Frequently Asked Questions

Research shows that words mean very little in terms of the real messages that we send and receive. The meaning of our messages is frequently delivered through subtle ‘MicroMessages’. These subtle, often subconscious signals represent the core of the messages we send, and can either demonstrate inclusion or exclusion.

Listening with your arms folded, losing eye contact with the person you are speaking with, ignoring a female colleague’s success while rewarding a male co-worker’s same accomplishments, are all examples of small yet powerful biases communicated in the workplace. Also known as MicroInequities, these often subconscious, negative messages and actions can affect company productivity and morale.

MicroInequities are cumulative, subtle messages that occur when these signals are negative or promote a negative bias. MicroInequities are not one-time events. They are cumulative, repeated behaviors that devalue, discourage, and impair performance in the workplace.

MicroAdvantages are positive MicroMessages which build confidence in the recipient. Used cumulatively, they can spark creativity, leadership, and exceptional performance.

Unconscious Bias reflects the positions we hold about others that are influenced through past experiences forming filters that cause conclusions to be reached about groups or ethnicities, through methods other than active thought and reasoning.

These filters are often shaped by media, cultures, family tales, and our observation of those in power who control our destiny.

The critical limitation of Unconscious Bias is that it is a concept, a state-of-mind and therefore not actionable. One cannot “do” an unconscious bias. The only way unconscious biases are manifested is through the subtle messages we send – typically, MicroInequities that affect the performance of others.

Research, first conducted at MIT, has revealed the power MicroMessages have on establishing the ways we achieve loyalty, engagement and directly influence the performance of colleagues and direct reports. Our lack of awareness of this higher level skill often leaves us asleep in the fire.

To truly move the needle forward the workplace must focus on managing – not so much the causes – but the tangible elements of our unconscious biases; the MicroMessages, MicroInequities and MicroAdvantages we send.

These small signals can inspire confidence and enable someone to stretch for higher goals. These signals matter because words play a very small role in telling others our true opinions of them – and the ways that we effect change go far deeper than the vague concept of unconscious bias, to the impact of how it is all manifested through our MicroMessages.

MicroInequities: Managing Unconscious Bias™ shifts the focus away from awareness and entirely on the tangible and actionable components of Unconscious Bias. It focuses on building the skills of MicroMessaging to drive change and provides the tools to sustain them.

It is rooted in the foundation of human communication which focuses less on the mechanics of inclusion and more on the complex ways that we communicate. It reveals the powerful effect of MicroMessages on productivity in the workplace and delivers critical concepts and skills reaching across business, borders and cultures.

Most companies with mature diversity initiatives understand the impact diversity can have on strengthening a business’s bottom-line, and have already achieved core elements of a successful diversity strategy. However, as businesses become more global and the marketplace more competitive; a different set of strategies is needed to aggressively improve corporate culture and practices to sustain the growth of a truly inclusive workplace and unlock the potential of every employee.

MicroInequities: Managing Unconscious Bias™ provides effective communication tools for business professionals and when incorporated into the business environment can drive rapid behavior change, immediately reflecting a “hardwired” connection between effort and business performance. This program has helped hundreds of companies effect major change in their cultural landscapes.

To really achieve the goals that corporate diversity leaders envision, it may require a complete overhaul of current strategies. Diversity management is an evolutionary process that requires different strategies at different stages. Mature diversity programs have begun to stagnate. MicroInequities: Managing Unconscious Bias™ breaks through one of the most hidden barriers to success; focusing on the subconscious messages we all send that can devalue, discourage and ultimately impair performance in the workplace, at all levels of an organization.

This powerful program goes beyond traditional diversity management training; it gets to the DNA of culture change by enabling people to master the skills of interpreting messages that drive behavior change at its core.

Insight Education’s MicroInequities: Managing Unconscious Bias™ program instructs the participant to drive rapid behavior change, incorporate this skill into the realm of routine management, and measurably raise business diversity performance.

It reveals the effects of micromessages in the workplace and delivers critical concepts and skills that carry over instantly when participants return to the workplace.

Our MicroInequities: Managing Unconscious Bias™ program focuses on how we send messages across businesses, borders and cultures. The program resonates globally and has been delivered in 35 countries in every region, worldwide.