Imposter Syndrome
Imposter Syndrome can plague even the most seasoned business veteran. Drawing on the art of continual improvement, the business improvement Kaizen specialist is a black belt six sigma expert. RK is one such individual. RK is no slouch when it comes to the business arena or as a Business Improvement Specialist.
RK is known for her tenacity, leaving no stone unturned. In a single project, she saved an organisation from 180,000 unnecessary customer interactions by fixing a lone business process. When she started out looking at the process she met with resistance and empire-protecting from the old guard.
“This is the way we have always done it”, said the ‘old school’ voices.
Yet RK is not the sort of person to allow a fear of change stand in the way of a good move.
She investigated the issues and worked out the status quo attitude was failing the process. Once she had a strong case for making the change plus the evidence and critical thinking needed, she began to solve customer problems by asking ‘Why’? That’s how she helped the company save a large amount of time and money and released capacity from valued employees doing meaningless tasks.
This is just one example of the value she brings to the places she works.
Yet RK, like anyone, is not immune to the odd dash of Imposter Syndrome or self-doubt.
And it was for this reason she found herself working with the Salary Coach.
Imposter Syndrome shadows talents
RK is strong, innovative and able to uncover the facts she needs to make the case for change. Committed to the ideals of continuous learning set down in the Kaizen six sigma teachings, she is always willing to face herself in self-reflection.
“What can I do better?”
For a long time, RK was committed to improving the skills she saw as her strengths. Yet she’d self-defined herself as someone that lacked emotional intelligence. She’d also received feedback from an interviewer that she wasn’t demonstrating the necessary talents required to be an effective consultant/director.
In her own words, she simply said “I am not the salesy type”.
This isn’t an uncommon attitude for a professional to have. We lean on the things that give us the greatest confidence and shield our perceived weaknesses. Yet at some point, we need to face these perceived weaknesses. Especially when they begin to limit our potential or future aspirations.
RK came to me to learn the tools vital to improving her EQ, sales ability and to develop her skills as a consultant.
Through our coaching session, we found that RK already has these attributes and is quite skilled in the area. While she was able to seamlessly switch to applying these skills to a situation that demanded them, she failed to recognise them as innate skills. This was a watershed moment for her.
RK removed the veil of self-doubt, peeled back her own Imposter Syndrome and self-talk, and realised she could now add these vital talents of ‘sales’ via diagnostic questioning to her arsenal.
Once the belief is there
Fast forward a couple of weeks and RK is in a race to land a plumb new position. There were a few options in the fray and it was highly competitive.
Her confidence in her abilities to advocate for her worth together with her newly unshrouded emotional intelligence saw her step into interview and negotiation with confidence.
RK received a formal offer on a Friday. By close of business Monday, she had brokered a deal. This deal saw $20K more added to the base salary, a 20% STI (bonus on performance) and an already generous allocation of shares was increased by $40K.
Calculating all of this together, RK managed to negotiate a deal worth $595,700 over the balance of her career. This figure excludes the share options and their value, which, based on predicted performance will make healthy gains and solid returns.
RK came to The Salary Coach to learn skills. What resulted was a lesson in reflecting on your own value and worth. And kicking the dreaded Imposter Syndrome to the kerb.
