Partnerships vs Imposter Syndrome

The definition of imposter syndrome is a feeling of being a fraud in your field. It tells you that everything you’ve done and worked towards is luck and not hard work; trial and error. At its worst, you don’t feel like you deserve what you have achieved or deserve the things that have come out of your hard work.  

We all have these feelings, but left unchecked they can really impact our work and lives in a negative way. Draining the energy from what should be exciting opportunities and situations.

This is no different in partnerships and referrals. I’ve seen it stop people from asking for referrals - either for the right referrals or asking full stop. And I’ve seen people’s confidence struggles hold them back from forming partnerships that they are more than capable of delivering against. 

Something that imposter syndrome can have a massive effect on, and I’ve suffered from this myself multiple times, is not seeing or realising the value that we deliver within a partnership. Especially when the partner is a large organisation. 

In a recent video I recorded about reframing imposter syndrome (linked here) I spoke about that feeling. It can show up as us feeling we’re “less than” or “second class” when partnering with larger organisations. But, though it is hard to push through, we need to recognise that it’s just us our own mental blocks. Blocks that don’t serve anyone and could actually hold us back from delivering value to others.

When working with partners, and especially larger ones (I often partnered with large multinationals when running my previous small business - think Volvo, Regus, Yell), we need to remember they’ve partnered with us for a reason.

You’re a vital piece of the puzzle and bring something unique to the partnership, their brand and their strategy.  

They’re working with you because you have the agility, the ideas or the creativity to do something in a way that they just can’t. Either because of skills, experience, reach, or their own internal set ups.

All too often we underestimate that.

And that can stop us from really making the most of an opportunity, getting curious about what else we could be doing with our partners, exploring extra areas for growth and taking the partnership (and potentially our own business) to the next level.

If this is something you resonate with, then all is not lost, I’ve got a little bit of gold for you here.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the video a connection of mine, the wonderful Laura Ansbro, came up with a reframing of imposter syndrome that I have been absolutely raving about. 

High Achievers Doubt. 

Doesn’t that sound waaaaay more positive?!

If we can spin the negative imposter syndrome into the more positive high achievers doubt, we stop calling ourselves frauds. We begin to recognise ourselves as high achievers. We can use this to see our work, time and effort as anything but luck. We put in the work to achieve what we have and we deserve it. 

You will still have doubts. Of course you will. But you aren’t putting yourself down in the same breath. I think this reframe really allows us to be like, “okay, I’m good at what I do and I deserve to be here with these big partners, I’m still unsure but that's okay”, and that's amazing. 

Taking away the negativity can help us push through that doubt. And how insanely good it feels when we realise what we’ve achieved when we pushed past that mental block. 

Go get those partnerships!

Go ask for those referrals!  

You deserve them.