course is that it’s balanced with a belief that we can improve. That we can develop. And that we can deliver and perform. And this is what separates the best from the rest: the marriage of a belief that they can improve, develop and perform, with an understanding that they are not the finished article, that their toolkit needs to be continually developed and replenished.
What will help?
Being able to ride a bike. At this Pervaze looks very confused. Until his partner explains more! The audience was asked how many of them could ride a bike. And then how many of them were born able to ride a bike (apparently one or two put their hands up at this…!) They were then asked how they had learnt. And the speaker drew out the fact that they no doubt Believed they could learn, Wanted to learn, and followed a particular Process in doing so. So they combined Belief, Desire, and Process. The same goes for our development in the workplace. Pervaze needs to believe he can improve. Want to do so. And then follow the process which is universal in improvement: effort; challenge; setbacks; and feedback. Just like when learning to ride a bike you had to work hard at it (in the right way); challenge yourself (especially when the stabilisers came off); suffer setbacks and learn from them (not least when you fell off and hurt yourself); and benefit from the feedback around you (whether that’s direct - you fell off - or feedback coming from someone else such as a parent who is helping you).
Practising in a purposeful way. Whilst this is a term (along with deliberate practice) that gets used heavily in the world of sport, it’s a term that is just as useful in the corporate world. Whilst the speaker acknowledged that the easy push back is that sports people spend much of their time practising, whereas in the corporate world you are effectively performing most of the time, she challenged the audience to consider if they couldn’t take even 15 minutes out of each day to practice a skill they wanted to get better at. Be that listening in meetings. Building rapport with people at the beginning of meetings. Presenting. Pitching. Conducting performance reviews. And so on. The key to ensure practice is purposeful is to make sure that you are honing in on one particular thing you want to try and get better at. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in terms of trying new things. And taking the time to understand what’s working and what isn’t (which includes reflecting on outcomes as well as asking for feedback).
Making comparison your friend. American tennis player Arthur Ashe famously said: “You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.” Comparison is helpful when you are thinking about your own journey of improvement. It’s also helpful in terms of looking at others and gauging where you are at, and where you could improve. But not to the extent of obsessing over the differences. We are each our own person, with our own unique range of abilities, traits, experiences and perspectives. Borrow, improve, develop. And recruit the gaps and holes you need to fill. But don’t try and be someone you’re not. Don’t try and be someone else. No matter how hard Pervaze tries, he’s not going to be a copycat CFO to the previous incumbent. And nor should he be.
Leveraging your strengths. Building on this, the previous incumbent would have brought her own style, her own strengths, her own approach to the role. And the same goes for Pervaze. What’s important is that he recognises his strengths, and leverages them. We all tend to spend far too much time worrying about the things we’re not so good at. Why not take the time to think about what your strengths are? What you bring to the role? What skillsets and abilities you can leverage to do the best job possible. It’s easy to underestimate them. To take them for granted. But this doesn’t help us, or those we lead. As Coach John Wooden famously said: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” This is not to suggest that we should ignore what might be called our key limiters, more to urge us all to redirect some of our energy away from too much of a focus on our weaknesses, to much more of a focus on leveraging and developing our strengths. And if you don’t know what they are, ask those around you. Or even do one of those free online tests.
By now you will have guessed it (if you didn’t straight away). I was that speaker. And yes, I am on a crusade to remove the term imposter syndrome! And replacing it with a journey to discover your confidence sweet spot. And it’s summed up nicely by this brilliant quote from Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”
I expand on this area, along with many others, in my forthcoming book Staying the Distance: the lessons from sport that business leaders have been missing. Publication date is 30th March 2023, and I will keep this network updated with information on pre-orders etc nearer the time. In the meantime, for more on this or any aspect of leadership, with a healthy dose of mindset, sport, and I hope usefulness thrown in, do feel free to browse through all the articles in the Huddle, or get in touch with me directly on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk.