Permanent questioning, doubt, feeling of not being legitimate, fear of being “unmasked”: these are the feelings related to “imposter syndrome”, a complex illness to diagnose and that can have detrimental consequences for employees: demotivation, stress, exhaustion, anxiety. or even depression.
“Imposter syndrome is not feeling legitimate in relation to a position you occupy. Because you have no diploma, no age, no experience, it is a feeling,” explains in BFM Business, Emeric Lebreton, doctor in psychology, professor of Organizational Management at Audencia and at the École Nationale des Ponts-et-Chaussées.
This phenomenon is much more common than we think because it affects all categories of the population and employees: men and women, young and old, highly qualified or self-taught.
Furthermore, suffering from this syndrome can clearly represent an obstacle to professional development due to fear of being supposedly unmasked. Because by denigrating your own abilities you are not using them 100%.
A question of point of view
Getting out of this is not easy. But for Emeric Lebreton, “there is a trick, it is simply to trust the evaluation of your superior, your company or your client if you are independent. It is he who evaluates our work. This is not for us to say.” , ‘I don’t have the diploma, I don’t have the experience.’
“You also have to build your own confidence and give yourself the opportunity to succeed. You have to reap the good news when you achieve small victories,” adds David Guillocheau, leader of Zest, during the filming of Avec Vous on BFM Business.
You should also know that this imposter syndrome is not imposter syndrome in the psychological sense of the term. It is not a disease but an “experience” that everyone can live at least once in their life, psychologists explain.
Perhaps the first step to ending it is acceptance. You can also use this 20-question test (in English) to pass the exam. Recognizing that we denigrate ourselves means accepting that we have qualities.
Source: BFM TV
