Active Bystander Scenarios

July 2021

SET #1

  • 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 does the scenario trigger? 

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

  1. Scenario 1: (Rooms 1 - 3) A hiring manager gives you a list of potential candidates. As the two of you go through their profiles, the manager looks at one candidate’s LinkedIn profile and immediately says that they are too old and would not fit into the culture at Monstercat.

  2. Scenario 2: (Rooms 4 - 6) 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. Scenario 3: (Rooms 7 - 8) A colleague makes comments that upset you, and when you tell them this, they say, “That’s not even what I meant. Besides, it’s your choice to be offended.”

 

SET #2

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

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

  1. Scenario 4: (Rooms 1 - 3) 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. You notice that your colleague shifts uncomfortably and averts their gaze when the topic emerges.

  2. Scenario 5: (Room 4 - 6) A newcomer is sharing their story at a Monstercat community event about why they came to live in Canada. She talks about the anti-homosexuality legislation in her country. Someone interrupts and says, “You don’t look gay.”

  3. Scenario 6: (Room 7 - 8) A colleague of yours who is a woman of colour is speaking in a meeting where a manager constantly cuts them off. They don’t seem to realize they’re doing it and nobody is saying anything. When your colleague raises her voice so she can be heard, your director stops her and asks for her to wait until everyone else has finished speaking.