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Classism in Latino Culture - Part III

We've looked at some of the elements of classism in the Latino culture in the previous two posts. Now, I would like to be very specific and give you the main three things that classism causes and how to counteract them in the Latino community.

1. Classism causes some people to not value training of their employees. I have seen both Latino managers and owners over the years who have actually stated that they don't want to train "those" people. Unfortunately, one of the offshoots of classism is the lack of desire to elevate subordinates. This may be due to fear of future competition, loss of power or influence or just a lack of human concern. I remember years ago, promoting an English learning program to a very large hotel chain. The Anglo management was all for it but when they went to their highest level Latino supervisor, the person was not favorable to the program and gave all kinds of reasons to suppress the initiative. The real reason was that this person was the "go to" person on all things Latino and didn't want to lose her influence. How do you combat this? You absolutely must teach and train a leadership model that is based in service and social responsibility.

2. Classism causes some people to reject others of less status. We have seen over and over the angst of classism against people of a lower socioeconomic class. Do not assume that just because someone is educated and "professional" that they will make a good manager, supervisor or superintendent over the labor force. You must insure that outside of possessing the necessary professional skills that they also have a favorable attitude towards the people in the labor force. If you do not, you will get a domineering and demeaning type of leadership that will actually create more turnover. We have also seen this many times. How do you combat this? You absolutely must teach and train a leadership model that is based in service and social responsibility.

3. Classism causes some people to not want to assume leadership position. I mentioned this in my first post but it bears repeating. We have seen many people who would, in fact, make excellent supervisors or managers, reject the idea of being in a leadership role. Most of the time, this is due to them being concerned about having to broker between Anglo management and their family, friends or countrymen. It puts them in a very uncomfortable social position. These people must be nurtured over time. They must be taught the benefits of being in a leadership position and how this can actually help their family, friends and countrymen. You should train them in leadership skills before you ask them to be a leader. You let that desire grow in them through professional leadership training that will allow them to see the true benefits of service.

I believe that classism is a serious flaw in the Latino culture and it keeps us from achieving all that we are purposed to be in both this country and in Latin America. The way to change this is through teaching a leadership model of service that strives to elevate and educate the people. When this happens, classism will be dealt a serious blow in the Latino culture and our people will be even more productive and profitable.

You may be interested to know that at the behest of Certainteed Corporation, we developed a leadership training course for Latinos that is totally in Spanish. It is designed to teach Latinos how to properly lead in the American organization. It really is a fantastic course and I would like to see how we could show you how this course could benefit you and your organization. If you have an interest, let me know by contacting me here.

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posted by Ricardo González on August 12, 2008.

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