Confidence is not Competence
As humans, we equate confidence with competence and believe that women are less confident than men, researchers found. We also link competence and maleness, another study found. As a society, then, we hold a generalized, unconscious belief that men are more competent than women—regardless of individual skill or ability.
As a result of these biases in the workplace, many women endure inequities like lower pay and fewer opportunities to advance than similarly or less qualified males; receiving less desirable work assignments; and being interrupted at meetings at far greater rates than their male colleagues. They also often face backlash for (or anticipate backlash and refrain from) self-advocating or assertive behavior that is not only tolerated but expected from men.
Given these barriers, it is no wonder that some women lack self-confidence at work. For decades, these feelings of self-doubt were referred to as “imposter syndrome,” a term developed from a 1978 study (Imes and Clance) describing high-achieving women who felt like frauds rather than accepting their successes as earned.
More recently, Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey wrote the article “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome” for the Harvard Business Review, pointing out the external forces feeding self-doubt and adding, “Employees who can’t (or won’t) conform to male-biased social styles are told they have imposter syndrome….These biases are insidious and complex and stem from narrow definitions of acceptable behavior drawn from white male models of leadership.”
It is not the women but their workplaces that need to change, Tulshyan and Burey write: “Leaders must create a culture for women and people of color that addresses systemic bias and racism.” In a follow-up article, the two diversity, equity, and inclusion experts offer the following suggestions for firm leaders to do just that. These include:
Office workers, 1936. (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress)
Help individual employees who express inaccurate self-assessments to adjust their perspective. This can be done with conversations about what it takes to succeed in your office’s culture and identifying and addressing why they feel the way they do.
Make structural changes to professional development and mentoring programs to address low-self-confidence. (These programs should be open to all employees, other researchers found.)
Consciously widen your firm’s definition of leadership.
Reduce biases against women of color or risk losing them. The authors cite a 2019 report finding that 89 percent of the net new women-owned businesses opened per day in the U.S. were opened by women of color, even though women of color are only 39 percent of the female population in the U.S.
Conduct anonymous surveys to determine employee sentiment—and then act on what you learn.
Assess the time-to-promotion for employees, taking race and gender into account. Do white men have a faster path? If so, what message are you sending to women and minorities? Fix it.
Establish fair and objective criteria to evaluate performance.
Remember, confidence is not competence and should not be rewarded as such. “The truth of the matter is that pretty much anywhere in the world men tend to think that they that are much smarter than women. Yet arrogance and overconfidence are inversely related to leadership talent,” organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic writes.
Employers must work toward changing firm culture to promote equity. The AIA/The Center for WorkLife Law study includes a number of tools for interrupting biases in architecture firms. The AIA’s Guides for Equitable Practice offer additional tools for creating a more equitable workplace.
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Sources:
Barbara A. Carlin, Betsy D. Gelb, Jamie K. Belinne, and Latha Ramch, “Bridging the Gender Gap in Confidence.” Business Horizons, Volume 61, Issue 5, September–October 2018, Pages 765-774 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2018.05.006).
DongWon Oh, Elinor A. Buck, and Alexander Todorov, “Revealing Hidden Gender Biases in Competence Impressions of Faces.” Psychological Science, Volume 30, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 65–79. (https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618813092).
Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey, “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome.” Harvard Business Review, February 11, 2021.
Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey, “End Imposter Syndrome in Your Workplace.” Harvard Business Review, July 14, 2021.
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?” Harvard Business Review, August 22, 2013.