Jessica HickmanThought Leader | TEDx Speaker | 2 x Author | Leadership

Breaking the Bystander Effect: Transforming Workplace Culture Through Awareness and Action 🤔

Name: Breaking the Bystander Effect: Transforming Workplace Culture Through Awareness and Action 🤔
Uploaded: 2023-11-19T20:51:41+00:00
Duration: 1 min 52 s
Channel: Jessica Hickman
Description: In this presentation segment, Jessica Hickman explains that the bystander effect extends beyond classic bullying and harassment to a wide range of…

19 Nov 2023 · 2 min

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1:52

In this presentation segment, Jessica Hickman explains that the bystander effect extends beyond classic bullying and harassment to a wide range of workplace and community injustices, including abuse, neglect, gender inequality, mental‑health stigma, discrimination, homelessness, and racism. She urges viewers to examine their own past or current bystander behavior, recognize how these issues affect colleagues’ physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing, and adopt a more self‑aware, reflective stance. Hickman provides concrete prompts—such as asking how a nickname made someone feel or questioning whether a norm‑based banter is harmful—to encourage active support rather than passive observation, especially in the heightened stresses of the pandemic.

Chapters

The bystander effect is real, and while we haven't got a lot of time today to unpack this in details, I encourage you to look at the bystander effect and think about where you may have been a bystander in the workplace and some of the reasons why. So when we think about the bystander effect, it's not necessarily just linked to bullying and harassment. On the slide, you will see a, a varied amount of behaviours that we see, not just in the workplace, but in the community as a whole. Maybe it's abuse and neglect that keeps you up at night. There's a lot of injustices. Maybe it's gender equality. Maybe you see this in your workplace. Are you working in a male-dominated industry? What about the mental health stigma? Do you feel supported? Do you know how to support others? Maybe it's discrimination. Maybe it's homelessness that impacts you in your workplace, particularly in the pandemic. And this may feel like a strange one to talk about in a work context, But throughout the pandemic, people have really been living more on the breadline, and homelessness and lack of income or support has really impacted people. How does this impact your colleagues or the people you work with? And then also racism. I've seen this a lot in Australia. People categorise racism as casual comments. Oh, it's just a bit of banter between peers. It's often not. And if you see this in the workplace, ask someone, "How did you feel about that nickname? Does that impact you?" Or maybe you've joined in on the banter because it's the social norm. I just want you to take a bit of a self-awareness and a reflection today and think about what are some of the trends happening in your workplace and are they okay? Are they impacting someone's physical, emotional, emotional and psychological health? Are they impacting you and your happiness?