Day-by-day, slight-by-slight, microaggressions can feel like “death by a thousand papercuts.” Given that most folks spend the majority of their lives at work, microaggressions in the workplace have a profound impact on people’s mental, spiritual, and even physical health.

An Asian-American woman born in America may hear such phrases when she expresses offense at the question: “Where are you really from?” A Black man’s hurt may be belittled when he’s told he’s “overreacting” when a co-worker calls him “one of the good ones.” And someone from the LGBTQ* community may be considered overly sensitive if they get fired up when someone remarks: “That’s so gay!”

Most of the time, it’s true that the speaker has no intention of causing offense or pain. People are often unaware of how their words or actions impact the recipient, whose experiences differ so much from their own. But regardless of intention, these instances of “microaggressions” have real effects on people’s lives. Much like unconscious biases, being unaware isn’t an excuse for perpetuating harmful behaviors or beliefs.

In this workshop, we will learn

– the various types of microaggressions,

– understand how it manifests at work,

– what to do when you’ve committed a microaggression (yes, everyone has committed unconsciously microaggressions) and,

– craft a plan to recognize and manage potential microaggressions when they surface to protect yourself and company cultures