Jessica Hickman on working in regional NSW, fighting bullying and creating ‘upstanders’

Jessica Hickman, the author of The Upstander Leader and founder and director of Bullyology, shared with The HR Leader what it’s been like to move to and work in Orange, NSW. She also shared what she’d like leaders to know about bullying in the workplace and what it means to be an ‘upstander’.

Ms Hickman talked about what it’s like to work on business culture in regional NSW, noting: “One of the biggest things I found moving to regional New South Wales, and I do a lot of work across the states regionally now, is there seems to be old-school mindsets and behaviours.” She added that she’s “Working with organisations where people have been leaders for 30, even 40 years, and looking at some of the big picture trends that are affecting leaders and workplace culture at the moment.”

Explaining to The HR Leader listeners what the ‘bystander effect’ is, Ms Hickman said that it refers to: “As human beings, when things get hard, challenging or quite toxic and difficult, our natural instinct and desire is to diffuse responsibility.” Ms Hickman then shared her thoughts on ‘upstander cultures’ which people can read about more in her book, The Upstander Leader. 

The podcast conversation concludes with Ms Hickman’s vision for her work over the next five years, focusing on what she terms ‘the upstanding generation’.

For more information about Ms Hickman’s work around bullying in the workplace, you can visit https://bullyology.com/

Note from the editor: If you’re currently experiencing any of the issues discussed in this podcast episode and would like to reach out for help, you may wish to contact Lifeline: www.lifeline.org.au