Dear Faculty Relations: The same people bully and dominate our meetings. Everyone knows they are problematic, yet at meetings, everyone is silent. How do we speak up? 鈥� Silent

Dear Silent: The bystander effect occurs when one is in a group setting and sees a harmful situation yet doesn鈥檛 say or do anything. The reasons are many. We worry about what others will think of us if we stand up and do something. We fear we might suffer social costs or retaliation. We look for peer cues to see if we should do anything; if others don鈥檛 speak, neither do we. We may not feel we bear the responsibility to do something. We might not know what to do or how to do it. We might psychologically freeze.

Whether it is the diffusion of responsibility or pluralistic ignorance, here are five ideas leaders can use to help create a speak-up culture.

  • Run effective meetings. Use clear and approved decision-making guidelines. Use a process offering everyone an opportunity to speak; permit a second time to talk after everyone has a chance to speak the first time.

  • Ensure everyone knows the professional conduct standards expected of all faculty to be collegial, civil, and respectful. Faculty Relations will talk with your unit about the expected and unacceptable conduct of faculty members and what to do when someone is unprofessional.

  • Respectfully call it out, either during or after the meeting, and document it. Address repeated patterns first with informal responses, then, if necessary, with more formal sanctions (PRD, IV, D. 4. d).

  • Ensure people have the skills necessary to speak up in challenging situations. If you don鈥檛 know how or were never taught, learn these skills. You can also support faculty to attend training or have us train your entire unit.

  • What you permit, you promote. Get coaching on how to speak up. Practice, so you are ready. You are a leader and expected to demonstrate the personal skills to deal effectively with others (PRD, II, 2. iii).

Written by Suzanne Soled, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Support; Director of Faculty Relations, Office of Faculty Affairs, 麻豆影院, March 2021