(Ok, Ok, it’s not really Day 11. I had Christmas off…soooo this is kind of the 11th Day I have been trying to solve workplace bullying (albeit just over a month in calendar time since Day 0). I had a call just before Christmas with my new friend and colleague Gill Brabner, and her company is Resound Training. They work with groups to give an immersive experience of forum theatre when tackling workplace bullying. Here is a bit more about it and you can check out their channel here on youtube).
When Leaders See Their Shadow—Forum Theatre and the Mirror of Impact
So, on 19th December 2025 I caught up with a provider who does something I find completely brilliant: forum theatre for corporate groups. They help leaders see themselves through the mirror of enacted scenarios, and it’s powerful work, deeply immersing leaders in real situations. Here’s the thing that struck me about forum theatre—it doesn’t lecture. It doesn’t shame. It shows.
The Visceral Moment of Recognition
Forum theatre comes from Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed,” developed in 1970s Brazil and is applied by professional actors who perform realistic workplace scenarios where problematic behaviours play out—the cutting remark in a team meeting, the dismissive body language, the subtle undermining. But here’s where it gets interesting: facilitators can stop the action, and the audience get to discuss what they’re witnessing, and redirect the scene toward different outcomes, or ask the actors questions and interact with the scene.
It’s “rehearsal for action” in the safest possible space.
What makes this different from role-play training or case studies is something facilitators call “mind tapping”. The actors stay in character and share—in real time—how the leader’s words and actions are making them feel. The leader discovers, often for the first time, the chasm between intention and impact.
I’ve known leaders defend themselves with “that’s not what I meant” or “they’re too sensitive.” Forum theatre bypasses that defence entirely. The actor isn’t too sensitive—they’re showing you what your team member couldn’t say without risking their job.
Why This Matters for Bullying
Remember what we’ve explored about bullying—most of it stems from lack of awareness rather than malicious intent, primitive stress responses and learned behaviours operating below conscious thought or Hyposensitivity to our own impact on others.
Forum theatre makes the unconscious conscious. When a leader watches the character display behaviour they recognise within themselves—embodied through an actor—perhaps dismiss a concern, dominate a conversation, or create an atmosphere of fear, they’re seeing their behaviour from the outside.
In most cases I think many leaders simply lack the ability to genuinely connect, build rapport, listen deeply, and ask questions and instead they drive personal agendas, opting to tell rather than ask, until, over time, these behaviours sit on the bullying continuum, even when completely unintended.
The Emotional Connectivity We Need
Forum theatre works through what practitioners call “suspension of disbelief”—participants emotionally connect with the characters and experience the full range of emotions present in everyday workplaces: frustration, empathy, discomfort, recognition. This emotional connectivity is precisely what traditional compliance training misses. You can’t PowerPoint your way to empathy. You have to feel it. And feeling it—genuinely experiencing the impact of your behaviour on another human—changes something fundamental.
It’s experiential learning that sticks because it creates the psychological safety needed to explore uncomfortable truths and what I love about this methodology for solving workplace bullying is that it is not a witch hunt. It doesn’t point fingers and label people “bully” or “victim.” It creates space for everyone to ask: Where am I on this spectrum? How might I be contributing to how someone else is feeling?
It honours the complexity we’ve been exploring—that 30-35% of victims become bullies . That most bullying is learned behaviour or primitive stress responses, not calculated cruelty. That people can change when they genuinely see their impact.
Champions of tomorrow
Lastly, Gill tells me that leaders who experience the emotional reality of their behaviour through forum theatre often become champions for cultural change. They’ve moved beyond defensiveness to genuine insight. And that transformation becomes contagious in ways policy documents never will.
The Question I’m Sitting With
What’s the moment that needs witnessing? The interaction that keeps happening but no one names?
I’m curious what scenarios you think would be most transformative. Drop a comment if something comes to mind or DM me on Linkedin with your thoughts.
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