Microaggressions in Organizations

00:06 So how might microaggressions look in an organization? There's a term I like to use as exclusionary inclusion.

00:15 So it means that I offer you a seat at the table.

00:18 But I don't necessarily include you.

00:21 I ignore every time you try to give input, I don't embrace your ideas, I don't embrace difference.

00:27 But I think I included you because I allowed you to be on a committee or I even allowed you to be hired into a certain position.

00:36 But that's not inclusion if a person is not valued, and they don't feel valued, and they don't feel a sense of belonging or welcome within that organization.

00:45 And typically, people will leave.

00:47 And you're like, "But why? I gave him a job.

00:51 I let you be on this committee, I admitted you into this program." Well, if I don't treat you like I want you to be a part of a team, and you don't feel like you're a part of a team, then typically people leave or they have very negative comments to say or both.

01:07 That's the other thing we have to think about.

01:09 Because if we don't make people feel like they're a part of a system, or they have a negative experience within that organization, then just like, word of mouth promotes business, it also can take business away from a place because our experience was real to us.

01:26 And we communicate that with other people and that lessens the likelihood of people.

01:31 Again, remembering your circle of influence wanting to work at this particular organization, or attend a particular university, whatever it is, you get the point.

01:42 Showing favoritism is another reason.

01:44 I mean, I'm sorry, another way that microaggressions show up in organizations, and so favoritism advantages some people while disadvantaging other people.

01:55 So when we think about biases and when they turn into those microaggressions, how that can have a negative impact on people.

02:03 Failure to acknowledge things that are going on in an organization is another way that microaggressions show up and have this long term impact.

02:13 Again, we have to embrace that nothing's perfect, right? Nothing's fail-safe.

02:20 But when these things happen, acknowledgment is the first way we can move from or let's say, towards success in terms of people feeling a part of something.

02:30 If we speak degradingly or make disparaging comments, especially in the presence of other people, how that makes people feel in terms of microaggressions and put downs.

02:41 And then with the hierarchical microaggressive language and behaviors, thinking about that lessening, again, when we think about putting people in these margins.

02:51 And what that does to a person and their ability to be successful in an organization.

02:57 Continuing on with how microaggressions might look in organizations.

03:01 And again, this is not an exhaustive list.

03:04 It's just some examples to put you in the frame of mind of how that could look.

03:08 So when we talk about it from a leadership perspective, so if you're in one of those positions where you supervise other people, it would not be wise to prejudge someone's abilities.

03:20 An example of that could be if a person and it also ties into the hierarchical microaggressions and invalidation.

03:28 So if someone is working in an organization under a specific title, because they wanted to remain in that organization, so maybe that title is some type of assistant to someone else.

03:40 But the person used to be a leader in a previous job, and this person might have a couple of degrees.

03:48 But to stay in the organization, they took a pay cut, they took a different job title, and based on that job title, as a leader, I'm going to judge their abilities based on the job title versus based on education and experience.

04:02 So that's one way because I've placed this person now in this box based on that title.

04:08 And I'm invalidating their education and experience by not acknowledging that and thinking about how I can promote that person into a higher level position versus saying, "Well, this is the job they're in so I'm going to treat you a certain way." So that's where that hierarchical stuff comes in.

04:27 And I am lessening a person based on a job title.

04:31 When we think about devaluing or invalidating a person's cultural heritage, religious customs, traditions and beliefs.

04:40 That's a contradiction if I'm placing statements about my commitment to diversity, and if I'm putting statements about diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging or under the umbrella of an inclusive excellence.

04:53 I have to not only acknowledge people's cultural differences, preferences, behaviors, attitudes, heritages, whatever those religious customs or traditions and beliefs.

05:04 If I don't embrace that then I'm contradicting what I said I'm committed to.

05:09 So for example, if a person is affiliated with a certain religion, and it's not a nationally recognized holiday, but that person wants to be off because it's a part of their religious tradition or cultural heritage.

05:23 And I'm not willing to allow that person to be off on their holiday, if they're not supposed to work on that day, then I really am not truly committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

05:36 So when we think about those microaggressions that goes back to what I said earlier about leaving cultural baggage at home or saying something like, "Well, that's not a real holiday." Well, it is a real holiday in that person's culture.

05:50 So we have to be very careful of not making those types of statements and acknowledging that these things are a part of this particular individual's life.

06:00 And we have to be willing to embrace that and not make those types of statements.

06:06 The next one is like thinking about perpetuating inequities based on these assumptions.

06:12 So, let's say I'm in middle management and there's a supervisor above me, but I'm directly supervising the person in the example I gave earlier who has a significant educational background, higher educational background, and also significant experience in leadership roles.

06:31 Well, if I'm not advocating for that person, then that says something about my leadership.

06:36 So that is perpetuating those inequities and I'm also a part of that invalidation by not advocating for that person.

06:46 And thinking about income equality, we know that's a real situation.

06:50 We know there's data to support income equality, not only with males and females but also according to race and ethnicity, sometimes according to age, versus being fair and equal and thinking about it's about qualifications, versus whatever those extraneous factors or how our biases show up again and we make those micro aggressive statements.

07:15 If someone's doing a great job even though this person may have 5 years experience to someone's 10 years.

07:24 The person at 5 years may be more productive than the person with 10 years if we're just talking about numbers.

07:30 So I'm invalidating that person's, not qualifications but their work ethic, because they don't have 10 years experience.

07:39 So we just need to reframe how we think and not even be ageist or whatever like so many different factors contribute to microaggressions which perpetuate these inequities.

07:51 Usually, an organization's talking about religion or politics is discouraged, especially if it's in a way that's causing some type of divide.

08:01 But making some politically charged statements sometimes can also be a microaggression.

08:06 And then the example I use with devaluing or invalidating someone's religious affiliation.

08:12 So we're talking about it in terms of allowing people to be themselves.

08:17 And if we're talking about it in terms of truly embracing change and moving toward inclusive excellence then that's fine.

08:23 But if we start talking about and comparing religions in this practice is better, this tradition is better or trying to normalize our own beliefs at the expense of somebody else's then in an organization that also causes discord.

08:39 It also contributes to people making those microaggressive statements and sometimes again, remember what I said we use the term micro aggression a lot, but a lot of times it's aggression, or big aggression, macroaggression.

08:53 In the traditional sense, macroaggressions refer to an organization or a system.

08:59 But people, individuals also commit macroaggressions, especially when you know what you're saying, you're conscious of it and it's intentional.

09:08 That's just aggression or macroaggression depending on the severity of the statement that was made.

09:14 Another way that microaggressions can show up is in terms of a person's dialect or language skills.

09:21 A prime example of that is people who have accents or English is not their primary or original language, they're English language learners.

09:29 Oftentimes people label them or missbelieve that these people are not intelligent.

09:36 And one of the things I like to use as an example as an African American person, I speak Ebonics and I speak the King's English or traditional Eurocentric English.

09:47 And in having discussions with filming this, I was talking to some of my white colleagues who felt like the word Ebonics is offensive.

09:56 So it just depends, again, I said a lot on context.

10:00 So if you're using that term to lessen somebody or marginalized somebody or make it seem like they're less intellectual then it is a problem.

10:09 However, it became a term because that language is specific to black people.

10:15 And just given a little bit of history on that thinking about it from structural racism and a slavery perspective, well, thinking about the fact that slaves were not allowed to learn formally.

10:27 So they did the best they can to learn English, and it carries through generations.

10:31 My grandparents had broken English because not only were they descendants of Africans, they also were descendants of French people.

10:40 So mixing two languages, I think that's quite intelligent to be able to derive a particular language when you have two different or those language skills, let me just say that to be able to communicate in ways where French was their primary language because they were in Louisiana.

10:58 So also on top of that, with my grandfather being like a direct descendant of a slave.

11:04 His father was a slave.

11:06 So trying to learn those, trying to learn English language is what I'm trying to say, in terms of I have this African language skill set and then I also have a French language skill set.

11:18 And my English language skill set is not going to be perfect because of things that were out of my grandparents control then they spoke broken English.

11:29 So sometimes, with kids growing up in that environment, it just carries over.

11:34 So because my generation or my family beyond my grandparents, did have formal education, and we were able to speak both.

11:44 So then it did become a term with Ebonics, because it is a language specific to Black/African American people and it did evolve into including some slang.

11:54 For me, the beauty of that is no matter where you're from in this country, we have that shared understanding and that shared language.

12:02 So it's not offensive, unless it's meant to be that way.

12:07 And ironically, I looked up a definition.

12:11 You can Google it, too.

12:12 I won't call out the dictionary that said it but I do have a problem with it.

12:17 Ebonics is a vernacular form of American English used in the home or for day-to-day communications rather than for formal occasions.

12:26 That's problem number one, because oftentimes, that's all some people know.

12:30 So if you don't understand what something means, and I've said this before, in other segments, the best way to develop a shared understanding of language is if you don't know to ask a question and not to judge someone's intellectual ability, because they may speak Ebonics in a formal setting.

12:47 When we apply cultural intelligence to that, if we're truly going to embrace it and try to move toward a space of high cultural intelligence, then we're not going to label norms or informal situations what we're supposed to say are not supposed to say.

13:03 The second part of this definition that really offends me is that it typically diverges from Standard American English when spoken by people with low levels of education.

13:14 Absolutely not true.

13:16 Because I know how to speak formal Eurocentric English and I also know how to speak Ebonics.

13:21 And it has absolutely nothing to do with my intellect and I think that's true in most cases.

13:27 So I just want to discourage people from using that in a disparaging type way and using it as an assumption and a way to stereotype people in terms of their intellect.

13:40 Another way that microaggressions show up in organizations, I mentioned already about religious holidays or some type of cultural traditions that may not be acknowledged.

13:53 Some of the ways that that happens in terms of microaggressions, let's think about it from an academic perspective.

14:02 If I am the faculty and I realized that a certain holiday is happening on a specific date, and I'm making an assignment do or project do I give extra credit when I know some people may not be present on that day, then that is invalidating that person's experience and it's also creating inequities.

14:21 So in terms of faculty and some of you may be faculty or go on to become faculty, we have to think about all those things and again, not contradict the commitments that we make to inclusive excellence.