What is an Active Bystander?
- bewhatyouseeltd
- Mar 21
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 11
For many of us, it’s likely at some stage you have taken up the role of an active bystander without even realising it, so I want you to think about this…
Have you ever witnessed a disagreement between two people and then stepped in to try and calm that situation down?
Or maybe you subtly removed one of those people from the situation as you noticed they looked uncomfortable or even worried about their safety.
Have you ever decided you needed to document an incident that you witnessed taking place?
Or maybe you went to seek the help of someone who possessed the necessary authority to safely manage that incident.
If you can resonate with any of the above, then in that moment you have indeed played the role of an active bystander!
What about the flip side?
What we must also consider, is the number of occasions we may have witnessed problematic of harmful behaviour taking place and then decided to nothing in that moment.
This doesn’t make us bad people, and there are often many factors which play into us making a decision not to act.
In spite of this, if we understand the reasons why we might not take action in a given situation, and then develop a toolkit which enables us to call upon a number of strategies to safely and confidently act in that moment, then we can choose to be an active bystander rather than a passive one.
Active Bystander Theory and Education
Active Bystander Theory refers to the idea that bystanders - those who witness problematic or harmful behaviour - have the power to intervene and prevent or stop it, rather than passively observing. The theory encourages individuals to recognise when they are in a situation where intervention is needed and equips them with the skills to act safely and effectively.
Active Bystander Education teaches people how to become effective bystanders through awareness and skill-building. It encourages individuals to act when witnessing harmful behaviour, promoting a culture of responsibility and care.
Where to start...
In order to become an assured active bystander, there are steps we must be able to follow before we can even think about how to act effectively in the moment. These steps are known as the Active Bystander Principles:
See it – notice the event
Know it’s a problem – interpret it as a problem
Take responsibility – feel responsible to act
Take action – use the skills to safely act
You may be thinking, how difficult is it to notice when an event is happening? And how difficult can it then be to know whether this is a problem or not?
When considering your role as an active bystander within the workplace, these events will often show up in the form of microaggressions.
Without the lived experience of someone from a particular marginalised group, or the necessary training to be able to recognise specific microaggressions, then it can be more difficult than you might think to ‘know it’s a problem’ or even ‘see it’.
What next?
Do you want to build a positive workplace culture and promote inclusivity within your organisation?
Our Active Bystander Training equips participants with the knowledge required to recognise all forms of microaggressions and gain a full understanding of the barriers which can stop us from acting when problematic or harmful behaviour is witnessed.
We then provide you with the necessary tools, through 5 active bystander methods, to be able to effectively take action in the moment.
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