You're struggling with imposter syndrome while delegating tasks. How can you empower your team to excel?

"Believe in yourself and all that you are." - Christian D. Larson Impostor syndrome often makes you doubt your competence despite clear evidence of your skills. This can hinder task delegation, fearing exposure of perceived incompetence. Recognize these feelings as common among professionals. Understanding that impostor syndrome is widespread can help you realize your self-doubt doesn't reflect your true abilities or worth. How do you combat impostor syndrome in your career? Share your thoughts! 🌟💡

I used to dread feeling like an impostor until I had a change in mindset. This began from a place of introspection, when I started asking myself questions including "why and when does this feeling tend to occur". When? I noticed, like many others, that I experience the impostor syndrome whenever I step out of my comfort zone. This is the zone of growth. You cannot attempt to do something that pushes you to grow without feeling uncertain of your abilities. Why? Impostor syndrome manifests as the brain's neurobiological reaction to protect us from the unknown. Based on evolution, we are "wired" to be skeptical of what we are not used to doing. So its okay to feel that way, you are only growing.

Clarity is the key to consistently moving forward successfully. One should always keep in mind that without giving importance to clarity you cannot delegate tasks successfully!

We can save ourselves a lot of administrative costs and challenges by clearly defining the goals of a project. A clear goal should not only capture the what, but also the why. Clearly communicating the reason (why) behind a set goal will more likely motivate your teammates to seek innovative ways to achieve it, and spur resilience even in the face of obstacles.

Autonomy is indeed empowering. However, to ensure the benefits are fully maximized, I would suggest regular check-ins with the team member you've assigned a project to. This is very different than micromanaging. By regularly checking in, you provide the team mate with the opportunity to share any difficulties or challenges s/he may be having in the course of executing tasks. In other words, you are not completely detached from the task, but rather available and willing to help in the process to achieve a common goal.

I have heard it said countless times that employers or managers who tell their recent hires they are expected to resume on a certain date and "hit the ground running" may see them getting swallowed up by the ground if they don't equip them with resources and trainings to succeed. Setting up your team for success starts from the onboarding process. If a leader or manager doesn't get it right at that initial stage, they may be unintentionally adding to their company's churn rate.

In my experience, one of the best ways to encourage feedback from your team is to regularly give it with a positive attitude. Using the CRC method (CRC=Commend Recommend and Commend again), one can highlight and praise a positive outcome, recommend valuable changes to what may seem tangential to the goal, and finally end with another commendation of the work done. Regularly serving your team this "sandwich" can quickly become a company culture that everyone adopts and practices.