Engagement Technique: Myth Busters
Every workplace has myths.
“They’ll never approve that.”
“Leadership doesn’t listen.”
“Marketing always says no.”
“That’s just the way we’ve always done it.”
Some are true. Some used to be true. Some were probably never true at all.
Myth busters is a simple exercise designed to bring those assumptions into the open.
How it works
Ask employees to anonymously submit things they believe about the company.
These could be assumptions, rumours, unwritten rules, or things that people have heard repeatedly but never really questioned. You could collect them through an anonymous form, suggestion box, or during a team session.
Leadership then responds to each one. Keep the answers simple:
- Myth
- Fact
- Sometimes true
- Used to be true
- We’re not sure
That last one is important. You don’t need to have an answer for everything.
If something is genuinely unclear, say so.
Why it works
Assumptions can have a big impact on employee engagement. If people believe something is impossible, they stop asking. If they think leadership won’t listen, they stop suggesting.
If everyone believes “that’s just how we do things”, nobody questions whether there’s a better way.
Mythbusters creates a safe opportunity to challenge those assumptions.
It can improve communication, surface frustrations that might otherwise remain hidden, and give leadership a much clearer picture of what employees actually believe about the organisation. It can also be surprisingly revealing.
You might discover that something employees believe to be a company policy hasn’t actually been a policy for five years.
What to watch out for
This only works if you’re prepared to hear some uncomfortable questions. Don’t use it as a PR exercise where leadership only answers the easy ones. If someone submits:
“Leadership doesn’t listen.”
The answer shouldn’t automatically be:
“That’s a myth.”
It might be worth asking why people feel that way. Equally, don’t use the session to embarrass people for believing something that turns out to be wrong. The aim is understanding, not winning.
Don’t overthink it
This is a relatively simple exercise to run.
It could take 30 minutes in a team session, form part of an all-hands meeting, or become a regular feature where you answer a few myths each month.
It also works particularly well alongside The Surgery, User Manual, and Stop, Start, Keep, because all four encourage more open communication.
This post is part of our Engagement Techniques series of practical, low-cost ideas to bring more connection and meaning into work. Find the rest here
👉 Want to explore techniques like this in more depth? I run interactive employee engagement workshops where we bring these ideas to life.