I like your recommendations, and I wish that they were norms in EA. A couple questions:
(1) Two of your recommendations focus on asking EAs to do a better job of holding bad actors accountable. Succeeding at holding others accountable takes both emotional intelligence and courage. Some EAs might want to hold bad actors accountable, but fail to recognize bad behavior. Other EAs might want to hold bad actors accountable but freeze in the moment, whether due to stress, uncertainty about how to take action, or fear of consequences. There’s a military saying that goes something like: “Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training.” Would it increase the rate at which EAs hold each other accountable for bad behavior if EAs were “trained” in what bad behavior looks like in the EA community and in scripts or procedures for how to respond, or do you think that approach would not be a fit here?
(2) How you would phrase your recommendations if they were specifically directed to EA leadership rather than to the community at large?
These are both very important questions—for (1), I think it depends on the circumstance in all honesty. For example, the same way that volunteers are often trained before EAGs and EAGxs, I could see participants receiving something (as part of the behavior guidelines) outlining scenarios and describing why they were an example of inappropriate or appropriate behavior. However, I think it would be extremely difficult to “train” all members of the EA community as people are involved in many different capacities. For (2), I think that, despite all situations involving interpersonal harm and conflict being unique and complex, it could be useful to have more transparency in some areas. I don’t mean naming specific individuals and discussing all the details of each case, I more mean something like (X action is unaccpetable and will result in Y consequence if found to be true). Another note—my suggestions were aimed towards EA community members because I truly believe that, often, people simply do not understand how their actions/words make others feel. I hope that by raising awareness of this people will be motivated to change themselves without necessitating external conflict (although I understand that’s not always the case).
I like your recommendations, and I wish that they were norms in EA. A couple questions:
(1) Two of your recommendations focus on asking EAs to do a better job of holding bad actors accountable. Succeeding at holding others accountable takes both emotional intelligence and courage. Some EAs might want to hold bad actors accountable, but fail to recognize bad behavior. Other EAs might want to hold bad actors accountable but freeze in the moment, whether due to stress, uncertainty about how to take action, or fear of consequences. There’s a military saying that goes something like: “Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training.” Would it increase the rate at which EAs hold each other accountable for bad behavior if EAs were “trained” in what bad behavior looks like in the EA community and in scripts or procedures for how to respond, or do you think that approach would not be a fit here?
(2) How you would phrase your recommendations if they were specifically directed to EA leadership rather than to the community at large?
These are both very important questions—for (1), I think it depends on the circumstance in all honesty. For example, the same way that volunteers are often trained before EAGs and EAGxs, I could see participants receiving something (as part of the behavior guidelines) outlining scenarios and describing why they were an example of inappropriate or appropriate behavior. However, I think it would be extremely difficult to “train” all members of the EA community as people are involved in many different capacities. For (2), I think that, despite all situations involving interpersonal harm and conflict being unique and complex, it could be useful to have more transparency in some areas. I don’t mean naming specific individuals and discussing all the details of each case, I more mean something like (X action is unaccpetable and will result in Y consequence if found to be true). Another note—my suggestions were aimed towards EA community members because I truly believe that, often, people simply do not understand how their actions/words make others feel. I hope that by raising awareness of this people will be motivated to change themselves without necessitating external conflict (although I understand that’s not always the case).