When
Perception
Overrides
Reality
a heart attack and can’t tell my wife. I’m in
over my head, and think maybe I should
look for another position at a lower level.”
“You’re fired! You’re incompetent!”
• “What will I do when they discover that I
don’t really know what I’m doing?”
“You are a fraud and a fake.”
“Did you really think you could
Susan M. Hahn, PCC fool people for the rest of
As an Executive Coach,
your life?”
the founding president of
ICF Maryland, a workplace
mediator and a trainer,
Susan works with diverse
organizations throughout
North America and Europe.
In addition to serving
as president of Swan
Consulting Group, she is an
adjunct faculty member for
Johns Hopkins University,
Notre Dame of Maryland
University and the University
of Maryland. Susan is a
Certified Physician Leadership
Coach through the Physician
Development Institute
and her certifications in
mediation were awarded
from Maryland Institute
for Continuing Professional
Education of Lawyers
(MICPEL) and the Baltimore
School for Mediation. You can
contact her at smHahn@
SwanConsulting.com or
+1.410.975.9751.
30 Coaching World
These are the words that many
professionals fear will be directed at
them at any moment. As a result of this
threat, confidence, risk-taking and focus
are jeopardized, potentially stalling career
advancement and satisfaction. These
are the hallmarks of what Pauline Rose
Clance, Ph.D., and Suzanne Imes, Ph.D.,
coined as the Impostor Phenomenon (IP)
in 1974. IP is a feeling that high achievers
experience when they deny that their
accomplishments are “real,” or based on
their actual skills and abilities. Instead,
they attribute their success to external
factors, such as luck, timing and the
generosity of others.
Other common statements (and selftalk) include:
• “Sooner or later they will realize I’m a fake.”
• “How could I have fooled so many
people for so long?”
These comments demonstrate that feelings
of being an impostor persist in the 21st
century. Even the comedian and talk-show
host Ellen DeGeneres has commented, “All
of us, whether we are in [show] business or
not, have little voices that tell us we’re not
good enough, and we don’t deserve it.”
Workplace Challenges
Through my own research on IP, I identified
the three most-common workplace
behaviors associated with IP: avoidance,
over-preparation, and procrastination.
Each negatively impacts productivity and
engagement, and careers can be derailed
by these symptoms.
Avoidance
Your client may believe that avoiding specific
tasks or situations will reduce the likelihood
of being “discovered” as an impostor. Tactics
include everything from making excuses
about her workload to claiming illness. In
some cases, individuals will make valuable
contributions to a project, but only if they
can do so behind the scenes. This way, if
less-than-adequate performance is revealed,
it will be attributed to the team instead of
the individual.
As an Executive Coach, I often hear clients
express fears about their abilities, despite
remarkable success in their careers. I
listened to Larry proclaim his fear that it
was only a matter of time before “they”
realized he was nowhere near as bright,
capable or talented as he had led them
Procrastination
to believe. Anita was certain that she had
Immediate impacts of procrastination include
achieved the position of chief operating
missed deadlines and sub-par work. Over
officer only because she knew how to be
charming. “I charmed them all,” she told me. time, a habitual procrastinator’s colleagues
and superiors are likely to make assumptions
“What happens when the charm doesn’t
about her intentions, even labeling her as
seem charming to them anymore? I know
“lazy” or “careless.” As a result, she may be
I won’t be able to pull it off.” Jerry began
excluded from key projects or passed over
to suffer panic attacks daily, fearing that
for promotions.
intellectual inferiority would end his career.
“And I have four children to take care of. I’m
Over-preparation
waking up every night sweating, with my
The tendency to over-prepare can
be as incapacitating as avoidance or
heart pounding. I keep thinking I’m having