Andy Burnham’s words at the Labour conference yesterday are powerful: “When we pull as one, there is nothing we can’t achieve.” For me, these words capture something fundamental about the purpose of my ASOne active bystandership programme with Policing, Fire & Rescue and military settings. They speak to the potential of people who look out for each other, feel responsible for their colleagues’ wellbeing, and understand that creating a positive culture isn’t somebody else’s job. It belongs to all of us.
We often talk about culture as something leaders create. Leadership matters enormously, of course. Leaders set expectations, shape priorities and influence what gets rewarded. But the culture we experience every day is also shaped by the thousands of interactions between colleagues: what we encourage, what we challenge, what we accept and what we choose not to ignore. A culture of support is built when people know they don’t have to face difficult moments alone. This is where active bystandership has a vital role to play.
Culture is everybody’s business
ASOne is built around a simple but important idea: we all have a part to play in looking out for one another. That means noticing when something isn’t right. It means having the confidence to check in with a colleague who appears to be struggling. It means challenging behaviour that falls below our shared standards. It means being prepared to step forward when someone needs help, even when doing so feels uncomfortable. Importantly, it also means creating an environment where accepting help is seen as a strength rather than a weakness.
In too many organisations, people are expected to deal with difficult situations on their own. They may worry about getting involved, damaging relationships, challenging someone more senior or being seen as disloyal to their team. Good intentions alone are not enough to overcome these barriers. People need the skills to act, the confidence to use them and, crucially, the belief that their colleagues and organisation will support them when they do. That is why ASOne is about more than teaching people how to intervene. It is about creating a culture in which looking out for each other becomes an accepted and expected part of belonging.
Whānau: we are stronger when we belong
The All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, offer another powerful way of thinking about this through the concepts of whānau and ‘Follow The Spearhead.’
Whānau is a Māori word commonly translated as family or extended family. It conveys a sense of belonging, connection and collective responsibility. Within a team, it offers a reminder that we are not simply a collection of individuals pursuing personal success. We are part of something bigger than ourselves.
Follow the spearhead evokes the idea of moving forward together, united by a common purpose. There is a powerful connection here to ASOne. A spearhead depends on the collective effort of those moving together. Everyone has a part to play. Everyone contributes to the direction of travel, and the group is stronger when its members understand that their responsibilities extend beyond their own performance.
What might this look like in a workplace?
It might be the experienced colleague who takes time to support someone new to the team. It might be a friend who challenges the sexist joke that everyone else has ignored. It might be a manager who notices that a normally confident colleague has become withdrawn. It might be someone who speaks up when a colleague is taking unnecessary risks. These actions may appear small, but their cumulative impact can be significant. They communicate something important: you matter here, your wellbeing matters, and we take responsibility for one another. That is how belonging becomes something we experience through everyday behaviour rather than simply read on a poster.
Supporting people also means challenging them.
There is an important distinction between a culture that makes people comfortable and one that genuinely supports them. Sometimes, support means offering kindness and understanding. At other times, it means having a difficult conversation. A colleague who is behaving inappropriately may need someone to challenge them before their behaviour causes greater harm. Someone making repeated mistakes may need a conversation that helps them recognise the risks. A friend who is struggling may need encouragement to seek help rather than reassurance that everything is fine. Looking out for someone is not always about protecting them from an uncomfortable conversation. Sometimes, it is about caring enough to have one.
This is where active bystandership becomes a powerful tool for culture change. It helps people recognise that intervention is not necessarily an act of confrontation or punishment. It can be an expression of care, loyalty and shared responsibility, and when organisations support early intervention, they create more opportunities to resolve concerns before they escalate. The person raising a concern should not have to choose between doing the right thing and belonging to the team.
The Benefits Belong To Everyone
Cultures of support are not just for people experiencing difficulties. They benefit everybody. We all have blind spots. We all make mistakes. We all experience pressure, uncertainty and moments when our judgement may be affected. At some point, every one of us will benefit from a colleague who notices something we have missed or finds the courage to tell us something we need to hear. When we know that people around us will offer support and constructive challenge, we have greater opportunities to learn, improve and develop. This is particularly important in high-risk environments, where silence and unchallenged mistakes can have serious consequences.
This principle applies equally to schools, sports teams, neighbourhoods and ordinary workplaces. The aim is not to create a world in which nobody makes mistakes or experiences difficulty. It is to create communities that are better equipped to respond when those things happen. That requires leadership, but it cannot be left to leaders alone. Leaders can establish expectations and provide resources. They can make it safer to speak up and demonstrate that intervention is valued. But the everyday reality of culture depends on the choices all of us make.
When We Pull Together ASOne
Andy Burnham’s words provide a useful reminder of what collective effort can make possible. For me, my ambition of ASOne is to help organisations move beyond simply telling people to look out for each other. It is about motivating, equipping and empowering them to do so. We need to give people the skills to act, the confidence to intervene and the assurance that they will not be left isolated when they do. We also need to encourage people to accept support and challenge from their colleagues.
This is how we move from individual acts of courage towards a shared culture of responsibility.
Whānau. Follow the spearhead. ASOne.
Different words, but a common idea: we achieve more when we understand that our success and our responsibility are connected. The real measure of a strong culture is not simply what its members achieve together. It is how they treat one another along the way, particularly when things become difficult. When we create cultures where people feel they belong, where they can speak up, where they are supported to challenge, and where looking out for each other becomes the norm, everybody benefits, and that is the real promise of ASOne: not a team dependent on a handful of heroes, but a community in which ordinary people feel able to do remarkable things for one another.
When we pull ASOne, we do more than solve problems. We build places where people thrive. Whether it’s in a workplace, a sports team or in wider society, together we can achieve big things.
A good thing?
