Imposter syndrome is probably something we’ve all encountered at some point in our lives.  That terrible feeling you get that you’re unworthy of your current position, and any day now someone will see through the facade and expose you for the fraud you are.

It’s a feeling that researchers estimate 70% of us feel at some point in our working lives.  A recent study highlights the damage this phenomenon can have on our careers and businesses.

The researchers quizzed participants to try and understand how imposter syndrome might affect their career development and ability to adapt to new circumstances.

Imposters in our own careers

When the data was analyzed, it emerged that a whole range of career related factors were negatively impacted by imposter syndrome, resulting in people who suffer from it failing to fulfill their full potential.

It isn’t all bad news however, as the research also found that it can encourage us to do our very best for fear that we may be uncovered as frauds.

It’s fairly well established that when we’re confident in ourselves, we’re much better at adapting from change in the workplace as we have confidence in our abilities to do so.  What’s more, this often manifests itself in a greater awareness of the job market, and therefore also ones worth in it.  This general level of optimism can become self-fulfilling and result in better career prospects, and indeed more productive work as a whole.

By contrast, when we believe ourselves to be imposters, we suffer from a range of negative thoughts and emotions.  We’re also more likely to suffer from depression.  What’s more, even if we manage to find success, we are still worried about failing in future and our fakery uncovered.  It makes optimism about the future kinda hard.

“As the impostor phenomenon contains the fear of being exposed, it might be expedient to provide networking programs or supervision groups where sufferers have the chance to share their experiences and feelings without any blaming,” the authors say. “Incorporating the impostor topic in support measures might enhance the reduction of impostor feelings as well as their negative effects.”

It’s something that is not just for individuals to address, as a previous study found that managers who suffer from imposter syndrome are more likely to recruit and promote others of a similar mindset.

The authors suggest this is largely because managers simply see something of themselves in the candidate, and therefore choose those that are most like them, even if alternative choices may logically have been better.

There may also be a degree of sympathy at play, with managers empathizing with fellow ‘imposters’ and attempting to give them a helping hand, but that doesn’t really explain the delegation of more menial tasks.

What it does do however is embed the mindset throughout the organization, which is perhaps not what we’d like to see.