Perhaps you have heard the term “microaggressions.” I recently spoke with Tania Luna, Co-CEO of LifeLabs Learning, about them, their effect on employees and organizations, and how they can be identified. We also spoke about how they can be addressed through something called “micro-inclusions.”
Luna defined microaggression as “a seemingly small behavior or phrase” that reveals biases on the part of the speaker or actor. She provided an example surrounding a black speaker at an event. Consider a situation when an audience member approaches that speaker and says something like, “Oh my god, you were so eloquent.” That might seem like a compliment on the surface and may have been intended as one, but it reveals something about that audience member’s bias. The message really might mean, “I don’t expect that of you if you are a black speaker; even though you are a public speaker, your eloquence surprised me.”
