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

Uncomfortable vs. Avoidance: The Bystander Zones Impacting Workplace Well-being

Name: Uncomfortable vs. Avoidance: The Bystander Zones Impacting Workplace Well-being
Uploaded: 2023-09-20T15:49:31+00:00
Duration: 1 min 14 s
Channel: Jessica Hickman
Description: In this monologue, Jessica Hickman explains two distinct zones that people occupy when witnessing workplace bullying. The "uncomfortable zone" is…

20 Sept 2023 · 1 min

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1:14

In this monologue, Jessica Hickman explains two distinct zones that people occupy when witnessing workplace bullying. The "uncomfortable zone" is characterized by high awareness of toxic behavior—often felt physically as a gut reaction—but limited capability, training, confidence, or support to intervene, especially when the perpetrator holds power. She illustrates this with personal experience of a toxic culture where colleagues would physically tense up or leave the room when the bully entered. The "avoidance zone" follows when individuals, feeling unable to challenge the status quo, retreat into a bystander mindset, opting not to act. Hickman highlights how leadership’s lack of guidance and the power dynamics of senior perpetrators exacerbate these zones, leaving employees stuck between discomfort and avoidance.

Chapters

And ultimately, I found then that people can often sit in the uncomfortable zone. And by uncomfortable, I mean there's high awareness, but actually sometimes low capability or training or confidence or skills to know what to do. And if I reflect on my workplace where I suffered bullying, this was definitely the case. People were aware the culture was toxic. They could feel it in their body. They tighten up. They'd walk away when the bully walked into the room. Or ultimately, you know, I always talk about the gut because usually you can feel in your body when a comment or behavior is toxic. We feel, ooh, that made me feel uncomfortable. But often we don't know how to deal with that because we haven't had the adequate training or capability building or support from leadership on how to navigate that. And again, if that comment comes from the leader of the business or someone in a power position, Again, how do we challenge that? And then the third zone really I wanted to just discuss is what I call the avoidance zone, where people slip into the bystander category or mindset because it feels too hard. Challenging the status quo was hard.