In workplaces undergoing tremendous change or in organizations where less-trusting leaders lack transparency, team members often form conspiracy theories to explain what is happening.
These unfounded and poorly supported explanations for workplace events are similar to conspiracy theories found in society, such as Flat Earth believers and Moon Landing deniers.
Like social conspiracy theories, workplace versions project a strong emotional certainty despite weak or non-existent evidence. They rely heavily on anonymous sources and rumors to gain traction.
In organizations, they often presume secret plots, hidden motives, or coordinated wrongdoing by colleagues, management, or outside groups.
Leaders often think that conspiracy theories don’t exist in the workplace or are nothing to worry about. Before drawing such a conclusion, ask yourself how many team members in your organization might have held one of the following beliefs at some point or still do?
- Management is secretly planning layoffs and lying about it.
- Promotions are decided in advance based on favoritism and hidden relationships.
- HR exists to protect executives and does not stand for team members.
- My performance reviews are intentionally manipulated to hurt my compensation or chances for promotion.
- Targets are set to make certain teams or people fail.
- Some coworkers are secretly reporting everything they see to management.
- There’s a hidden group that controls decisions behind the scenes.
- The company is secretly monitoring our private messages.
This is just a small set of the many outlandish beliefs some team members may hold to the detriment of themselves and the team.
If left unaddressed, such conspiracy theories can run amok and spread more widely than many leaders imagine. Good leaders address them directly when they learn that one or more team members are promoting them.
The best way to do that is not intuitive.
Presenting evidence or arguing against the factual basis for conspiracy theories can push them underground and silence people.
Once confronted with contrary facts, theorists can become extremely defensive and suffer humiliation, both of which have negative consequences.
The better approach is to confront conspiracies by exploring a person’s reasoning and process for formulating their claim.
Leaders who want to disarm these theories do best when they examine how people come to know what they believe rather than impugning those beliefs with evidence or rejecting them outright.
Instead of dismissing or debating the issue, good leaders become curious and ask thoughtful questions that help the other party reflect on the reliability of their reasoning.
The aim of the discussion is self-reflection, not advocacy or persuasion.
Three questions, in particular, are important to this reflection: How did you come to this belief? What is your confidence level (from zero to one hundred) that this belief is accurate? What evidence would change your mind?
The point is to expose flaws in the reasoning, not in the belief itself. Success occurs when the quality of the dialogue produces more questions, especially for the theorist.
By discussing deeply outrageous beliefs in a respectful and non-confrontational way, leaders negate their influence and plant a seed of fidelity that will likely grow over time. (This works with friends and family members as well.)
Conspiracy theories exist everywhere, including in the workplace. In the absence of clarity, some people make things up.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
