Imposter Syndrome, most commonly defined as “that niggling voice that makes us doubt our own abilities,” has become a bit of a buzz phrase recently among women in the financial services industry. Tellingly, at a recent Women in Finance event, more than half of the audience recognized they have experienced Imposter Syndrome—yet only a small minority of 3 percent felt like they never have.
To overcome Imposter Syndrome, we must tackle workplace microaggressions and learn to self-advocate. It’s critical for professionals today to have the right skill sets to share business ideas across firms to succeed in managerial roles and eventually gain that coveted board seat. Imposter Syndrome touches people at all career levels, and more often than not, it presents itself just as we’re reaching the top, so the best time to tackle it is now.
A Root Cause of Imposter Syndrome—Microaggression
Microaggression is one of the root causes of Imposter Syndrome. It comes in many forms and can be present in subtle, everyday unintentional workplace behaviors that bias historically marginalized groups. Small comments don’t seem much at the time, but they can negatively impact our confidence—and significantly contribute to the doubting inner voice that feeds Imposter Syndrome. Worst still, sometimes our aggressors don’t even know they’re putting forth these aggressions and don’t intend to cause us harm.
Sometimes we might receive a compliment, comment, or question that doesn’t sit well. It makes us feel out of place, invalidates us, or implies that we might not be accepted. These are classic microaggressions, which can come out in ways that enforce the suggestion that we belong to a particular group (i.e., gender, nationality or socioeconomic group, or form of neurodiversity.
The problem with recognizing microaggressions is that we don’t always know what is approaching us. Building our resilience comes down to recognizing external factors (i.e., environments), as well as internal factors (e.g., our inner voice).
Workplace Experiences Can Impact Engagement and Career Progression
Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2022: A Global Outlook aims to understand better how women’s experiences in the workplace can impact their engagement and career progression. It provides a revealing insight into women’s lives at work and shows a worrying longer-term impact, with respondents reporting widespread burnout.
Developing Resilience to Microaggressions
To create the best version of ourselves, we must develop our resilience to microaggressions. If we’re going off track, this requires getting to know ourselves better—our strengths and the things we can do to correct our course.
This requires reflective questions to deepen our self-awareness and help us monitor our mental and emotional state. We are like a fossil of our own experience, chiseled and molded by each interaction along our career paths. Our experiences imprint on us as individuals and combine to tell a complex story with a range of highs and lows. The problem is that we don’t always realize just who and what’s chiseling away and shaping us over time.
We need to recognize both the internal and external factors at play. As resilient as we might sometimes feel, external factors can wear us down. Even Niagara Falls – a symbol of nature’s raw power—gets worn down over time; the water recedes about half a foot a year as its pressure wears the surface rock. In the same way, opinions, processes and norms, and interactions with colleagues, family, and friends can wear us down over time.
Overcoming the Impact of Microaggressions
It’s important to reflect on our strengths. When some employees are asked to list 10 strengths in two minutes, many will stop at three (more often than not, females). While talking about and understanding what we’re good at may be hard, it is also important. The journey to positive internal dialogue also starts with being kinder to ourselves daily. These tactical best practices can help:
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Pay attention to the inner voice.
It is our inner voice—that critical internal factor related to Imposter Syndrome—that dictates our ability to stay resilient emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Once we have sorted this out, things can become easier. If we make this inner voice our friend rather than an enemy, we can be better equipped to deal with the external environmental factors we face daily. Reflecting on our inner dialogue and writing down how we’re feeling and what we need is vital.
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Ask yourself better questions, get better answers.
Asking questions is the key to better understanding ourselves and our responses to microaggressions. These questions need to go beyond the surface—much like our conversations with others. Naturally, we can start with the basic facts, but we need to ask questions about our motivations, intentions, and feelings. After a while, we will recognize that our self-esteem—and ability to say, “I am enough”—comes from a much deeper place.
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Learn to self-regulate.
To really understand how we’re feeling and to know when to correct our course—especially in terms of mood and energy—we need to learn to self-regulate and consider looking at the following factors:
- How do we regulate our energy?
- Does our biology contribute to our energy levels?
- Is our routine supporting us?
- Are we eating the right foods?
- Could we benefit from more exercise?
- Do we need a stress relief channel?
- How do we function with other people?
- How do our moods come to the surface?
- How do we react when something doesn’t go well?
Creating Forums for Dialogue and Change
Even when things are super subtle and everything is going well, it can be helpful for us to identify how to take ourselves from good to great. If we create forums for dialogue and change, we can bring fresh ways to interact with others and grow our self-esteem. By connecting with others in spaces where this is encouraged and successfully tackling our microaggressions, we will instigate change, overcome Imposter Syndrome, and grow together.
