One of the worst pieces of advice out there for Imposter Syndrome is to push on through it - to "Do it scared!"

Whilst it doesn't work to wait until you're totally fear-free, either, pushing on through the fear has been shown to harm performance, as well as mental health.

Pushing on through the fear, trying to ignore stress and anxiety, triggers the body's stress response, flooding our system with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. This is better known as the fight-flight-freeze-fawn response.

The body is designed to run in this mode for minutes... not the months of it that we often experience with Imposter Syndrome.

So, to keep us alive, it shifts the blood flow in the brain from the rational thinking part to the primal part that's responsible for split-second decision-making. When this is running near-constantly in the background, it makes it harder to concentrate on non-survival-related tasks, it increases the chances of mistakes, and it physically - from a neuroscience point of view - makes it impossible to give our best performance.

It's also why your mind goes blank in meetings, when the spotlight comes to you. Here's a podcast episode on this, if you'd like to know how to prevent it:

Our research studies have found that only 4% of line managers have ever had any form of training in how to give feedback.

So they have to guess what might work, or pass on the strategies that were used for them in the past. It's therefore no surprise that only 11% of them feel that their organisation's current annual appraisal process actually improves performance.

There's a huge problem with the lack of feedback training:

Unless feedback is Imposter Syndrome-informed, it can backfire, and even re-trigger past trauma.

This happens even with positive feedback.

Why?

Clare Josa's 'lightbulb' definition of Imposter Syndrome helps to explain this:

Imposter Syndrome is the secret fear of others judging us, the way we judge ourselves.

This means that someone who regularly experiences Imposter Syndrome is likely to have trained the filters in their brain to spot examples of outside-world feedback that matches their internal narrative, and to ignore examples that contradict that narrative (such as positive feedback). 

In addition, because Imposter Syndrome is about our sense of identity, rather than our skills and abilities (that's confidence - a different beast), it means that people who experience Imposter Syndrome are more prone to take performance feedback as being about who they are, not what they did.

This means that if you're running the fear of 'not being good enough', then feedback about you 'not being good enough' is going to fast-track its way to the bit of your brain that pays attention to the most important stuff. And positive feedback risks being filtered out and ignored.

No one is suggesting that you shouldn't give feedback, but it is essential for all managers to have had training in how to make feedback safe and effective for the 62% of your team members who are struggling with Imposter Syndrome daily or regularly.

Then there's the 'but' issue:

Our research studies have found that 73% of people wait for the 'but' with positive feedback. 44% volunteer it out loud - criticising themselves, in response to praise. Even in public.

And we need to talk about the trauma-response:

29% of respondents reported feeling they are judged or criticised at work, daily or regularly.

If someone is experiencing Imposter Syndrome, this wires their brain and their body to be on constant look-out for threats, so a work culture of open criticism and comparison makes this worse.

If they have experienced past trauma, be it a one-off situation or longer-term, this can trigger Complex PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). This can also be triggered by experiences in the workplace, such as a past bully boss or harassment.

For those people (and it's many more than you might think - estimated to be 1 in 10 people), their nervous system can be stuck in hypervigilance. This means their fight-flight-freeze-fawn response is much more easily triggered than for other people, in response to a perceived threat.

For these people, 'constructive criticism' can re-trigger past trauma.

For 81% of your team members, negative feedback will knock their confidence. For 53% they really worry about it and give a lot of energy to thinking about it, often for months afterwards, leading to anxiety and worsened performance.

The Dangers Of 'Radical Candour'

When you consider all of this, it's no surprise to hear that our research is showing that the relatively new trend of 'radical candour' in the workplace, where anyone can give anyone else blunt feedback, as long as the giver 'cares', is worsening both Imposter Syndrome and trauma rates.

Here's a podcast episode that explains more about this, and what you can do, instead:

This has a direct impact on many aspects of a business, from stalling innovation, creativity and competitive advantage, through to group-think, causing otherwise preventable mistakes or missed opportunities.

And it's not just holding back on sharing meetings in company meetings - it's externally, as well.

For example, 80% of respondents said they would feel nervous if a journalist asked them for a quote about something they knew a lot about. 66% said they would take a few days to get back to them and would worry about it. 14% - one in seven - said they would go as far as to pretend they hadn't got the request, or to suggest someone else, instead.

One of the key drivers for this, for those experiencing Imposter Syndrome, is being stuck on the praise-criticism rollercoaster.

The praise-criticism rollercoaster caused by Imposter Syndrome means people only feel as 'good' as their last piece of feedback, and this makes them hold back on any action that could lead to them being publicly criticised.

Someone experiencing Imposter Syndrome can end up stuck in chronic stress, with the fight-flight-freeze-fawn response running in the background. This dictates - subconsciously - how they communicate with team members.

There's a risk that if their nervous system is choosing the 'fight' response, they can become critical of others, and even aggressive.

When you overlay the 4 Ps Of Imposter Syndrome - Perfectionism, Procrastination, Project Paralysis & People-Pleasing, if someone is running the 'perfectionism' coping strategy, this risks being passed on to those who work with them or report into them.

They can then become the classic micro-managing bully boss.

This is often seen when a rising star is promoted beyond a level where their old Imposter Syndrome coping strategies are enough. 

That toxic teammate is bad enough for those who are free from Imposter Syndrome, but for those who do experience Imposter Syndrome, it can be very harmful. It can even lead to mental health issues, absenteeism and Complex PTSD, a form of successive 'micro-traumas' which can last for decades after the toxic teammate leaves.

Psychological safety at work means we have to have zero tolerance of toxic behaviour in the workplace. Yet Imposter Syndrome is rarely considered as a factor in performance management for team members who have become toxic. Supporting them in clearing Imposter Syndrome can help to turn their behaviour and their teammates' experience around in just a few weeks.

Here's a podcast episode with more on this, including what you can do to turn things around.

How Toxic Teammates Trigger Others' Imposter Syndrome

Our research study showed that 29% of people experience being criticised or judged at work, daily or regularly.

This might be due to a company culture where ranking people is common, or where failure to meet targets is routinely made public. Or it can be a culture where people feel at risk of being criticised if they make a mistake, or share an idea.

71% of respondents already compare themselves with others and judge themselves as not being good enough, daily or regularly. That's coming from inside them. If you add in an external culture where this also done, you're creating a breeding ground for Imposter Syndrome-related performance issues.

But as we covered in point #2 on performance reviews, it's not just public criticism that can trigger the stress and anxiety that Imposter Syndrome causes, it's also public praise. People compare themselves with the person being praised and judge themselves as lacking.

And if you praise someone who is feeling that way, they often experience it as having a spotlight shone on them, increasing the risk of them being 'found out' as not good enough - the core fear of Imposter Syndrome.

With 62% of your team members experiencing Imposter Syndrome daily or regularly, to an extent that's affecting their wellbeing and performance, this is a widespread problem, 

It doesn't mean you should never praise people, or give feedback on potential performance improvements. But it does mean that all people leaders and line managers need to be using Imposter Syndrome-informed methods for this. And ideally you need strategies in place to identify those team members who are experiencing Imposter Syndrome, and give them the resources they need to fully clear it.

Here's a podcast episode that covers 'comparison culture' in more detail. It also explores other aspects of company culture that can exacerbate Imposter Syndrome, and the performance-harming coping strategies that people rely on.

How To Tell If Your Company Is A Secret Breeding Ground For Imposter Syndrome

It has long been established that being interrupted can mean it takes a decent chunk of time to get back into that 'concentration zone'. A University of Berkeley study found it can take up to 25 minutes.

Some people can handle it, without a negative impact on performance (just 12% according to our research study). However, 48% found they made them tense up and feel stressed, with 5% saying they dreaded them and hated the sound of the 'ping'.

The problem is that someone who is experiencing Imposter Syndrome is already running higher base levels of cortisol than the general population. So when these pings come in, their system kicks them into the fight-flight-freeze-fawn response more easily.

If someone has 'severe' Imposter Syndrome (34% according to our study), then they're likely to be experiencing 'hypervigilance', where their nervous system is constantly on the look-out for threats. These 'pings', which 39% told us they feel they have to reply to instantly, trigger an immediate threat response.

In point #1 on neuroscience, we've already explored how the fight-flight-freeze-fawn response can harm performance. These interruptions further increase that effect.

And when there's a cultural expectation for an immediate response, combined with too many meetings (61% say they feel that way), people tell us they're using annual leave to get their 'deep work' done.

Obviously, that's not acceptable.

And all of this increases the risk of Imposter Syndrome-burnout.

If this section has been of interest to you, it's worth listening to a podcast episode that explores Imposter Syndrome's four silent threats to teams, the four archetypes to look for, and practical things you could start doing today, to turn this around.

Imposter Syndrome: The Silent Threat To Team Performance

Growing and stretching comfort zones can take courage.

But with Imposter Syndrome, it can feel even harder. This is because those members of your team will have a higher need than others, at an unconscious level, to feel safe.

Our research study showed that only 22% of respondents felt confident enough to just 'go for it', if offered an opportunity that stretched a comfort zone. 46% said they would do it, but worry about it. 32% said they would turn it down, even if they secretly wanted it. And one third of those would go so far as to volunteer someone else.

44% of your team members are actively avoiding being more visible, due to Imposter Syndrome's secret fear of being 'found out' as somehow not good enough. And 52% said they have held back from going for a promotion in the past year.

The solution to this is not to force them to push on through the fear. It's to help them to resolve the underlying root causes of the fear, so they can stretch those comfort zones with courage, confidence and excitement.

Here's a podcast episode on why the 'feel the fear and do it anyway' message is now out of date, and how you can more healthily stretch comfort zones.

Is It Time To Forget The "Feel The Fear" Message?