If you’ve ever thought that you have no idea what you’re doing at work and at any moment this fraud will be found out by your co-workers and bosses, you’ve probably experienced imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome and how to overcome it is one of the many topics that will be discussed when top insurance leaders come together during Insurance Business America’s Women in Insurance events in Atlanta and Boston in April 2020. Until then, a future panellist has provided insight on imposter syndrome, how it impacts women in the workplace as well as ways to defeat it.
“I don’t think imposter syndrome is specific to this industry,” said Kara Altenbaumer-Price (pictured), SVP of the financial services division at McGriff, Seibels & Williams and a speaker at Women in Insurance Atlanta. “It’s something that my friends in all sorts of industries face, and one of the ways to overcome it… is to develop your champions. A commonly used phrase right now is to find your tribe or your village, and one of the ways that in my personal life I’ve overcome it and that my friends have overcome it is really to look inward to that tribe of people.”
When a tribe member is considering making a bold move in their career, they can turn to their group of champions to get validation and support from them that they are in fact ready for that next step, even if they’re not 100% sure themselves.
Implementing this kind of strategy to overcome imposter syndrome is important, not only for the good of the individual, but also to build better, more diverse organizations. If underrepresented groups of people aren’t applying for executive roles or taking on key projects or tasks that could get them noticed, the senior leadership team isn’t going to look like them.
“Law firms and other professional services like insurance professionals have a similar hiring pattern, where women come into the industry at the lower levels at just about the same percentage as the men do, but then they don’t get promoted,” said Altenbaumer-Price. “One reason they don’t get promoted is because they don’t ask for it – because they don’t think they’re quite ready, they don’t think they are old enough, or they don’t think they have the skillset.”
This can develop into a situation where companies end up with leaders who don’t accurately represent their clients and/or employee base.
This issue also comes up when asking for raises, which over the course of one’s career has a dramatic impact on a person’s standing in their industry come retirement, in terms of achievement, position, and salary.
“Each decision that’s impacted by the imposter syndrome ultimately builds upon itself over time,” said Altenbaumer-Price.
On a business level, when companies are missing diversity in their senior ranks, they also miss out on diversity of thought.
“It’s not just about careers and doing the right thing by people,” said Altenbaumer-Price. “It also tends to create better solutions, better run businesses, and better cultures because it’s a good thing when people think differently…Things tend to advance forward faster as an organization when you have lots of different thoughts and ideas, and different types of people with different backgrounds and perspectives.”
Altenbaumer-Price will provide further insight on how to build a tribe of support and fight against feelings of self-doubt that keep people back in their careers during the Women in Insurance event, which she encourages professionals to attend because it’s a great way to generate ideas from other people who have been in similar situations and have defeated imposter syndrome.
“[It’s useful to] hear what other people have done to overcome it – what ideas, what tactics, and what techniques did they use in their organization?” she said, adding, “I think there’s also some camaraderie that is built up at these events. I know every time I go to a women’s leadership-type event, it helps to instil confidence in me and gives me a little bit of that kick in the pants to go forward and say, ‘You know what, they did it, so I can do it. I’ve got cheerleaders, I’m inspired by these other women, and I’m going to go ahead and do that hard thing.’”
To learn more about imposter syndrome and how to overcome it, register for Women in Insurance Atlanta on April 14 and Boston on April 07.
