Imposter Syndrome & Building Confidence at Bloom
Have you ever felt like you were too inexperienced for the promotion you got or didn't deserve your recent pay rise? Like many of us, if you have felt this way, you have been experiencing Imposter Syndrome.
A review article in the International Journal of Behavioral Science published that it affects about 70% of people at some point in their lives. Employees may find this feeling more noticeable in the workplace, leading to a lack of motivation and focus on the job.
In 1993, Pauline Rose Clance and Joe Langford published a paper called The impostor phenomenon: recent research findings regarding dynamics, personality, and family patterns and their implications for treatment, highlighting the fact that men and women experience imposter syndrome.
This subsequent paper, correcting an earlier 1973 study by Clance and Imes, was published to show that it wasn't just women who felt this way.
Background
With their 'girl power' manifesto, professional communications network Bloom UK is committed to empowering women, so they can live out their true potential and follow their dreams.
They encourage, whomever she wants to be. The authentic voices of women can bring the change we need.
The London-based company contacted Hustle Crew founder Abadesi Osunsade, as they wanted Hustle Crew to conduct a workshop at the BloomFest event. BloomFest is an annual conference that provides workshops that offer guidance and inspiration to women in the field.
Workshop
The workshop started with a brief definition of Dr. Valerie Young's notion of Imposter Syndrome, derived from her book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Imposter Syndrome and How to Thrive despite It, which is categorized into five sub-groups - the Perfectionist, the Natural Genius, the Soloist, the Superwoman/man, and the Expert.
After hearing all the answers, participants were asked to pair up and discuss which was most intriguing to each member.
Once paired, they were asked to share their personal stories and experiences that led them to identify with a particular imposter syndrome.
Finally, participants broke out into groups based on their imposter syndrome identification (Perfectionist, Natural Genius, etc.) and brainstormed possible solutions for overcoming those challenges in a professional setting.
One of the workshop's main objectives was to identify when these feelings occurred and discuss strategies for reducing them. We discussed how, for example, our perceptions that the offer for a promotion or a pay rise came about by luck or an error in judgment by the company's executives could be wrong.
Other points discussed in depth during the interview were self-awareness, the importance of skill-building, and understanding that failure is not always a negative.
Outcome
The result of the workshop was incredibly successful, with the participants collaborating to try and find a way to defeat these challenges at work and in their personal lives.
Each member found a way to find tasks to accomplish to face these challenges, such as a personalized toolkit that identifies ways to combat these obstacles.
Although Imposter Syndrome is a sensitive, complex subject, every workshop member felt empowered with the new knowledge and the tools necessary to counter it.