Written by Mason Quah, Marketing Assistant
Imposter syndrome has jumped from an obscure psychological phenomenon to a common phrase in the public vocabulary in only 50 years since the term was first coined. It can impact everyone from sitting MPs to Hollywood celebrities and it can also impact at least one of the people sitting to your left or right in the office. Civil Servants are not immune, and according to the Whitehall Study on Civil Servant health, may be at greater risk due to the stresses the sector presents.
Many successful people fear that they are unworthy of that success, or that others are more qualified than them and they're just lucky. We always hear about people who “fail upwards”, climbing to the top despite not having the achievements to back it up. We then wonder if that describes us. We also see the brave faces that successful people put on and assume that feelings of inadequacy are unique to us. The core of this syndrome is often isn't based on facts, but we suffer from compelling to think this way.
People trying to hide this self-perceived weakness tend to drag down both their own and other peoples’ productivity but can do so in very different ways. Some are less likely to try innovating (exaggerating the risk of failure or downplaying their own abilities), while others might take greater risks in pursuit of ‘proving themselves’ and collecting accomplishments that might fill the perceived hole. In both cases, they might not bond well with team members as they try to hide from ‘discovery’ and are liable to burn out from the stress of either hiding or overcompensating. Research published in The Lancet suggests that managers given mental health training see about 20% fewer sick days among their team. The saved productivity for the cost of the training is £9.98 for every £1 spent.
Depending on how you phrase the questions to people, as many as 82% of people feel underqualified for the work they’re currently doing. The most common estimate is two-thirds, with women being hit harder. Some only suffer from imposter syndrome as they're learning the ropes of a new position and others for their entire careers or lives. It can also hit people even before they start, discouraging qualified candidates from applying to jobs they think are too competitive for them or causing them to flub in interviews because they don’t think they deserve the chance.
The demographics of those who report their feelings of being a faker highlight some unconscious biases that can permeate workplaces. Women are twice as likely as men to report these negative anxieties, which could be downstream of gendered behaviours in the workplace. Psychology research has found women are more commonly talked over or interrupted and this may help foster the belief that they know less than the people around them. Similar patterns are found for other marginalised groups, who are also vulnerable to increased risk of mental health complications from their minority status.
Achievement-based jobs are also more susceptible to imposter syndrome. In rapidly changing and technical work environments it is easy to feel compelled to keep up with all the changes and feel inferior for falling short. In objective-oriented workplaces, a single missed goal can feel like a personal failure that another person would have avoided. In a team, everyone has individual strengths, but our minds are sometimes conditioned to compare ourselves against the best sides of everyone else. It’s the same effect that people find when browsing social media: We see and immortalise other peoples’ highest moments and then compare our average day against that unreasonable marker.
The consequences of these negative thought patterns can spiral. It isn’t the result of a rational assessment which leads people to ignore evidence disproving it: Successes are written off as exceptions while failures are considered personal flaws.
Since imposter syndrome disproportionately affects high-grade positions such as leadership, management and specialised expertise, the economic cost can be surprising. If a newly appointed executive burns out or quits due to stress the disruption to the department and the cost of replacing them stack up. When this happens to people in leadership positions they may also set an example, overworking their team and creating an unhealthy work culture.
In this way, poor mental health practices in the workplace can be contagious: What may start as an unhealthy mindset in one or two leadership positions can infect and harm the people working under them. If allowed to snowball the cost of treating or replacing burnt-out and stressed personnel grows, and the highest performers in the office will be disproportionately affected.
The solutions to these negative patterns are as complex as the causes. Like many patterns of negative thoughts addressing them as they appear only goes so far without examining and changing the patterns of thought and behaviour that lead to them. For some people, it can mean months or years of therapy.
Imposter syndrome isn't unique among the mental health challenges that can arise in the workplace. YouGov surveys of mental health workers suggest that many people feel unsupported by their employer or workplace.
The Civil Service College offers bespoke courses on imposter syndrome alongside training on management and human resource practises that can protect the mental health of your workplace.
