SHRM26 Debrief · Leadership & Development · #2907

Grappling with Gremlins: Three Steps to Managing Imposter Syndrome

with Tina Robinson

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~43 min, distilled

imposter syndromeself-confidenceleadership presence

"Imposter syndrome, it's interesting. It is a health phenomenon. It's not an actual condition. No doctor's going to diagnose you with imposter syndrome."

What it was about

Imposter syndrome is a nearly universal, non-clinical phenomenon rooted in an inner critical voice, 'the gremlin,' that once served a protective purpose but now keeps people small. It can be managed, not eliminated, through a three-step process: framing, naming, and taming that voice.

By the numbers

up to 82%

Proportion of people shown to experience imposter syndrome per the cited research

Key notes

Frame your gremlin by noticing the specific situations, times, or triggers when your inner critic gets loudest (e.g., being asked a question you don't know the answer to, pushing back on senior leaders, being the only woman or youngest person in the room).
Name your gremlin (after a TV character, a childhood nemesis, or a former colleague) because giving it a name and identity reduces its power and makes it easier to call out in the moment.
Tame your gremlin using the three anti-Gremlins-movie rules in reverse: shine light on what's real instead of what's loud, water self-compassionate voices instead of the critical ones, and stop unintentionally feeding the negative voice with self-defeating self-talk.

The contrarian takeImposter syndrome shouldn't be banished or eliminated entirely — the inner critical voice sometimes has valid points and even makes people stronger (e.g., pushing through a speech impediment to become a public speaker), so the goal is to tame and manage it, not silence it completely.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Run a 15-minute team workshop: have people name their inner critic and share it aloud to build psychological safety.

Say this in your next leadership meeting

Up to 82% of people experience imposter syndrome, so we're building it into how we coach leaders, not treating it as a rare weakness.

Watch out for

Believing imposter syndrome is a real diagnosable condition rather than a common feeling/phenomenon, which can lead people to over-medicalize or overly stigmatize it.
Trying to banish or completely silence the inner critical voice instead of managing and taming it (the voice sometimes has a valid point and total suppression isn't the goal).
Unintentionally 'feeding' the gremlin by engaging in self-defeating self-talk or seeking validation that confirms the negative narrative (including venting to AI chatbots in a self-pitying loop).

Fun fact · Tina Robinson

Tina Robinson is a top 100 HR influencer and just published a new book on developing business leaders through ATD Press.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperUnMuted Leader: Turning Insight into Influence in the Future of WorkTakes 'tame the gremlin' and turns it into a framework for actually speaking up to executives.⇄ The counterpointMentorship Is Dying: And We Are Pulling the PlugArgues real confidence comes from mentorship relationships, not managing your inner critic solo.✦ The unexpected oneThe Brain-Healthy Workplace: A New Imperative for HR LeadersThat gremlin voice might have a brain-health component no imposter-syndrome framework accounts for.