Mastering Leadership Wellbeing to Beat Imposter Syndrome

Leadership often comes with challenges that test confidence and self-belief, and imposter syndrome—a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evident success—is a common hurdle. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t belong in your leadership role or doubted your abilities, you’re not alone. Many leaders grapple with fear and self-doubt, but the good news is that these feelings can be overcome with evidence-based strategies and personalised action plans.

The CANBE model offers a practical and holistic framework to help leaders build confidence, overcome self-doubt, and develop leadership presence. It is structured into three key elements: Domains, Dimensions, and Drivers. Here’s how this model is applied as part of a coaching approach to address imposter syndrome.

1. The Dashboard of Eight Key Domains – Understand Your Current State of Wellbeing

The first step in overcoming imposter syndrome is understanding your overall state of wellbeing across the eight interconnected domains: Mental, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Cultural, Environmental, and Economic. These domains represent the “territories” of our lives that influence how we think, feel, and act as leaders.

Imposter syndrome often stems from imbalances in these domains. For example:

• Mental Domain: Persistent negative self-talk or perfectionism can amplify self-doubt.
• Emotional Domain: Unregulated emotions like fear or anxiety may fuel feelings of inadequacy.
• Spiritual Domain: A lack of alignment with personal values or purpose can lead to unfulfillment.
• Social Domain: Isolation or strained relationships may exacerbate feelings of disconnection.

By assessing these domains, leaders gain a “big picture” perspective on the factors contributing to their imposter syndrome. This awareness allows for targeted interventions to address stressors such as burnout, lack of purpose, or insufficient support networks.

2. CANBE Dimensions – Exploring the Pathways to Confidence

The five dimensions—Creating Meaning, Achieving Potential, Nurturing Relationships, Building Resilience, and Enriching Lives—serve as “highways” that interconnect the domains and drivers. These dimensions provide deeper insight into how wellbeing factors interact and influence leadership performance.

For example:

• Creating Meaning: Explore how mental clarity connects with spiritual alignment . Leaders who find meaning in their work are more likely to feel confident and authentic.
• Achieving Potential: Recognise strengths and set realistic goals to combat feelings of inadequacy.
• Nurturing Relationships: By fostering higher regard for self, leaders can build self esteem—a common trigger for imposter syndrome.
• Building Resilience: Flexible thinking and improved health across mental and physical domains help leaders manage stress and recover from setbacks.
• Enriching Lives: Aligning purpose (spiritual domain) with energy (physical domain) empowers leaders authenticity and reduces frictions that may be reducing self belief and confidence.

These dimensions ensure that strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome are not isolated but interconnected across all areas of wellbeing.

3. Drivers – Developing Your Personalised Strategy

The wellbeing drivers are actionable “signposts” that guide coaching conversations. They help identify specific areas for growth based on an individual leader’s unique experience.

For instance:

• A leader struggling with negative thought patterns (mental domain) might focus on cognitive reframing techniques.
• If behaviours like overworking are evident (physical domain), strategies for setting boundaries may be prioritised.
• Leaders feeling unsupported (social domain) could explore ways to strengthen their professional networks.

By tailoring strategies to the individual’s needs across these drivers, coaching becomes highly personalised. This approach ensures that leaders not only address their imposter syndrome but also build confidence and leadership presence in a sustainable way.

Why This Matters for Leaders

Imposter syndrome doesn’t just affect individual leaders—it impacts decision-making, team dynamics, innovation, and organisational culture. Leaders who doubt their abilities may:

• Avoid taking risks or delegating tasks.
• Overwork in an attempt to “prove” themselves.
• Hesitate to make decisive calls due to fear of failure.

By leveraging the CANBE model’s domains, dimensions, and drivers, leaders can address the root causes of these behaviours. They can move from struggling or surviving states into striving or thriving states—unlocking their full leadership potential.

Take Action Today

If you’re ready to overcome imposter syndrome and build greater confidence as a leader:

• Start by taking the Wellbeing Mastery for Leaders Scorecard. This tool will assess your current state across the eight wellbeing domains.
• Book a free no-obligation appointment with an expert coach to discuss your results and create a personalised action plan tailored to your unique needs.

Don’t let fear or self-doubt hold you back from thriving in your leadership role. Take the first step toward mastering your wellbeing today!

Services

Wellbeing Designed Organisations – A mastermind group and workshop for visionary leaders who want to put wellbeing at the centre of organisational design.

Wellbeing Mastery for Leaders – a 1:1 coaching programme that delivers personal development and organisational impact. The unique, holistic approach, based on the interconnected wellbeing domains, sets this programme apart from standard leadership development. Through the coaching you develop your own unique way forward.

Thriving – a 1:1 coaching programme for professionals seeking greater fulfilment in life, recovery from burnout or stress, better balance, personal growth and improvement.

Topic based coaching – 1:1 coaching focused on career, confidence building, stress management, time management and team management.

Team coaching – Tailored sessions to improve team performance

Speaking – tailored presentations, talks, keynotes and workshops designed to educate, inform and inspire.

Read

The Age of Wellbeing – A new leadership model for a happier world for a new perspective on how organisations can contribute to the challenges and opportunities we face in our modern world.