Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

How to you self-diagnose and ultimately overcome Imposter Syndrome?  Join Jed & Bob as they discuss this common management ailment.

Watch the ‘Overcoming Imposter Syndrome’ Video (15 mins 01 sec):


Download the ‘Overcoming Imposter Syndrome’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Members Click Here for Additional Tools

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

What is Imposter Syndrome?

All managers and leaders have doubts about their abilities at some point or other in their careers, however Imposter Syndrome is more that this:

  • More than occasional self-doubt, but rather a constant feeling of being unable to live up to expectations
  • Imposter Syndrome is a form of self-sabotage.  Managers who do not address Imposter Syndrome will ultimately fail
  • Imposter Syndrome is the anticipation of failure as an inevitiability

Diagnosis of Imposter Syndrome

It is a fine line between humility and Imposter Syndrome.  Here is a tool to diagnose Imposter Syndrome:

Do You Feel…
Humility OR Imposter Syndrome
Gratitude for the good luck you’ve had OR Feel the only reason you’ve got this far is dumb luck
Are thankful for help or mentoring from others OR Think the only reason you’ve gotten ahead is because of others
Are motivated and excited by new challenges OR Don’t ever get comfortable before moving on to next challenge
Move laterally to expand your skills and advance your career OR Move often before anyone discovers you as the fraud you feel yourself to be

Reactions to Imposter Syndrome

  • A Purdue University Study found that women and men that experienced Imposter Syndrome reacted in different ways:
    • Women with Imposter Syndrome strive to out-perform others, and work excessively hard to do this.
    • Men with Imposter Syndrome avoid situations where they might be exposed.

How to Remedy Imposter Syndrome

  • If you suspect you may have Imposter Syndrome, you need to identify and recognize the feelings for what they are:
    • Fear of failure – A healthy attitude towards failure is that it is part of the process of being successful, and there is always something to be learned from a failure.  Those with Imposter Syndrome have a mortal fear of failure.
    • Excessive risk aversion – those with Imposter Syndrome have extreme aversion to risk, as more risk increases the chances of failure, which may expose them as a fraud in their mind.
    • Perfectionist tendencies – No one expects perfection except perfectionists, and as such their inability to achieve it can result in Imposter Syndrome.
    • By addressing these root causes (fear of failure, risk aversion, perfectionism) you may be able to overcome Imposter Syndrome.
  • Keep a list of things you do well, and good feedback that you have received.  It is helpful to remind yourself regularly of what your strengths are.
  • Be self-aware — Figure out if you actually are an imposter.  The best case scenario for someone with Imposter Syndrome is to recognize it for what it is, address the root causes, and move forward with confidence.  In other cases, people may have, in fact, gotten themselves into a situation that they are ill-equipped to handle.  If this is the case, you need to recognize it, and make an appropriate change.

3 things to Remember About Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

  1. Everyone has self-doubt – this is healthy and normal.
  2. Identify the root cause of any insecurities.  If you find yourself with seemingly excessive insecurities, figure out why you are feeling that way.
  3. Keep an “I love *(Insert your name here) file”.  Collect good feedback and successes you have had, and be ready to recall them frequently.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Overcoming Imposter Syndrome (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Everyone has self-doubt, but those with Imposter Syndrome take their insecurity to a whole other level.  Do you secretly wonder if you might suffer from this common affliction?  Join the Wily Manager guys this week as they talk about how to self-diagnose and ultimately overcome this self-doubt, and be sure that you’re not an imposter.

Monday’s Tip: Question if you have a fear of failure. You need to convince yourself that failure is the path to success.  If you do not allow yourself to fail, you will always feel like an imposter.

Tuesday’s Tip: Question if you have excessive risk aversion. Taking calculated risks is a requirement for success.  If you have an extreme aversion to risk, you won’t take them, which may make you feel like an imposter.

Wednesday’s Tip: Question if you have perfectionist tendencies. Perfectionism paralyses you from getting important things done.  You don’t have the time or resources to get every single thing perfect.  If you insist on perfectionism, you will almost certainly feel like an imposter.

Thursday’s Tip: Keep an “I love (your name) file.” Keep a catalogue of your successes, and remind yourself of these successes often.  It is only ego-driven when you have a need to constantly tell others about your successes.

Friday’s Tip: Allow yourself some self-doubt. A reasonable measure of self-doubt is healthy, and will motive you to improve.  Like most other things, self-doubt is only healthy in moderation.  Don’t beat yourself up for healthy self-doubt.

Managers Guide to 2012

Next year is the year the Mayans predicted would be the last one for planet Earth.  Join Jed & Bob as they muse on this as well some of the other trends they see for 2012.

Watch the ‘Managers Guide to 2012’ Video (17 mins 10 sec):

The Wily Guide to 2012

It’s that time of year again.  Yep, that right, it’s the time of year when everyone reflects on the year in review, and makes silly predictions for the upcoming year.  This happens mostly because people don’t want to do any real work or thinking in the last two weeks of the year.  Not to be outdone, we offer here:

  • A Wily Manager Review of 2011
  • How and why we started Wily Manager
  • Trends we see in 2012
  • Wily Manager in 2012
  • A special offer – If you couldn’t care less about the other stuff, you’ll want to scroll to the bottom of the page for this.

Wily Manager in 2011

We’ve been dabbling at our web and media presence for a couple of years, but it really came together in 2011:

  • 7000+ people a month listening to the 75+ podcasts posted on iTunes.  Please comment – particularly if you have nice things to say.
  • 6000+ visits to the Wily Manager website a month.  We very much appreciate your feedback here as well.
  • We launched our YouTube Channel
  • Visitors from 60+ countries around the world visit our website, and download the podcast.  Special thanks go out to those from our top five audience countries:
    • USA
    • India
    • UK
    • Canada
    • Australia & New Zealand (Extra special thanks here – because the number of audience members is far higher than the population of these two beautiful South Pacific Paradises should warrant.)
  • We got busted this year.  Yep… we got our first call from a lawyer concerned about some of the information on our site.  It’s an indicator that we’re attracting attention – even if it is sometimes from unwanted places.

How We Started

In working with our clients, we found the following things:

  • In most organizations managers are left to sink or swim on their own.
  • Most managers feel like babysitters many days.
  • We see many of the same issues again and again in different organizations.
  • Managers are under significant time constraints.

So we thought we’d put something together to address these conditions:

  • Something that is informative, but fun
  • Something that is easy to use and understand.  We love Harvard Business School’s website, and encourage you to visit it.  When you want something quick and easy, then Wily Manager is the place to be.
  • Something that removes complexity from managers’ daily lives.
  • Something that uses different media that could really work for many managers

Hence, Wily Manager was born.

Trends we see in 2012

The content police say we have to provide something in the way of original content.  As such, here are the trends we see for 2012.

  1. Managers will continue to feel like babysitters.  Call it the burden of leadership, but managers will continue to be both rewarded and frustrated by the ongoing care and feeding of those that report through to them.  The secret is to manage and lead differently to make this easier.
  2. Everyone will be an “International” Manager.  Even if you don’t manage across borders, it is likely that your team will have one or more members that come from another culture.  As such, we are all “International” managers now.
  3. Demographic issues will continue to plague UK, Canada, Australia, and even the US.  In these countries, the baby boom phenomena means that the majority of the workforce is over 50 or under 30.  This presents it’s own unique leadership challenges, and it’s a condition that’s not going away anytime soon.
  4. More conservative risk management.  We thought we were through the economic mess – but guess what?  It’s back, and even if it’s not as bad as people think it might be, there is very little change you will be awash in resources (capital, human or other) this coming year.
  5. Mayan apocalypse prophecies.  This is the year it all ends – on the winter solstice of 2012.  OK… maybe you don’t buy in to 2012 thing, but you should be ready for whatever unpredictable events are in store for us.  You can’t plan for every contingency, but you can continually improve to be better, cheaper, faster and more agile.  If you do these things well, you’ll be ready for anything… even the Mayan apocalypse.

Wily Manager in 2012

  • We want to add more virtual tools to the ones we already have:
    • FastStart
    • Leadership Boot Camp
    • Conflict Dynamics Profile

We would also greatly value your feedback as to what types of tools are going to be the most useful to you.

  • Increased interaction amongst our members.  Thank you to all those who reach out to us by email, or on iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In or on the Wily Manager website.  We will work in 2012 to encourage further interaction with us, but also to facilitate interaction amongst Wily Manager members.  We want to create an online community of managers.
  • A tropical retreat.  Yep… we’re going tropical.  Details will follow, but we encourage you to join us in November of 2012 for a Wily Manager in person week-long meeting hosted by Jed & Bob.

A Special Offer

We want to get our numbers up for the end of the year, so between now and December 31st, we’re offering the following deal:

Wily Manager Annual Memberships are 50% off (or $49) for the balance of 2011.  Become a Member now for half price.

  • Access to the web tools we mention during our podcasts
  • Full length versions of podcasts and accompanying podcast notes
  • Seamless navigation around the 800+ pages of content
  • Access to all topic-bundles

All the best for the holidays, and see you all in 2012.

Jed & Bob

Managers Guide to 2012

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about What Managers Can Expect in 2012.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

The Wily Guide to 2012

It’s that time of year again.  Yep, that right, it’s the time of year when everyone reflects on the year in review, and makes silly predictions for the upcoming year.  This happens mostly because people don’t want to do any real work or thinking in the last two weeks of the year.  Not to be outdone, we offer here:

  • A Wily Manager Review of 2011
  • How and why we started Wily Manager
  • Trends we see in 2012
  • Wily Manager in 2012
  • A special offer – If you couldn’t care less about the other stuff, you’ll want to scroll to the bottom of the page for this.

Wily Manager in 2011

We’ve been dabbling at our web and media presence for a couple of years, but it really came together in 2011:

  • 7000+ people a month listening to the 75+ podcasts posted on iTunes.  Please comment – particularly if you have nice things to say.
  • 6000+ visits to the Wily Manager website a month.  We very much appreciate your feedback here as well.
  • We launched our YouTube Channel
  • Visitors from 60+ countries around the world visit our website, and download the podcast.  Special thanks go out to those from our top five audience countries:
    • USA
    • India
    • UK
    • Canada
    • Australia & New Zealand (Extra special thanks here – because the number of audience members is far higher than the population of these two beautiful South Pacific Paradises should warrant.)
  • We got busted this year.  Yep… we got our first call from a lawyer concerned about some of the information on our site.  It’s an indicator that we’re attracting attention – even if it is sometimes from unwanted places.

How We Started

In working with our clients, we found the following things:

  • In most organizations managers are left to sink or swim on their own.
  • Most managers feel like babysitters many days.
  • We see many of the same issues again and again in different organizations.
  • Managers are under significant time constraints.

So we thought we’d put something together to address these conditions:

  • Something that is informative, but fun
  • Something that is easy to use and understand.  We love Harvard Business School’s website, and encourage you to visit it.  When you want something quick and easy, then Wily Manager is the place to be.
  • Something that removes complexity from managers’ daily lives.
  • Something that uses different media that could really work for many managers

Hence, Wily Manager was born.

Trends we see in 2012

The content police say we have to provide something in the way of original content.  As such, here are the trends we see for 2012.

  1. Managers will continue to feel like babysitters.  Call it the burden of leadership, but managers will continue to be both rewarded and frustrated by the ongoing care and feeding of those that report through to them.  The secret is to manage and lead differently to make this easier.
  2. Everyone will be an “International” Manager.  Even if you don’t manage across borders, it is likely that your team will have one or more members that come from another culture.  As such, we are all “International” managers now.
  3. Demographic issues will continue to plague UK, Canada, Australia, and even the US.  In these countries, the baby boom phenomena means that the majority of the workforce is over 50 or under 30.  This presents it’s own unique leadership challenges, and it’s a condition that’s not going away anytime soon.
  4. More conservative risk management.  We thought we were through the economic mess – but guess what?  It’s back, and even if it’s not as bad as people think it might be, there is very little change you will be awash in resources (capital, human or other) this coming year.
  5. Mayan apocalypse prophecies.  This is the year it all ends – on the winter solstice of 2012.  OK… maybe you don’t buy in to 2012 thing, but you should be ready for whatever unpredictable events are in store for us.  You can’t plan for every contingency, but you can continually improve to be better, cheaper, faster and more agile.  If you do these things well, you’ll be ready for anything… even the Mayan apocalypse.

Wily Manager in 2012

  • We want to add more virtual tools to the ones we already have:
    • FastStart
    • Leadership Boot Camp
    • Conflict Dynamics Profile

We would also greatly value your feedback as to what types of tools are going to be the most useful to you.

  • Increased interaction amongst our members.  Thank you to all those who reach out to us by email, or on iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In or on the Wily Manager website.  We will work in 2012 to encourage further interaction with us, but also to facilitate interaction amongst Wily Manager members.  We want to create an online community of managers.
  • A tropical retreat.  Yep… we’re going tropical.  Details will follow, but we encourage you to join us in November of 2012 for a Wily Manager in person week-long meeting hosted by Jed & Bob.

A Special Offer

We want to get our numbers up for the end of the year, so between now and December 31st, we’re offering the following deal:

Wily Manager Annual Memberships are 50% off (or $49) for the balance of 2011.  Become a Member now for half price.

  • Access to the web tools we mention during our podcasts
  • Full length versions of podcasts and accompanying podcast notes
  • Seamless navigation around the 800+ pages of content
  • Access to all topic-bundles

All the best for the holidays, and see you all in 2012.

Jed & Bob

 

 

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about What Managers Can Expect in 2012.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Wily Manager’s Guide to 2012

Our predictions for 2012:

Monday’s Tip: Managers will continue to feel like babysitters. Call it the burden of leadership, but this isn’t going to go away.  You need to figure out coping strategies to better deal with your people in 2012.

Tuesday’s Tip: Everyone will be an “International” manager. McLuhan was right – it is a global village.  Even if your company doesn’t do business across borders, your staff is quite likely from many different cultures.  Managing diversity will be key in the future.

Wednesday’s Tip: Demographic issues will challenge managers. The days of the stable staple of employees is gone.  The leaders new role is that of a teacher and mentor.  You will continue to cycle young and inexperienced people through your business.

Thursday’s Tip: More conservative risk management. The global economy has made us its bitch.  Don’t count on more human or capital resources in 2012… they won’t be forthcoming.

Friday’s Tip: Be ready for anything. Those that survive are those that continuously strive to become better, cheaper, faster and more agile.  If you don’t have a plan in place to do so, you ‘ll be at a disadvantage in 2012.

Building Trust In Teams

Members Click Here for Additional Tools

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

Why Should You Care About Building Trust in Teams

  • High Trust teams focus their energies on important issues and business deliverables.
  • Focus on the important issues minimizes attention paid to organizational politics and other impediments to getting things done.
  • High trust teams deliver better solutions.
  • Building Trust in Teams leads to higher employee satisfaction and retention

Signs Your Team is Suffering From a Lack of Trust

  • Team members hide their weaknesses and mistakes.
  • Team members don’t ask for help.
  • They won’t provide constructive feedback.
  • Jump to negative conclusions about the intentions or competence of others.
  • Hold grudges and are generally uncooperative.
  • Dread meetings and find reasons to avoid spending time together.

Steps to Building Trust in Teams

  • Leadershipis the key to Building Trust in Teams.  As the leader, there are three necessary ingredients when you are Building Trust in Teams:
    • Competency – As the leader you must have minimum level of competence in the discipline your team is working in.
    • Intention – The leader must take the time and effort to lead.
    • Relationships – Business is a contact sport, and relationships with team members is critical.  This does not mean that the leader has to be best friends with each of her people, but it does mean she needs to make an effort to
  • Clear Focus.  Teams with a high level of trust are those that have a simple, well understood goal that team members coalesce around, and work hard to achieve.
  • Mutual Accountability.  Building Trust in Teams means that individual accountability is in place.  The strongest teams are made up of individual members that don’t want to let each other down.

3 Things to Remember About Building Trust in Teams

  1. They have to trust you first.  As the leader you need to earn trust in your people.
  2. Recognize the signs of mistrust and deal with them.  If you suspect there are trust issues amongst your team, you need to act quickly.
  3. Building Trust in Teams requires clear expectations for the team and team members.

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

Building Trust in Teams

This week the Wily Manager guys talk about building trust on teams.  If you’ve every been on a team that was a bit dysfunctional, then this week’s discussion will resonate with you.

Watch the ‘Building Trust in Teams’ Video (15 mins 32 sec):


Download the ‘Building Trust in Teams’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Building Trust on Teams

This week the Wily Manager guys talk about building trust on teams.  If you’ve every been on a team that was a bit dysfunctional, then this week’s discussion will resonate with you.

Monday’s Tip: Have a clear focus. Trust requires that people have clear expectations.  On a team those expectations need to be commonly understood and aligned.

Tuesday’s Tip: Hold people accountable. High trust teams have a high level of accountability to both the leader, and the other team members.  As the leader it is critical to hold to account for agreed-upon expectations.

Wednesday’s Tip: Recognize Team Dysfunction and address it. There are many symptoms of teams with low levels of trust.  A leader must address these symptoms as soon as they appear to avoid a deeper problem.

Thursday’s Tip: Practise humility as a leader.  The leader sets the tone on a team, and a leader who admits his mistakes, and gives credit to team members where it is due, will engender high levels of trust.

Friday’s Tip: Reinforce positive team behaviors. When people display positive, high-trust team behaviors, leaders should look for ways to reinforce and reward that behavior.

 

« Previous Page
Next Page »