What is Imposter Syndrome?


You may have heard of ‘imposter syndrome’ but what does this mean for business owners, and is this something that could be holding you or your business back? The term was first coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes who discovered this phenomenon whilst studying high achieving women, who felt like frauds despite their accomplishments. 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, regardless of their abilities or achievements.

How can this impact us in the workplace?


One study found that 53% of UK employees experience stress, anxiety or burnout related to imposter syndrome every month, and 27% experience it weekly.1 Imposter syndrome can feel like your achievements aren’t deserved, you may feel like a fraud, or that you could be ‘caught out’ at any moment. 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.

Tools to overcome Imposter Syndrome


Nicola Baxter, Psychological Training and Development Practitioner at AXA Health, shares her tips for how to overcome imposter syndrome as a business owner:

Catch, Check, Change
Imposter syndrome can leave us with unhelpful ways of thinking, and this can impact how we feel, think and behave. However, there are numerous ways we can change our unhelpful ways of thinking and replace these with more helpful and enhancing thoughts. Learning to take a step back and challenge unhelpful thoughts by looking at evidence and facts can help to positively change our thought processes. This is called the "catch it, check it, change it" technique.

  • Catch - We don’t always recognise when our thoughts are unhelpful. Instead we accept them as facts which impact our feelings and behaviours. Noticing and labelling our thoughts as unhelpful allows us to recognise when these thoughts come up, and make a change in the way we respond. 
  • Check - Look for evidence that supports your thought, and check if this is helpful. You can ask yourself is this a fact or a thought? Are there other ways of looking at this? What would I say to someone else in this position? Am I being overly critical? This helps us to look at our thoughts from different perspectives. 
  • Change - Once we’ve recognised the thought, we can challenge this and change it to something more helpful or enhancing. See if you can change the thought for a neutral or more positive one. Look how you might reframe this situation by using the questions from your checking phase. An example of this at work could look like; “Things didn’t go as planned, but I worked really hard and I can build on this in the future”
    If you can practise this technique, you may now want to explore ways of increasing awareness of your strengths and skills. This provides more evidence of achievements and strengths we possess. 

Journal – Keep a journal of your successes

  • With imposter syndrome, you may recognise you’ve spent a lot of time focussing on the things that haven’t gone well. By bringing your attention to the positives in your life, you’re training your brain to look for positives too. This increases self esteem and also compassion for ourselves. Doing this can create new neural pathways in the brain to create a positive feedback loop. 
  • It doesn't need to be a traditional diary, you can get creative; make a scrapbook, screenshot feedback, ask people to talk about your successes or keep a feedback folder in your email inbox - whatever works for you.
  • Gratitude - quite a buzzword but very impactful. Take a moment at the end of each day, or each week to write down a few things you’re grateful for, however small. This helps to shift our awareness further to the positive things in our life. 

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 


Respondents also 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? 

  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
1People Management, 2025
2Indeed Mental health and wellness in the UK workplace report , 2022