Coaching the Imposter: Developing Emerging Leaders as They Negotiate Identity and Imposter Concerns

Emerging leaders may encounter difficulty in constructing, developing, and integrating a positive leader identity due to Imposter Phenomenon (IP), which induces feelings of self-doubt that can make them feel incompetent and that their success is unearned. In this study, we explored how coaching can be used as a developmental intervention to help emerging leaders explore the ongoing negotiation of self-concept and help assuage imposter cognitions. Our mixed-method multiple case study sought to answer the overarching research question: If, and in what ways did participation in a coaching intervention influence participant’s leader identity and imposter cognitions? The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership coaching might influence and shape leadership identity, and to discover the ways IP can be mitigated as part of the coaching developmental relationship. We were additionally interested in finding effective strategies coaches employ to develop a positive leadership identity. We captured the experiences of five (5) participants in a leadership development program where they received a coaching intervention. Data collection included pre and post assessments of IP experiences and a post-intervention interview. Findings across the cases illustrate that coaching, as a developmental approach is effective at helping leaders reframe negative reactions to imposter-like situations as well as assist imposter-prone leaders to become more open to interpreting performance feedback and enhance leader identity. The findings offer implications for emerging leaders in making progress on imposter cognitions, and for coaches to recognize and add strategies to address self-concept and cognitive schema reframing.