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

The workplace culture at Orange City Council has changed!

Name: The workplace culture at Orange City Council has changed!
Uploaded: 2023-03-08T12:26:49+00:00
Duration: 46 s
Channel: Jessica Hickman
Description: In a short multi‑speaker discussion recorded for a YouTube excerpt, four participants (A‑D) share their takeaways from a professional‑development course…

8 Mar 2023 · 1 min

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In a short multi‑speaker discussion recorded for a YouTube excerpt, four participants (A‑D) share their takeaways from a professional‑development course focused on the Upstander movement and workplace culture at Orange City Council. Speaker A notes that the Upstander training made them realize the danger of ignoring small issues, which can later become larger problems, emphasizing the need to address concerns immediately. Speaker B stresses the importance of having the courage to intervene when witnessing bullying or inappropriate behavior, describing personal experience of calling out bad conduct. Speaker C adds that having support makes it easier to confront bad behavior, highlighting the role of collective bravery versus acting alone. Speaker D praises the facilitators, Jess and her partner, for using varied interaction styles, mixing groups, and changing presentation formats, which helped keep participants engaged. Finally, Speaker A reflects that regular attendance at such sessions brings professional development to the forefront, preventing day‑to‑day tasks from overwhelming focus and encouraging thoughtful approaches to work.

Another part of it I really enjoyed was the Upstander movement and it made me realise that a lot of things that I see day to day that probably I let go, I shouldn't let go, that they go full circle and come back as a bigger problem later on or you just end up dealing with the problem in the future so you're not actually saving anything by not dealing with it there and then.
Well, if I see something wrong, someone being bullied, step in and say, "No, stop, that's not the right way of doing things." I've called out bad behaviour since, and I think you need to have that courage to be able to do it.
It's easier for somebody to call out bad behaviour when they have support. It takes bravery to call it out when you're standing by yourself.
I was really impressed with how Jess and her partner interacted with the group. The sessions had variety, and, you know, there were different forms of interacting. We weren't always left with the same group, we were mixed around. Even the presentation style changed. I think all of that helped involve people.
I've definitely got a lot more out of it than most courses we go to. It's good just to come to these things regularly to bring your professional development back into the front of your mind rather than getting bogged down in the day-to-day. You know, you're thinking about what you're doing and how you're going to approach things rather than— especially myself, very task-focused and, yeah, charge in and try and get things done and keep trying to get things done even when they're workload gets a bit over the top.