Imposter Syndrome & the disease of corporate individualism
As of this writing, I have been working in the advertising industry for about 15 years. In my consulting practice, I do things like trend research, where I look at whats going on in culture and people’s buying patterns or motivators. I do some smaller project work like facilitating workshops, and then a lot of my clients come to me to position or re-position their brands. Regardless of the ask, what I’m ultimately trying to do is make sure that my client’s campaigns, new product launches, and other initiatives are effective. Often that involves helping them define the desired outcome and then building the strategy for how to best get there.
The reason I share all that is so that it makes sense when I tell you this: I have a “non-traditional” background. And it’s important for those of us who do to share that information. (More on why below!)
I went to art school for undergad and got my BFA in design. I didn't go to business school. I never took a single marketing class. Moreover, I never had exposure to an industry like advertising. Generations of my family have been in the trades or done care work. In fact, my biggest career aspiration in college was finding a job that would pay me the same amount every two weeks. While it's been really interesting and exciting coming into my career from that perspective, the backgrounds of a lot of my peers are more like MBA programs. Or it seems like everyone else knew they wanted to be in this industry so they were smart enough to go to portfolio school and do planner bootcamp. They got all the right internships and knew all the right people and places to work. I was completely self-taught. All hustle.
You would think that my clients, my accomplishments, and my career to date are a testament to the fact that I belong here! But sometimes I still feel like a fraud.
I talk about impostor syndrome often. Because everyone has, I think, their own version of why they feel this way sometimes. For some it’s “well I didn't grow up the way that all my peers grew up” or “I'm a woman and I'm surrounded by all men” or “my work and educational background is different”. I look back on my first agency jobs and realize that was a huge source of anxiety for me when I was first starting out. I didn't do things the same way that other people did. It made me feel like I was missing a piece of knowledge that everyone else must have had that I never got access to. There was a constant fear that I would be discovered at any moment as being illegitimate. It is one thing to not know how to enroll in a 401k, it was another to not know what “R&D” is when your technology client says it in a meeting in front of your boss and everyone else nods vigorously.
I know I am not alone in these feelings or experiences. And as time goes on I see Imposter Syndrome as a painful, personal manifestation of a systemic issue. It’s capitalism, yes. It’s white patriarchy. It’s the disease of individualism that pervades the United States. But it manifests in a way that is tied specifically to diversity, equity, inclusion and, most importantly - belonging.
So much of my Imposter Syndrome could have been alleviated had I been assured that it was OK for me to not know things, had I known that it was a good thing to be different, and had I felt like I was not alone. If someone had reinforced that they trusted me and wanted to know the way I did things, it could have saved me years of playing catch-up to try and assimilate to the corporate status quo.
In 2015 Google released the results of their two-year study on high-performing teams. The one thing that all of the teams all had in common is that there was a sense of psychological safety. When people felt safe from punishment they were more willing to be themselves, to speak up, and to take (perceived) risks. Creating an environment of belonging is not only a major step in reducing individual Imposter Syndrome, but it is just as likely to lead to a more successful output from teams.
6 things you can do to foster belonging on your team
Normalize difference. Above, I said it’s important to share that I come from a non-traditional background, so that others know they aren’t alone. For years I worried that talking about being a mother, or living most of my life paycheck-to-paycheck, or being an industry “outsider” would make myself a target. Now I realize the risk of not talking about these things is greater. Keeping up with the Joneses in corporate America is what keeps the gates up to people with different backgrounds and prevents true progress from being made in the industry. If we are to increase receptivity to doing things ways they’ve never been done, we need to start by normalizing that there are people around (like me!) who are people that have, traditionally, never been here.
Recruit for diversity. Not only in gender or race and ethnicity, but recruit for people with analogous skills who come from other industries or different educational backgrounds. Is this more challenging and time consuming? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. And if you can’t support the level of effort required to find these candidates, there are entire companies (like my other business) dedicated to this.
Build a supportive on-boarding program. You can’t recruit for diversity and then not dedicate time to ensuring that people are brought up to speed on things like company ways-of-working, client org structures, and goals/expectations for teams. Mentorship, ERGs, and peer-to-peer relationship building at this stage is critical to ensuring people don’t feel alone or othered. (This is particularly critical if they have an identity that is under-represented at the company!)
Model healthy work-life balance. As a leader, make yourself visible when taking time off for vacation, sickness, or to care for family. Be mindful of what messages it sends to your team when you respond to emails and messages at night and on the weekends. Help folks prioritize so that they get a better understanding of what is important, urgent and what they have your support on saying no to. Advocate for boundaries.
Spend time together that is not 100% dedicated to work KPIs and ROI. Maybe that is a team offsite where you do some annual goal setting or skill building. (My personal favorite professional development activity is improv!) When you are enjoying a meal together or having a moment of downtime, seed discussions about things other than work. Get to know each other’s interests. This is not to to make the team feel like a “family” but part of trusting one another and building safety comes from feeling like the team knows one another.
Make gratitude a habit. Praise publicly. Thank individuals for their unique contributions to teams. Show others the value that folks bring because of who they are. Build a culture that acknowledges and celebrates wins across all levels. As a leader, give away the credit where due.