yakshamash

I manage a team of engineers and I try to do my best to help keep IS at bay throughout the team, what advice would you have for someone in management with a team of people in a field notorious for imposter syndrome?

Okay Reddit, I am sure we can find a way to rectify this.

http://i.imgur.com/ArNZg.png

Thanks for responding! That is great to hear, it sounds like I'm on the right track. If OP or anyone else here has any thoughts or ideas let me know as it can be really debilitating to lose confidence when engineering.

checking in with them about how they are regarding their confidence at work sharing that this is something that most people experience and if you experienced this sharing your own story can be very inspiring

I try to be very open about my own imposter syndrome, and especially for newer folks I like to have a straight up "Imposter Syndrome" check in our 1:1s where I reassure them they are doing fine (if that is the case,) call out any issues, and generally try to reassure them that if there is something to be worried about they will hear about it from me before it is a problem.

Encourage your employees to track their wins. When someone feels like an impostor they usually are focusing on their limitations.

I'm also big on encouraging folks to keep lists of "small wins" big ones are easy to remember, but the collective of the small ones are really valuable come perf-reviews promotions etc but so easy to forget about. I haven't thought about how this could positivly affect IS.

creating spaces of support, does your company have employee resources groups where they can connect?

Fortunately where I am at there is a really healthy culture around cross-fucntional support. Multiple ERGs but also very potisive attitudes around helping others.

This article is really good to think about especially when in a more senior position. It does a really good job describing that not everyone is an expert on everything. It's like a character creator, folks have points in certian areas, how they are distributed can be different, but nobody can be everything.