The impact of imposter syndrome on small business owners

Are you familiar with the term ‘imposter syndrome’? Even if you haven’t heard of the term, it may be something that you or a member of your team has experienced. Imposter syndrome has been defined as "a pervasive feeling of self-doubt, insecurity, or fraudulance despite often overwhelming evidence to the contrary."

Imposter syndrome can be experienced by anyone, no matter what their abilities or achievements. Paradoxically, it can be triggered by significant accomplishments or recognition.

So how prevalent is imposter syndrome amongst business owners? In our 2018 survey of 1000 business owners, a quarter (24%) said they had suffered from imposter syndrome.¹ Of those who said they had suffered from imposter syndrome, 56% said they fear failure, 51% said they compare themselves to others and 38% said they second-guess every decision they make.¹ 

Imposter syndrome can therefore have a detrimental impact on you and your business. Regularly experiencing feelings of self-doubt when it comes to your ability can also reduce your confidence and self-esteem. Fearing failure could mean that you are less likely to take risks and challenge yourself, which could end up holding you and your business back from progressing.

However, being able to identify when you may be experiencing imposter syndrome and then taking action to reframe those feelings can help you to reduce the impact that it can have.

Tell-tale signs of imposter syndrome include difficulties accepting compliments for your work, baseless beliefs that your success came about purely by mistake or luck or that you will somehow be unmasked as a fake.

Tips to overcome imposter syndrome

Dr Sonia Fihosy, Clinical Psychologist at AXA Health, shares her tips for how to overcome imposter syndrome as a business owner:

1. Acknowledge & understand

If you suspect that you may be struggling with imposter syndrome, take a step back and take several slow breaths to calm any lingering anxiety and create some space for clearer thinking.

Knowledge, evidence and facts are the enemy of worry and anxiety. With sufficient information, we increase our ability to challenge false beliefs which could otherwise act as a barrier to us taking positive steps towards our goals.

There is an implicit set of assumptions that can fuel imposter syndrome: 

• 'Success' exists elsewhere and belongs to other people. Perhaps it is unreachable for me
• As the only one who is me, I am the outsider relative to "everyone else". Everyone else must be legitimate
• Success is intrinsically conditional. It must be earned which implies we always begin from a place of being 'unworthy'. If this is the case, at what point do we transition to being 'worthy'?
• If it is easy or enjoyable for me, I must not be working hard enough or suffering enough for it. Therefore, what I do cannot be of value

Questions to ask yourself: 

• How am I defining success? Could there be any merit in the journey itself?
• What am I basing my conclusions on? Is there any evidence? Are they based on emotion, false assumptions or concrete facts?
• How am I talking to myself? Have I internalised negative and unfounded messages about myself from other people in my past or present? Would it be acceptable for me to talk to a loved one in the same way?
• If not me, then who? And why?

2. Take action

Once we have a clearer picture it’s time to take action. What you do will depend on what you learned in the previous exercise. The vital aspect is that we take steps to encourage more helpful thinking patterns, conducive behaviours, or positive emotions. Some examples might be: 

• Journal – keep a diary of your successes
  • Where your attention goes, energy flows. Raising your awareness of the positives in your life trains the mind to start looking for the positives in yourself too. Your mind, body and emotions will bear witness to your positivity and how you are embodying this sense of legitimacy which can then be fed back to you in a positive feedback loop
  • It doesn't need to be a traditional diary. Get creative; make a scrapbook, screenshot feedback, ask people to talk about your successes, voice notes - whatever works for you
  • Gratitude - quite a buzzword but very impactful. Take a moment at the end of each day to write down three bullet points about what you are grateful for
• Change the self-talk: reframing
  • Write down negative statements about yourself and review them
    • What are they trying to achieve? Are they serving you? Are there alternative ways of viewing the situation? Are they distracting you from what you should be focussed on?
    • Or you can try speaking through the internal dialogue. Stand in one area and speak aloud the negative criticism, then move to another spot and respond

3. Communicate

Feeling alone can exacerbate our negative emotions. As the old saying goes: a problem shared is a problem halved. When we shine light into an area of darkness, we remove the power it has over us and those around us. On this basis, it is important to speak to friends, family and colleagues.

• Contrary to popular belief, speaking about these experiences decreases their power over us and associated fear
• It is likely that you are not alone!
• Sharing how you are feeling and what you are thinking can help to reduce shame and stigma
• Your personal network can remind you of your strengths, achievements and priorities
• Changing the negative narratives and disrupting the cycle increases the number of options for support apparent to you

Imposter syndrome and your employees

It’s not just business owners that suffer from imposter syndrome in the workplace. One study found that more than 1 in 10 employees admit they 'always' or 'very frequently' feel like a fraud. Issues of diversity and difference may come into play where employees sense they do not truly belong in leadership or specialised roles which they are well-qualified for. Nearly twice as many more women (21%) suffer  from imposter syndrome than men (12%). Millennial age groups (25-39 year olds) are the age group most likely to suffer in the workplace (27%) whereas only 3% of workers aged 65 and above regularly suffer from feelings of self-doubt. However, despite the prevalence of imposter syndrome in the workplace, 94% said they haven’t discussed their feelings at work.² 

In one report, respondents highlighted the negative effects that imposter syndrome can lead to, including greater levels of procrastination, longer working hours, as well as employees avoiding applying for internal promotions.² 

So how can you support your employees if they are experiencing imposter syndrome? Sonia shares her tips:

1. Raise awareness – ask twice
   1. Are people okay? Are they working longer hours? Is there anything out of the ordinary happening?
2. Speak up & speak out 
   1. Normalising these feelings can help 
   2. Letting people know they are not alone, and creating a support group can really help lower the stigma around imposter syndrome
3. Regular feedback
   1. Feedback is a term from computing; negative feedback means information ‘fed back’ to the operating system that creates no change. Positive feedback, however, is not always positive but does create change
   2. Creating a psychologically safe place for people to share ideas, normalising a sense of being an imposter, can really help to allow people to come forwards about their experiences

How we can help

With an Employee Assistance Programme* in place, your team can get help with the things that are affecting them right from the start – before they start to impact their wellbeing and productivity. You can rest assured that they’ll have someone to talk to confidentially by phone – 24/7, 365 days a year.

Find out more about our Employee Assistance Programme and our small business healthcare cover, including what is and isn’t covered, and get a quote today

*Our EAP options are not available on their own, without other cover options in the plan.

Sources and references

¹Research of 1000 working people (500 SME owners and 500 employees) undertaken July 2018 by Vitreous World on behalf of AXA Health.

²Indeed Mental health and wellness in the UK workplace report , 2022