Let’s talk about workplace “microaggressions.” The term is vast and amorphous, which can stymie org & individual understanding of the experience of marginalized talent. Here’s my attempt to unpack the essence of microaggressions so we can remediate them, naming aside./1

Belonging is a feeling - the extent to which employees can show up to work fully without having to sacrifice meaningful aspects of their identity. I think of microaggressions as the everyday moments that cause belonging breakdowns./2

I was inspired by this popular graphic to map out the belonging breakdown journey for anyone who’s relatively “different” in a company. Different means non-prototypical, or not the norm. I see 7 stages in the journey./3 https://coco-net.org/problem-woman-colour-nonprofit-organizations/woc-in-organizations-tool-final-en/

#1 - Someone different joins a company. Their social identity is one of many characteristics that can make them different./4

When someone fills a role that’s new to the company, has a pedigree that is atypical (educational background, industry experience, etc), or has a work or communication style that isn’t the norm, they are different./5

Note that if someone’s social identity is new, they likely bring newness to some of these other factors. That’s the power of diversity. That’s also the liability if our workplaces aren’t equipped to effectively maximize differences.../6

Also keep in mind that if someone is different, this is likely not the first time in their life that they’ve been or received signals that they’re different in a workplace or even in society at large. They come in the door with an “external difference tax.”/7

#2 - Courtship. Company encourages the difference. New hire feels welcome but possibly also uncertain, skeptical or untrusting because of that external difference tax. Courtship is a formative employment stage for all new hires but especially for ones who are different./8

#3 - Reality sets in. The different person is the only one like them in meetings and/or doesn’t see people like them in leadership. Their difference feels either under-optimized or exploited. They try to work within existing norms and structures by either…/9

...mustering the courage and energy to point out issues and concerns and pushing for accountability OR by withholding their input, putting their head down and assimilating. Both are costly. This is the “internal difference tax.”/10

#4 - Response. The company minimizes, ignores, denies or refuses to see the issues or difference tax OR the company expects the different person to explain their taxing reality, teach the company how to improve and/or fix the issues themself (on top of their day job)./11

#5 - Rejection. The company remains unaware of the existence or magnitude of issues or difference tax OR decides the issues are the person’s, not the org’s, OR decides that they can’t afford the time & attention to fix anything. In turn, the different person is invalidated./12

#6 - The different employee leaves the company. They leave voluntarily because the costs >>> benefits or involuntarily because the company decided they weren’t a “good fit” and/or their performance was subpar (likely impaired by the difference tax)./13

#7 - The End Result: A person is harmed and the organization remains unchanged demographically, operationally and culturally. The company hires a new "different" person and the cycle continues./14

So what are microaggressions? All of this. All of the actions & inactions that didn’t relieve the external difference tax and all of the workplace environments and experiences that contributed to the internal difference tax./15

As you can see, microaggressions aren’t as small as their name implies...

Words are hard. On one hand, #DiversityandInclusion language matters and we must be precise about certain terms (Example: -isms bias)./16

On the other hand, being overly picky about terminology that’s debated in its own field of origin (we psychologists have been picking "microaggressions" apart for a decade) is a distraction. Let’s focus on understanding experiences so we can do the work to fix all the things./end