Imposter syndrome makes you better at your job, study finds

Imposter syndrome has been linked with anxiety and feelings of low self-worth, but it might actually make you better at your job. 

According to a new study, people with imposter syndrome who are less confident at work have better interpersonal skills, which can make for a better employee.  

Imposter syndrome is the belief that one’s own success in life isn’t deserved or has been achieved through luck, rather than as a result of one’s own efforts or skills. 

People who suffer from the syndrome tend to think of themselves as a ‘fraud’ and fear that at any moment, everyone else will realise it too. 

Imposter syndrome – an inability to believe that your success is deserved or has been achieved as a result of your own efforts or skills – may have interpersonal benefits in the workplace, reports a psychologist at MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts (stock image of a woman with imposter syndrome)

The new study was conducted by Basima Tewfik, a psychologist at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts and published in Academy of Management Journal. 

‘Prevailing wisdom paints the impostor phenomenon as detrimental,’ she says in her research paper. 

‘In this work, I seek to rebalance the existing conversation around this phenomenon by highlighting that it may also have interpersonal benefits.’

Tewfik referred to imposter syndrome as a ‘silver lining that does actually contribute to success in some respects’. 

‘People with impostor syndrome were basically the ones you’d want to work with,’ she told New Scientist.  

For the study, Tewfik measured levels of impostor syndrome among 155 employees at an investment advisory firm in the US. 

The participants were presented with written statements like ‘At work, others think I have more knowledge or ability than I think I do’ and asked to rate the extent to which these thoughts were true to them.

Tewfik then turned to each participant’s work supervisor, to see whether they saw their employee differently.

Supervisors rated the participants’ performance and interpersonal skills by rating how much they agreed with statements like ‘this employee creates effective working relationships with colleague’. 

Tewfik found that employees with impostor syndrome were rated as having better interpersonal skills than more confident peers and were considered just as competent. 

Employees who more frequently had imposter syndrome thoughts were evaluated by their superiors as ‘more interpersonally effective’ because they adopt a more ‘other-focused orientation’, she said.

At the same time, imposter syndrome thoughts can encourage those who have them to ‘self-handicap’ – in other words, to not really help themselves when it comes to doing their job to the best of their ability.

In a second experiment, Tewfik ascertained levels of imposter syndrome in trainee doctors and tested them with fake patients. 

Doctors with higher levels of the syndrome were more likely to make statements recognising a patient’s pain, ask follow-up questions, nod, use open hand gestures and eye contact, and talk with a receptive, agreeable tone, New Scientist reports. 

This suggests people with impostor syndrome in all sorts of professions – not just those based in offices – are unconsciously trying to compensate for their ‘self-perceived ineptitude’ by being personable and easy to get along with.   

However, Tewfik stresses that her findings don’t mean mean having imposter syndrome is a good thing. 

‘There’s no neat takeaway message of “embrace your impostor thoughts!”, because we know there are detriments to your well-being,’ she said. 

‘I think the work now is on trying to figure out how we can downregulate the anxiety that comes from it so we can start to fully embrace the interpersonal upside.’ 

People with imposter syndrome tend to think that their achievements in life are the result of luck or circumstance, or other factors (stock image)

Researchers from Brigham Young University have previously found that if you suffer from imposter syndrome, it is best to reach out to friends and family outside of the workplace or in the case of a student, your academic superior. 

‘Those outside the social group seem to be able to help students see the big picture and recalibrate their reference groups,’ said Jeff Bednar, a BYU management professor.

‘After reaching outside their social group for support, students are able to understand themselves more holistically rather than being so focused on what they felt they lacked in just one area.’