How to Deal With Microaggression at Work

About this course

Microaggressions are the everyday wear and tear of being seen as different, and a silent tax on workplaces that let them go unaddressed. Most are unintentional. Most are small in the moment. And because they are small, they are easy to dismiss, which is exactly how their cost builds up: in trust, in voice, in performance and in the people who quietly leave.

The course starts where bias becomes behavior: the pathway from a stereotype in your head to a microaggression other people experience, the difference between a generalization and a stereotype, and a question as ordinary as "Where are you from?" You learn the E.N.R.I.C.H. lens (ethnicity, nationality, race, identity, culture and heritage), a shared vocabulary, and where the term microaggression came from, with Chester Pierce and Derald Wing Sue. Then the three types: microassault, microinsult and microinvalidation, read through real public moments described in detail, including a cable news segment, coverage of NFL players kneeling during the anthem, and a 2008 campaign town hall.

The middle of the course takes on the forms that are hardest to see. Color blindness, through four statements that sound reasonable and are not, and what it costs. Racelighting, race-based gaslighting, in its four forms, with a self-check, the tactics it uses and five protective practices for the person on the receiving end.

Then repair. Why intent matters less than impact, and the LAVA framework (Listen, Acknowledge, Validate, Act) for the moments after you have caused harm, with what each step looks like, how it fails, a worked scenario, the language of repair, and what not to say. The course covers what witnesses, managers and everyone else can do, and looks at microaggression through the Johari Window and through coaching: how a "difficult employee" is often made, how bias distorts talent assessment, and how to break the loop between microaggression and performance.

It closes with the psychological dilemmas of responding, six strategies for responding when you are the target, how people tend to react, and the documented psychological cost of microaggressions at work.

Who it is for

• Anyone who works with other people and wants to recognize microaggression when it happens.
• Managers and team leads responsible for the climate on their team.
• Anyone who has caused harm without meaning to and wants to know how to repair it.
• Anyone who has been on the receiving end and wants practical ways to respond.

Learning objectives and outcomes

By the end of the course you will be able to:

1. Recognize the three types of microaggression. Microassault, microinsult and microinvalidation, and the evidence that tells them apart.
2. Explain why intent matters less than impact. And address the impact instead of defending the intent.
3. See how color blindness and racelighting harm the people they claim to protect. And protect yourself when your reality is being argued away.
4. Repair harm with the LAVA framework. Listen, acknowledge, validate and act, without the phrases that undo an apology.
5. Respond when you are the target. Choose among six strategies with intention, and anticipate how people react.
6. Coach, lead and witness without outsourcing the labor. Interrupt bystander silence, build team norms, and read "difficult" behavior through the lens of microaggression.

What is included

The Participant Booklet is a standalone reference that follows the course section by section, from where bias becomes behavior through the three types, color blindness, racelighting, impact and repair, the Johari Window, coaching and responding, with workplace examples and a Quick Reference. The Reading the Room Workbook is the practice companion: an opening workplace dialogue to mark up, a decoder of six short vignettes to classify, response sentences to draft with assigned strategies, and a personal reflection. The videos tell you when to turn to each phase. Nothing in either one is collected.

Chapters

27 chapters, 2 h 00 min of video.

1. 00Welcome5:31

   Why this course, ground rules for the recorded format, what we will cover, and how to use these videos and the workbook.

2. 01Where Bias Becomes Behavior5:59

   The pathway from stereotype to microaggression, generalization versus stereotype, and the same observation framed two ways.

3. 02Where Are You From?6:00

   A simple question that lands differently, the E.N.R.I.C.H. lens, a shared vocabulary, and in-groups and out-groups.

4. 03What Is Microaggression?5:05

   Where the term came from, the working definition, six identifying traits, and the carbon monoxide metaphor.

5. 04Why It Harms, and Where It Shows Up4:21

   Five reasons the harm runs deeper than the moment, and four channels it travels through.

6. 05The Three Types3:52

   The taxonomy, the microassault and the microinsult.

7. 06Microinsults in Real Life6:41

   Reading the evidence in a cable news segment, six familiar patterns, a perspective to rate, and a sports broadcast. Workbook Phase 1.

8. 07Microinvalidation4:06

   When the experience itself is denied, read through a 2008 town hall.

9. 08Color Blindness5:02

   The philosophy, two value statements, a story about talent that kept leaving, and Statement A.

10. 09Merit, Race and the Best People4:02

    Statements B, C and D: merit, "one race" and "the best people."

11. 10What Color Blindness Costs3:46

    Two slogans, five harms, and what the denial of difference really denies.

12. 11Racelighting4:18

    What it is, its four forms, minimizing and rebranding.

13. 12When the Institution Racelights2:41

    Performativity, data and policy, and the psychological and social cost.

14. 13Spotting and Handling Racelighting5:25

    A self-check, the racelighter's playbook, and five protective practices. Workbook Phase 2.

15. 14Does Intent Matter?3:50

    Intent versus impact, what to do with the intent question, and four moves for addressing the impact.

16. 15LAVA: Listen and Acknowledge4:01

    The four-step repair framework, and the first two steps and how they fail.

17. 16LAVA: Validate and Act4:55

    The last two steps, how they fail, and a repair in real time.

18. 17If You Caused the Harm5:01

    Why LAVA sometimes doesn't land, five disciplines, the language of repair, and what not to say.

19. 18Witnesses, Managers and Everyone3:54

    Interrupting bystander silence, building a resistant team, and daily preventive habits.

20. 19The Johari Window5:36

    The model and four effects of microaggression on what is open, blind, hidden and unknown.

21. 20Expanding the Open Area3:01

    Feedback on both sides, six pathways, and what changes when the open area grows.

22. 21The "Difficult" Employee5:13

    Reframing difficult behavior, relationship distortion, and bias in talent assessment.

23. 22Coaching, Motivation and the Cost3:22

    Relationships in coaching, motivation, and counterproductive workplace behaviors.

24. 23Breaking the Loop3:21

    The microaggression to performance loop, how to break it, and the three C's with a cultural lens.

25. 24The Dilemmas4:28

    Four psychological dilemmas of responding, and why, and when, to confront.

26. 25How Do You Respond?3:17

    Six strategies and six reactions to expect. Workbook Phase 3.

27. 26Wrapping Up3:36

    The psychological implications, a final reflection, sources, and your personal reflection. Workbook Phase 4.