Levelling Up
The further and higher up you climb, the worse Impostor Syndrome gets. You’re let past the velvet ropes into even more exclusive clubs, yet the cost of membership seems to be crippling self doubt?
Impostor Syndrome is most commonly discussed as a liability, a personal flaw, something that holds you back professionally and personally. But what if we flip the phenomenon on its head, and recognise that we only feel like an impostor because we know enough to understand our own limitations? That it’s exactly this type of vulnerability and openness that we should expect of all of our leaders, and if you understand the value of this phenomenon it may be the thing that takes your career to the next level?
Over the past few weeks we’ve explored how the impostor syndrome affects us at the earlier phases of a typical career - getting over rookie jitters in your first job, and pushing out of the “box” your employers categorise you in to learn new skills and gain new opportunities. Assuming you’ve followed the 3-stage uncertainty framework and navigated each career phase successfully so far, you’ll be competing at another level yet again - as a boss, manager, or leader. This is further than you ever thought you’d get, but sadly the impostor never left - the insecurity hits you harder than ever and you’ll need a bullet-proof strategy to deal with both new and old sources of stress and anxiety.
The idea that you would ascend to the most successful point of your career you could ever have imagined but have it ruined by crippling self-doubt - that’s a tragedy isn’t it? The good news is that the 3-stage uncertainty framework we’ve discussed for phases 1 and 2 of early career shenanigans still applies here. Given the higher stakes, this time I want to compare notes with a 2021 article written by the American Psychological Association - APA - the foremost authority on all things psychological, on how to overcome impostor phenomenon. The article described 5-7 strategies that can help overcome impostor feelings, with strategy 1 just being learning the facts. That’s the reason I’m making this video series, to simply raise awareness about impostor syndrome and that it affects and infects everyone, irrespective of career stage of trajectory.
1. The Googleables - background research you should be constantly doing in your own time in online discussion forums, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. The more you understand about the parameters of the problems you’re facing at work, the more intentional you can be with how you spend your time at work.
Stage 1 of the uncertainty framework is a bit of a non-starter at this level. There are fewer people operating at the higher levels of any enterprise, so naturally there is less publicly available information. Leaders like to hold their value close to the chest. Instead you may need to rely on Stage 2 - the Mentionables - because leadership is all about the people. Having the soft skills to be adaptable in different social situations, knowing the right questions to ask the right people at the right times, is everything:
2. The Mentionables - “inside baseball” questions that are contingent on the unwritten rules of social etiquette specific to your immediate professional environment. You should learn to become comfortable mentioning these topics with your peers over coffee or a drink to try and learn the ropes in semi-casual situations.
The mentionables ties into the APA article’s second strategy too: share your feelings. Enlist other people in your trusted professional network, and talk about your impostor feelings - odds are others feel the same and everyone will feel a little less lonely and hopefully a little more empathetic. There’s a fine line between sharing your insecurities and just good-old fashioned complaining, so that’s where the article’s third strategy comes in - celebrate your successes. Collect evidence of positive feedback - emails from students, peers, supervisors when you’ve had success, and this isn’t just to make you feel better - it might actually amount to something bigger. That’s the strategy I used, compiling evidence of my teaching practices over 5 years, which ultimately led to the Australian University Teacher of the Year award in 2020. Don’t just celebrate your own successes, celebrate the success of others. It’s the most rewarding part of my job to mentor students and other teachers, and it’s the only thing that takes me out of that introspective headspace and truly jettison the impostor for as long as I can. Because of this helping others is in many ways the most selfish thing you can do - and the higher you rise the more people you can help and the better you’ll feel about yourself. Win-win-win.
We launched a podcast! Episode 2 of the Crossover Connections Podcast talks about the hidden costs of innovation - from telescopes to microscopes. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or watch the video version on YouTube.
3. The Untouchables - strategic questions surrounding leadership and vision that affect your whole organisation. These are typically questions that can only be answered by your senior managers, but you should constantly be reflecting on how they align with your current role and your professional values overall.
In some ways this is a bit of a moot point because nothing strategic should be untouchable to senior leaders within an organisation. You are only effective at the next level up if you know the internal politicking and backroom chatter through all the connections you on the way up. This is the reason I talk so much about comfort zones, communication, and networking skills because at a certain point that’s the entire game. You can only make the move from impostor to insider if you connect with the right people.
The last few strategies in the APA article focus on cultivating self-compassion, sharing your failures, and accepting that the impostor is here to stay in one form or another. This is what I’ve consistently tried to do not just in this impostor syndrome series but also on my YouTube channel. Talking about my failures publicly is my form of self-compassion, and hopefully it’s helpful for you. It’s certainly therapeutic for me.
The 3 stage uncertainty framework helped me navigate different stages of my career but I’m certain the impostor will come knocking again at my door, sooner rather than later. It’s our career-long pursuit to keep them at bay.
Talk soon,
Jack.
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If you’re interested in careers in science and technology - this week’s video is on “How to level up and fast track your career”.
