Providing a leadership training program for first generation, non-English fluent Hispanic employees can be challenging, especially when your approach doesn’t take their specific learning preferences and cultural differences into consideration. Here are what I’ve discovered to be the five most important points to know when delivering a leadership training program to the Spanish speaking supervisors and team leaders.
First generation Hispanics will will generally not raise their own workplace issues and concerns with their bosses and they will not ask questions. Even when they don’t fully understand the instructions they’ve been given, they’ll often remain silent. Hispanic males in particular will generally not attempt to ask their bosses for clarification. Why? Because they fear they might appear “unintelligent” in front of their bosses or “weak” or “inexperienced” in front of their peers. See more on this “Macho Thing” in the section below.