Karen Maher recently spoke about some practical advice on being an active bystander, the importance of leadership support and how SmartCulture are trying to keep things very practical when we talk about bystanders.

Being an active bystander is a huge emerging area in Australia now and it’s very effective and very powerful.

Traditionally in Australia, we’ve done a lot of letting go when we see something that makes us feel uncomfortable and we don’t feel confident, because we don’t know if we’re going to be supported and we don’t know if we speak up whether we’re going to cop it or be victimised for that.

The main goal we are trying to achieve is ‘to do something‘. Depending on the circumstances around what’s happening and the relationships between people, will depend on whether people feel safe to say something when they see some kinds of poor behaviour. If they feel safe to call it out, call it out at the time and if we don’t feel safe then we can always do something after the event.

The really big goal is to do something.  

Watch the full video for more steps on how to be an active bystander here: