Karen Brice

Karen Brice: Imposter syndrome - how coaching supports leaders move from pain to gain

Session on 24 November 2020 11:30 UTC - View on timetable

Session

When did you last coach a leader who wanted to deal with the devil in their head called Imposter Syndrome? For me, it seems to be happening more and more. In this new virtual world, leaders are learning that they must invest in arms length cultures to deliver business performance, and new concerns are developing; – “Am I getting too comfortable working from home? Introverted even?” – “How do I need to be when the office opens up again?” – “I’ve learnt how to be my best self for 60 minutes in a Teams meeting but I won’t be able to sustain this new leadership style day in day out”. In fact, this new future-fit leadership mindset calls for different ways of thinking from leaders who are used to getting things done through command and control – it had its benefits. So as coaches, how can we help? Feeling the fear of being found out can sometimes be so debilitating that it becomes unhealthy, and no matter how good a leader is at supressing that fear, stress develops and others sense it. This is a challenging area of work for us as coaches but can also be hugely rewarding if done well. In this session, we will explore how we can be really effective as coaches by providing the time and space for our coachee to make the necessary shifts for themselves, without slipping headlong into the territory of past experiences. Come and join us to discuss how to disable this impactful leadership derailer, and learn how we as coaches can make the difference.

Learning outcomes

• Developed a better understanding of what Imposter Syndrome means for leaders and how it can impact their work
• Shared experiences and challenges of getting to the heart of the issue as a coach
• Considered what types of coaching are particularly helpful in shifting mindsets and delivering results.

Bio

Karen Brice is a director and executive coach in the Governance & Board Advisory practice at Grant Thornton with 25+ years experience in supporting boards and their management teams develop greater leadership capacity. She heads up the senior development offering providing board and executive team evaluations, diagnostics and development for leaders and their teams. She has widespread executive coaching experience across all sectors and a real passion for team coaching interventions. She strongly believes coaching should never be seen as a remedial fix. Instead she believes that it is a ‘Towards Gain’ intervention for the individual rather than an ‘Away From Pain’ benefit for their manager. Her love of coaching and creating coaching-led cultures means she has worked hard to make her coaching effective during Covid and believes it has come of age in this virtual world in which we now operate. She is an executive coach with an MSc from Henley Business School in ‘Coaching and Behaviour Change,’ as well as a Senior Practitioner with EMCC, a Coach Supervisor, and NLP, and Constellations Practitioner.