Active Bystander Scenarios

Consider:

  • What impact will this scenario have on your colleague/team/community? 

  • What potential impact would not disrupting the behaviour have?

  • How do you feel in the moment? What emotions might you feel in the scenario?

Discuss:  

  • How might you be an active bystander in that moment?

Set 1

  1. (Group 1) A colleague misgenders a new employee by using the wrong pronouns. The new employee corrects them. Another staff member overhears the colleague say, “You don’t look trans.”

  2. (Group 2) A staff member seems to be spending a lot of time on a task and jokes, “I’m really OCD about this!”

  3. (Group 3) A staff member enters the staff room and says, “Wow, ethnic food has a strong smell!”

  4. (Group 4) A colleague says to you “I always dread working with so and so at this department. They’re really sweet but I don’t understand their accent”.

  5. (Group 5) A colleague says, “It’s all about BIPOC, LGBTQ+, mental health or disability or whatever labels…we’ve all got problems!”

  6. (Group 6) A colleague says, “If it’s normal to stereotype and our brains are hard-wired to have biases, then I’m ok with my biases. I’ll make sure it doesn’t impact my work!”

Set 2

  1. (Group 1) A colleague says, “Do we really need to be doing this EDI stuff? I haven’t seen any discrimination at LABC. We’re all so busy. Why can’t we just get on with our jobs?”

  2. (Group 2) You approach a supervisor for help with a problem you are having with a female co-worker. Your supervisor responds, “Don’t worry about it. She probably just gets upset when it’s her time of month.”

  3. (Group 3) During a meeting, your people manager says a racial slur during a meeting. Your colleague of colour waits until the end of the meeting before they call your manager out on it. Your people manager brushes it off and says, “That’s not what I meant. It was just a joke anyway.”

  4. (Group 4) Your director wants to address diversity in the workplace. In meetings, when the topic emerges, they look at your colleague, the only individual who identifies as an Indigenous person on your team, and ask for a response. You notice that your colleague shifts uncomfortably and averts their gaze when the topic emerges.

  5. (Group 5) Given recent news, there is discussion in your work environment about movements around racial equity. You overhear a colleague say to your colleague of colour, “I don’t mean to be offensive but I don’t really understand why it’s bad to say ‘All Lives Matter’...I mean, they do, don’t they?”

  6. (Group 6) A new employee has just joined your team, and is meeting you and your colleagues for the first time. When they approach one of your colleagues to shake hands and introduce themselves, you overhear your colleague chuckle and say, “That’s a weird name. I’ll call you ____ for short.”