In 2018, Clare Josa created the 4 Ps Of Imposter Syndrome model, as part of the output of her international research study. 

She realised that the Imposter Syndrome coping strategies she was seeing with the research respondents reflected those her clients had also been using for many years, and they fell into four core categories. The 4 Ps.

These map over onto the fight-flight-freeze stress response. And they play a key role in the causal relationship between Imposter Syndrome and burnout.

These 4 Ps of Imposter Syndrome also explain why productivity suffers, when someone is trying to cope with, handle, or succeed despite Imposter Syndrome. 

But when you take the steps to set yourself free from Imposter Syndrome, the need for the 4 Ps as coping strategies disappears. Productivity increases. The risk of burning out reduces. And stress and anxiety levels drop.

The 4 Ps of Imposter Syndrome are:

Perfectionism

Setting our standards incredibly high, to avoid the fear of being found out as not good enough, but writing it off as fluke or luck if you actually achieve those standards.

This maps onto the 'fight' stress response. "I'm going to beat that goal!"

Procrastination

This is about filling our time with busyness, kidding ourselves that we're working on the project that's triggering Imposter Syndrome, but at the same time avoiding taking the actions that scare us. There's more to this than doom-scrolling and cute cat videos. And 28% of your team members are relying on procrastination as a coping mechanism multiple times a day.

This maps onto the 'flight' stress response, where we're moving fast, but not heading in the direction we need to.

Project Paralysis

This is the classic 'rabbit in headlights'. A person will put off taking any action - often hiding that from their colleagues - until the point where the stress and adrenaline of the deadline means they can push on through the fear.

This maps onto the 'freeze' stress response.

People-Pleasing

This is about having poor boundaries, over-giving, volunteering for extra tasks when you're already overwhelmed, and easily shifting priorities, in order to meet one of the deepest human needs - the safety of belonging to the tribe.

In a working environment this can be harmful, not just for the person using this coping strategy, but also for anyone who works with them.

This maps onto a relatively new category of 'fawning' in the stress response. 

Here's a podcast episode that talks more about the 4 Ps, and how to spot the warning signs, either in yourself or team members:

If a person is over-thinking, as a coping strategy for Imposter Syndrome, then a 2-hour report can take 2 days.

They'll consider it from every angle. They'll try to second-guess how people might respond. They'll tone down their ideas, so that it feels more 'safe'.

And it's not just reports.

This affects everything from meeting preparation through to sending a difficult email.

It can also lead to decision paralysis. A person may struggle to make recommendations that you know should be straightforward for them. And if you're their line manager, they may be coming to you for advice - or trying to delegate decisions to you - multiple times a day, which can be really frustrating.

In addition, it can lead to people making the wrong decisions - the ones that feel safer. This can cost businesses in missed opportunities, or making mistakes.

But although the problem is over-thinking, mindset-level work is not the solution.

What's happening here is that they are avoiding committing to a course of action, because non-action feels safer than risking their fears due to Imposter Syndrome coming true.

So 'tough love' or teaching them to make decisions might help a little, but it wont' fix this problem.

The solution is to support them to clear the root cause of this problem - Imposter Syndrome - rather than trying to get them to push past the surface-level symptoms: the over-thinking and decision paralysis.

 Here's a podcast episode that looks in more detail at why 'mindset' work isn't sufficient to clear Imposter Syndrome, or to prevent the negative impact on individuals, teams and organisations.

Forget Focusing On Mindset If You Want To Overcome Imposter Syndrome

It's no surprise that worrying, what-iffing and catastrophising are key responses to Imposter Syndrome, when we consider that it is the secret fear of others finding out we're not good enough, despite outside-world evidence that we are.

But worrying triggers the fight-flight-freeze-fawn stress response, as well as amplifying negative self-talk.

Unfortunately, it also reinforces the neural pathways in the brain for the 'worst case scenario' fears. It could be said that:

Worrying is mental rehearsal for a future we don't really want.

So worrying inadvertently makes that outcome more likely to happen.

It's also physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. And for 21% of your team members, they report 'often' lying awake at 3am, worrying because of Imposter Syndrome. For a shocking 4%, it's daily.

These worries are often driven by what Clare Josa calls 'mind-story fears': they're stories we're telling ourselves about what might go wrong. But they cause the same physiological response as though those events were actually happening.

Worrying harms productivity because the person is likely to over-prepare, to be overly cautious, and to be exhausted.

Here's a podcast episode with more on this, including what you can do to put a stop to worrying, but without having to pretend that everything is fine.

We Need To Talk About Worrying...

Imposter Syndrome being the fear of being 'found out' as not good enough makes it really tough to admit that there's something you can't do, or don't know.

Not feeling safe (whether from inside, due to Imposter Syndrome, or from the outside, due to a critical company culture) makes people either guess how to do things, having to learn by trial and error and over-working to compensate, or they could avoid the task entirely.

Not asking for help when you need it can lead to both productivity and performance issues. And here is how Imposter Syndrome can make this worse:

Time management training needs to be Imposter Syndrome-informed. It needs to go beyond just teaching people how to prioritise or work efficiently, and to address the below-the-surface causes of why people have been struggling with their time.

Please get in touch if you'd like to find out more about how to do this.