Coaching in the presence of an imposter mindset

It’s just great to be challenged – I’ve previously written about how Gen Z is my superpower because they do just this.

Last week, the challenge came in the form of a gentle question for a colleague at a leadership workshop: is imposter mindset a syndrome (internal) or a phenomenon (external)?

This was a wonderful stimulation of reflection and critical thought. Why is it that we only call this mindset a syndrome? Because we always have? Uh-oh, danger danger, that’s not something to take lightly.

 

Orienting to coaching

Over the course of last week, I was posing the question within the frame of how best to be of service to coaching clients. Is it helpful to have a perspective that suggests the imposter mindset (which is generally agreed to be at least unhelpful if not downright debilitating)?

Default answer – yes, new perspectives are always worth examining. 

The suggestion from the colleague was that imposter syndrome is more external than internal – it’s imposed. A little more exploring of this took me to the nature vs nurture debate.

Which I believe in the majority of cases to be a false dichotomy. The truth is that both will be an influence.

So, if a client seeks to explore being liberated from this mindset, is there value in exploring how much comes internally and how much externally?

Yes, it’s always worth exploring the clients’ thoughts.

Keeping coaching about the client

One of the weaknesses of such deep reflection is the temptation to share insights with clients that have been gained – coaching must be about the client’s insights.

This means that the next challenge is to find a series of questions to pose to a client to aid in generating their own insights.

Telling more in coaching

I’m not a massive fan of just serially asking “why” (the “Five Whys” model). Not because it doesn’t work – it does. Not because it has not been validated – it has! It’s just not very engaging. It can be too easy to just keep saying why without engaging enough in what the client has said.

In my practice, I’m a booger fan of: “let me repeat back what I heard to check I have it right”. This mini summary is 100% stolen from my clinical practice. It does three things – checks you have heard correctly, speaking their truth out aloud is a fabulous way of engaging with it and of course, it buys a moment to come up with the best follow-up question. “Why” just doesn’t quite deliver the same engagement.

I have the privilege of being back with those colleagues this week, so I’m planning on posting this over lunch. Watch this space for further developments.