Imposter Syndrome

 

 Do you think that your work must be 100% perfect, 100% of the time? Or that you haven’t truly earned your position? Does your confidence take a plunge when you suffer a setback? 

You are not alone. 70% of the U.S. population has experienced this feeling, which is known as impostor syndrome. 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, impostor syndrome is commonly understood as a false and sometimes crippling belief that one’s successes are the product of luck or fraud, rather than skill. 

Now that we understand what imposter syndrome is, let’s review the five types of imposter syndrome: 

1. 1. The Perfectionist: The perfectionists set exceedingly high goals for themselves. When they fail to accomplish that goal, they experience self-doubt and worry about measuring up. Success for them is rarely satisfying because they think could’ve done even better. 

2. One way to manage the Perfectionists is to remind them that mistakes are a part of the process and progress is more important than perfection. 

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3. 2. The Superwoman/Man: The Superwomen/men are addicted to the accolades and validation of working, rather than the actual work itself. This constant workload potentially harms their mental health, as well as their working relationships. 

4. One approach to managing Superwomen/men is to help them find their own internal validation and reframe failures as learning opportunities. 

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5. 3. The Natural Genius: Natural Geniuses judge their competence based on the ease and speed of doing a task, rather than the efforts involved. They feel ashamed if they take a long time to master something because they believe they should get things right the first time. 

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6. The Natural Genius needs help seeing that success is made of many small steps over time. Remind them to celebrate the small accomplishments which are a part of the bigger goal. 

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7. 4. The Soloist: Soloists feel that asking for help reveals their faults so prove their worth by refusing assistance. 

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8. One antidote is asking Soloists to work in team environments, showing them that each team member has a unique set of skills to learn from. 

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9. 5. The Expert: The Experts measure their competence on the basis of “what” and “how much” they know or can do. They believe they will never have enough knowledge and will eventually be exposed as inexperienced and lacking skills. 

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10. The Experts benefit from realizing that no one knows every answer and there is always more to learn. 

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Organizational Role in Imposter Syndrome 

We’ve discussed the individual aspects of imposter syndrome. How does organizational culture contribute to imposter syndrome? 

Organizational norms and behaviors can add to imposter syndrome. Some examples include working environments where praise is never given and leaders expect perfection, so employees feel that they constantly need to prove themselves. Another example is employee favoritism. 

Here are a few tips to handle imposter syndrome in your organization: 

• Keep reminding team members that they are competent enough for the roles assigned to them. 
• Avoid comparisons between team members and focus on the values each team member brings to the team. 
• Shift the focus from performing to learning and reframe failure as a learning opportunity. 

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Instead of hiding behind the fears of failure, we all need to face them, overcome them, and learn from them. The best way to defeat the imposter syndrome is to change the workplace environment. 

How often have you encountered imposter syndrome? How were you able to move forward? Share your thoughts and leave your comments below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter. 

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What The Heck Is Executive Coaching

“What the heck is executive coaching?” I get asked that question many times a day.

I admit that coaching is a nebulous term. When I say that I’m a certified coach, people ask if I coach sports teams. When I say that I actually coach work teams, people look surprised. ‘Why would a work team need coaching?’ they ask. Because work teams are just like sports teams:

• They are made up of different people who try to reach a team goal together.
• Each person on the team has two types of goals in mind: individual goals and team goals.
• Every team member has his/her own communication style, which may or may not work well with the others on the team.
• Although there is one official leader (the coach or captain), there are usually other team members who carry as much weight, if not more weight, than the official leader.

Similar to a sports team, thriving work teams need an ‘outsider’ to coach them to success, whether the whole team or just some of the team leaders. That’s what CHCI does. We coach teams and leaders to get from Point A to Point B, in the most effective way possible.

During the years, many people have asked for a practical book on coaching, so they can bring coaching skills to their own teams. That’s how Anne Loehr’s book, “A Manager’s Guide to Coaching” was created. Here is an excellent write up about one of the book topics: How to create effective coaching questions. Enjoy!

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

How to Train Your Staff With A Decreasing Budget

In our last blog, How to Use the 70/20/10 Model to Develop Careers, we discussed the “what”, “when” and “how” of using the 70/20/10 Adult Learning Model for employee development. Now let’s discuss the “why”.

Managers face daily decisions to ensure their team gets what’s needed for success. But with budgets getting smaller, it’s hard to stretch resources. After reading this blog, you will learn several tips on how to stretch your training budget, spend wisely, plan strategically and still meet your employee development goals.

The “Why” to Employee Development

What is the return on investment (ROI) for a manager who wants to allocate time and financial resources for her employees? Simply put: a better prepared employee is a more productive employee. According to the Association of Talent Development (ATD), companies that invest in training employees see a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t. The 70/20/10 model for employee development is one effective tool to leverage the current talents of your staff and build stronger teams, which increases the organizational bottom line.

We know that the manager cannot motivate an employee to improve; that has come from within the employee. However, managers can create a learning environment for them to grow. How? The first step is to take an inventory of the current staff, using a consistent assessment tool such as a 360-degree assessment, with an objective lens to collect skills data. This full assessment will provide two sets of data in one assessment: strengths and areas to grow. By selecting the right 360 tool, you can complete two tasks at once for the same price, creating cost savings for your budget. This 360 view lets managers begin to leverage the strengths in their staff that can be shared with other employees; it also shows the delta between the strengths and weaknesses, so you can create the best strategy to decrease the weaknesses of the entire team.

Optimize Your Recruitment Process by Using Competencies

Recently, we wrote about the five steps to optimize employee development with a competency framework. This 5-step process begins with identifying organizational competencies and determining expected proficiencies by employee position and continues. The next two steps include assessing competencies and aligning the current proficiency with organizational needs and career aspirations. Finally, each employee should track progress to enhance accountability and results. This process helps develop employees and optimize organizational performance.

A meaningful competency framework can also improve recruiting practices. By aligning organizational competencies and expected proficiency levels with position descriptions, it allows you to hire people who are a good fit for the organization in a strategic and targeted way. Here are three ways to do this:

1.     Assess and categorize competencies by type.

2.  Map the minimum expected proficiency by competency within each group to position descriptions.

3.  Identify and align behavioral questions with priority competencies during the interview process.

Assessing and Categorizing Competencies

Many organizations have “core” or “foundational” competencies that are distinct from technical competencies. Core competencies are the skills, knowledge, and abilities that all employees should have and work to improve, no matter their technical expertise. Examples include effective communication, problem-solving, and customer service. Technical competencies capture areas of expertise needed to be successful in a particular job series or position. Examples include competencies related to accounting, mechanical engineering, or computer science.

Identifying the expected proficiency for core competencies can often be streamlined by creating categories instead of defining them position by position. For example, CHCI recently updated its competency framework and categorized its foundational competencies into four groups: 

1) Corporate Member
2) Senior Consultant
3) Consultant and
4) Organizational and Project Support. These categories were defined by responsibilities and experience across all current and projected CHCI employees. 

Mapping Expected Proficiency to Position Descriptions

Once the categories are defined, the expected proficiency by core competency can be set. This expected competency clarifies the behaviors and skillets expected of employees in a particular category, at the time of hire or in their current position. Returning to our example, a small group at CHCI went through each foundational competency and identified the expected proficiency by competency in the four categories mentioned above by using a standard proficiency scale ranging from 1: Awareness to 5: Expert. The process included a select group of individuals who aimed for consensus agreement. The following criteria and/or process steps were identified to ensure consistency:

• No category of the employee should have an expected proficiency of “5” or “expert.” This doesn’t mean that an individual cannot have a current proficiency of “expert” but that it should not be expected in order to be successful in the organization. This criterion also encourages the idea of development and growth for all individuals, regardless of title.

• Key assumptions were identified that distinguishes the categories. For example, responsibilities in the Executive Member category focused on organizational outcomes and integrating processes across the organization while the Senior Consultant category focused on integration across the project as well as project delivery and leadership. Other assumptions included general levels of responsibility and proficiency required to be successful across all categories.

To define expected proficiency for technical competencies, a slightly different process was followed in the CHCI example:

1.   Position descriptions (PDs) were written for new hires based on priority needs and organizational capabilities.

2. Each group member independently identified expected proficiency across technical competencies using the PDs and the standard proficiency scale as their guide. It is worthy to note that not all technical competencies were required for each PD.

3.   The results from each individual’s process were consolidated into a matrix. The group met to review and analyze results.

4.   Expected proficiency scores were agreed upon and finalized for both technical and “foundational” competencies for each position description. A rationale for each expected proficiency was documented across all competencies for each PD to double-check the logic.

Aligning Competencies with the Interview Process

The example mapping exercise allowed PDs to become competency-based, aligning potential employees with both organization culture and performance. The alignment then streamlined the interview preparation process for hiring managers, allowing them to prioritize questions based on targeted competencies and expected proficiencies in a particular position.

For CHCI, that meant preparing interview questions for Senior Human Capital candidates in four priority areas. Behavioral questions were developed to understand the depth and breadth of each candidate’s experience.

Creating a recruitment process that incorporates the organization’s competency model will lead to high-performing hires that make a good cultural fit for the organization, the project, and the position. When individuals fit into the culture of the organization, they are likely to be more motivated, interact more easily with other employees, and stay happier in the job. All of this translates into higher-performing employees who will stay longer and potentially become highly qualified candidates for succession plans.

Once you hire a candidate, you can reinforce the organization’s values, culture, and competencies through your onboarding programs, annual competency assessments, and constructive feedback. This helps bring the entire talent life cycle together Click here.

Do you want to learn more about aligning competencies with your hiring process? Learn more by contacting us.