Supervising the Differences

All men are created equal. Not all employees are the same. How you supervise employees from different cultures will be a mark of the integrity you possess. An example:

The fastest growing minority in our area is the Hispanic population. I had several employees, who worked directly for me, that were of Hispanic decent. Here are some ideas for supervising that these good employees allowed me to learn.

Although the rest of the community may pronounce their name in a particular way, make sure you understand how it is correctly pronounced in their native dialect. Respecting a person's name and how it is spoken by their family is important. It is the first step towards valuing who they are.

Understand their family and cultural values. Because most Hispanic families have a high respect for their elders, for women, for their religion, for their traditions, and for authority, they often react in a specific way in the business world. Because they have such a high degree of respect for others and have been taught how to act in a highly respectful way, their actions may be misinterpreted. They may allow others to make incorrect assumptions about them rather than correct or embarrass someone. They may appear to not have an opinion of their own when in fact they may be showing their superior (boss) respect. When a meeting is very noisy and ideas being thrown around, they may not step into the fray because of being taught to let the other person speak first. They may not come to you or offer advice, criticism, or comments because they may have been taught to only respond when directly asked a question. They may find it difficult to approach a woman supervisor because they have been taught to view all women within the same hierarchy of their family. They are generally reverent toward womanhood which can make confrontation confusing. They are loyal. They will normally stand by their friends, family, supervisors and company even when others may not deserve the loyalty. Hispanic females may have been taught to be subservient to authority and to men. It can be a part of the hierarchy of the traditional generational family. It sounds as if they are the ideal employees - and in many ways they are. Your job is to make sure you recognize these qualities, make sure you use them to benefit both the company and the employee, and finally, make sure you mentor them on how to perform well within your company.

I found some of these tactics worked well in developing employees who might have similar characteristics:

In an effort not to draw attention to a quiet employee, I found going around the table asking for advice, opinions, and reports allowed them to contribute without my having to publicly single them out for more. It also keeps the more vocal employees from dominating.

I found explaining to them in private what was to be expected helped them think about things prior to being thrown in a big group. It allowed them to plan on stepping out of their comfort zone. It may be difficult for them to be assertive in office situations which are very competitive and confrontational. Asking their opinions and ideas outside of the larger meetings can help.

Because open affection is often a part of their family heritage, it is important to not use words or actions that could be misinterpreted as personally affectionate. It is also necessary to understand, because of their high respect for others, they may use words of affection towards you but it is not meant as sexual harassment or as a gender bias. I had an employee who always addressed me as "pretty lady". I was considering having a little talk with him until I realized he called every female from birth to elderly "pretty lady". It was his way of complementing the gender as a whole. To him all females were ladies and therefore pretty.

Men may refer to their mothers as "like the Virgin Mary" and their wives as "the old lady". Neither should be taken as negative towards women. And neither are any of your business.

Women may refer to their fathers as "iron fisted" and their husbands as "my old man". Neither should be taken negative towards men. Women from traditional families may have a hard time balancing work and the many demands at home. They may find it very difficult to come to their supervisor with problems at work, difficulties balancing the family/work, or problems with other employees. They seldom want to make any trouble for anyone to the point they may suffer in silence. It is your job to make sure they are not suffering in silence and that they do not have derogatory things happening to them at work from other employees or from customers.

As with all of our families' heritage, the Hispanic employees have many beautiful and strong things to bring to others and the work place. You, as their supervisor, must help them blossom and contribute. You must work and mentor with them to use those strong ethics in a productive way. In the process of teaching others, you will also learn many things that can build you into a better person and employee. Supervising differences can be a blessing to you both.

As God respects in Leviticus 26:9 "For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you." Can we strive to do less when we supervise the differences?