Imposter Syndrome - stop letting fear lead you
If I could rewrite a period of corporate history
Rising leaders need to focus on performance. Performance of their division or company, performance of their team and their own personal performance.
Some people are motivated by the carrot. Some by a stick. Some by a bit of both.
Raising performance is a constant preoccupation as life gets faster and customers more demanding.
This led companies like GE, Microsoft, Adobe and several British companies to adopt a performance bell-curve.
It’s now largely abandoned. There are lots of reasons why. Lots.
But rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome act like the curve still exists.
When it’s time to kill the curve for good.
What is the bell-curve idea?
The big idea behind the bell curve was a means of differentiating performance. Clearly in a company you will have some star performers who you want to keep and maybe need to reward for their skills and contribution.
And you’ll have others who are performing less well. In some cases, really under-performing.
And then you’ll have a group of people in the middle who are doing their jobs competently with some good days and some less good ones.
The idea of the bell curve was that if you attempted to rate and then map people’s performance then a small percentage would appear at the top. A small percentage at the bottom and a big bulge in the middle like an upside-down U.
And then you could reward your top performers and give those in the middle something to aim for. The carrot.
And you could also highlight your lowest performers and give them an opportunity to pull up their socks and vanish into the bulge or be terminated.
As an idea it came along to solve a problem where no one really paid attention to the individual. So people working hard felt undervalued and under-rewarded, observing others coasting and getting paid the same.
So, what went wrong with this genius idea?
Plenty. But it was particularly damaging for rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome.
The first failing was assuming that human performance adheres to a normal distribution curve. In high performing teams, individuals still needed to be identified as low performers and high performers.
High performers were no more satisfied than before, in fact somewhat dissatisfied the moment they lost the high performer label.
As for everyone else, unsurprisingly it created what had been intended, a focus on individual contribution but at the cost of contribution to a team goal.
Unfair labels amplifying self-doubt.
Rising leaders labelled as low-performers or needing to develop tended to internalise these labels. Leading to feelings of I don’t belong here, and I am not good enough.
Even those performing were trained to constantly look over their shoulder, looking behind them instead of facing the future just in case anyone was likely to overtake.
And in turn this bred the culture of hyper-achievement which on the face of things sounds amazing but is a form of stress where individuals push themselves and teams unsustainably hard in order to constantly win the approval of others.
The curve may be dead but rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome act like it’s still there
The bell curve model may be now largely dead and discredited but its ill effects on rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome can still be seen today.
- False comparison. Rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome preoccupy themselves with trying to figure out who they should be by watching others instead of developing their own brand.
- Hyper achieving. Rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome tend to more frequently seek reassurance, approval and praise from others and drive their own hyper-achiever which leads to over-work, stress and potential burnout.
- The higher we climb principle. Rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome are never happy with promotion or being elevated because they are always mindful and mistrusting of themselves that their inadequacy will be found out and the higher you climb, the hard and further the fall
- Kindling the inner critic. We all have an inner critic. We don’t need someone else to gift us one or feed the troll. Rising leaders with Imposter Syndrome are overly attuned to shortcomings and put successes down the chance or luck.
It’s been several years since Microsoft and others abandoned this model, finally realising that it stifled innovation and team-working and didn’t give the performance or productivity edge that was promised.
But those of us with Imposter Syndrome still adopt the bell curve mindset
Kill the curve, make the fundamental mindset shift.
Imposter syndrome takes us backwards. Whether that’s critically analysing our past failings to looking in the rear-view mirror.
Changing the narrative to how can I grow further already gifts you absolution for all the learnings from the past and things you’ve done you’d no longer do that way.
How can I grow further presupposes you’ve been growing already which you have.
And it doesn’t identify, tie or bind you to another arbitrary deadline or benchmark. Just grow.
When we’re in growth mode, recognising our shortcomings is easier because it’s clearer that we’re doing it in the pursuit of being better, not just to beat ourselves up.
When we’re in growth mode we also get more from our relationships with others because it’s infectious and unlike the bell-curve, people are also more open to trying new things out, being part of the party when they know judgement is not part of the deal.
Focus on your strengths.
One major criticism of the bell-curve performance model was that to drive the process there was an imbalanced examination and focus on weaknesses over strengths, failings over success, shortcomings over advantages.
It might have helped the bell curve but it’s now easy to see how it wasn’t helping overall performance.
Those with Imposter Syndrome tend to know their shortcomings intimately and their strengths like a distant cousin.
Now is the time to become deeply acquainted with your strengths and values. There are many online models to help you with this.
Overcome Imposter Syndrome and be a Braver leader.
Being brave means facing into the parts you hide, mask and confronting them.
These are the things that make you dodge the punches, the difficult decisions and hold back your leadership potential.
Your judge.
Your controller, avoider, hyper-achiever, stickler, people pleaser, restless, hyper rational, hyper vigilant and victim tendencies you’ve grown up with, it all starts with you.
Click here for a 30-minute diagnostic session with me. Understand your Imposter Syndrome
I’ll take you through an assessment that’ll help you understand the specific mindsets driving your Imposter Syndrome and what you can do to resolve it.
All free, no obligation. But in my opinion the fastest, most effective way to overcome Imposter Syndrome for good.
In the meantime you can check out my other resources here.
