I’m not sure if it was end-of-year performance reviews or the new-year jitters but in a matter of just two days every single one of my clients mentioned the ultimate enemy of both coach and client: Imposter Syndrome. There is nothing – not the harshest critic, the worst boss, the meanest colleague – more damaging to our confidence and capabilities than our own self-doubt. Imposter Syndrome casts its sinister shadow, defeating dreams and crashing curiosity with fear of failure.
A challenge for anyone, Imposter Syndrome is particularly insidious for Generalists, who already struggled with being described as "good at everything, expert at nothing.”
Identify & Interrogate
While Imposter Syndrome strikes many, it affects each person differently, knowing exactly how to prey upon one's particular fears and triggers. As with any worthy adversary, knowing their wily ways is the first step in diminishing their power, and, as it turns out, our own fear. Interrogating the Imposter begins to diminish its hold. And, interestingly, the questions we might ask the ‘Imposter’ are quite similar to those a Generalist asks of themselves when determining their particular talents and skills. Questions to consider:
When are you thriving? Faking it? What are the specific environments, situations and conversations in which the ‘Imposter’ emerges?
What is your repeated go-to scripts?
What is the ‘Imposter’ protecting you from?
What is a past example of a mistake you made that was actually an important lesson you learned?
Reframe & Revisit
As a coach, reframing is a tool I use with clients to help recognize a pattern or resolve a problem. What is being reframed is not as important as the actual process of reframing; shifting perspective on both self and situation. For Generalists, who spend much of their career believing they will never be anything other than "not expert enough," reframing helps clarify their particular talents and create a distinct value proposition. This is also true for the ‘Imposter.’ Reframing provides both new possibilities from a far less formidable perspective. To reframe, consider these questions:
How do I define failure? How do I define learning? Where do the two align, differ?
How do learning and success align or differ?
Recall a time in which you were failing; how could you reframe this as a time of learning?
What are recent examples of situations where I could have asked a question or for more information? What difference could that have made?
Know Your Talents; Flex Your Strengths
Imposter Syndrome is often related to identity – the "who of you." Also, no surprise, this is the very question with which Generalists struggle. Generalists have to remind themselves of their particular talents and the value of a Generalist in an organization because others won’t. As a Coach I use the CliftonStrengths assessment for many reasons, but chief among them is that the assessment is asset based, identifying the talents we each have and can authentically and easily use in all aspects of one's life. Being one's best self, is also being one's easiest and most excellent self. Questions to consider.
What is a past success? What talents and skills contributed to that success?
What can you control? What is out of your control?
To reduce the reach of one's particular Imposter, reframe the situation and anchor anew in your unique talents and capabilities. Like the artist, chef and builder, know when to use which talent as a tool – brush or pen, knife or whisk, hammer or drill – will diminish the Imposter and allow you to move forward with increased confidence and more consistent, near perfect results.
And don’t forget.
You are your greatest resource.
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