Navigating Two Cultures and Corporate America
Having spent the better part of my business career to date leading initiatives, operational functions, teams of people and companies in senior and executive leadership roles, I have always been fascinated with leadership. I’ve studied it, observed it, practiced it, lived it and continue to learn about it. And as a Latina, I have also been intrigued by the way that culture and someone’s upbringing impacts professional advancement and leadership.
Early on in my career, I can remember many times when I would be chatting with co-workers and then find myself quieting down when the conversation turned to childhood experiences or in some cases even weekend plans for fear of standing out and being looked at differently. In my head I would think, no one wants to hear that instead of going to summer camps or going on ski vacations as a kid that my family and I moved frequently from one location to another in search of jobs for my father. Or that I grew up listening to Mexican regional music and watching Spanish telenovelas until I was in my early teens. Or that my family and I went through the immigration process for more than a decade and I was responsible for helping with a lot of the responsibilities associated with going through the process. Or that I spent a lot of weekdays and weekends helping my parents with interpretation, managing different aspects of their lives, giving them rides to work in some cases and dealing with an abundance of family matters as I started my career out of college. Now of course, I could relate to other conversation topics and would share other aspects of my upbringing that were a little more mainstream, but some of these conversations would always feel a little superficial.
I did not pick up on the impact that my culture, background and even socioeconomic status and how I carried those aspects of my identity had on others and their perception of me until I received formal feedback about it once. Some of my co-workers shared that they felt they didn’t know much about me and that I also had a tendency to be impersonal at the start of meetings and jumped quickly to formal business discussion. I always take time to reflect on feedback and I sat with this particular feedback for awhile. I had always thought that in business, it was a good thing to get on with business. You keep your personal life separate from your work life, or so I thought. I also thought fitting in was a good thing. There were also few instances of where I could observe other bicultural people like me that eagerly jumped into conversations with their unique upbringing stories and used those stories as a way to build relationships. Partially that was because there were few bicultural people to relate to in my workplace. Over time, I learned to embrace my culture and identity in the workplace differently and I built additional skills around influencing, building relationships, embracing authenticity and self-awareness, amongst others which strengthened my overall leadership.
I think about Latina professionals in the workforce today and their experiences in advancing in their careers and I don’t think I’m alone in my experience. In fact reading Lean In’s The State of Latinas in Corporate America report and learning that Latinas lose the most ground across the corporate pipeline, demonstrated this is both an opportunity and challenge for us. As Latina professionals, we are constantly navigating two cultures, as well as gender stereotypes, all while navigating the complexities of career advancement. The question of are we fitting in weighs on our minds and unfortunately we are judged for how well we do it. In some company cultures, advocates tend to encourage Latina leaders to assimilate to the office more, meaning they should adopt the mainstream culture in the office, which is typically male-dominated and not bicultural. If we have an accent, our intelligence and capability is questioned. If we don’t have direct experience for a job, the perception is we’re less qualified and we will struggle with the higher responsibilities. If we aren’t speaking up enough or aren’t boisterous and gregarious, we’re not good salespeople or leaders. If we ask too many questions, if we speak up too much or stand our ground on something, we’re perceived as threatening, aggressive or even combative. The reality is that these perceptions create real challenges that make it harder for promotion and advancement.
The Lean In report provides a number of action steps organizations can take to help address this challenge. One particular recommendation is increasing the focus on sponsorship for Latinas, because sponsorship accelerates careers. However, according to the report, Latinas are less likely to have the senior-level networks that lead to sponsorship. To address this, informal sponsorship should be encouraged and offered. However, it’s important that informal sponsors understand the support that Latinas need to be successful in order for those relationships to be effective. I believe this is critical. A cookie cutter formal mentorship program will not cut it. I also think access to opportunities is important, in addition to sponsorship. If we aren’t given access to higher roles, then sponsorship can only get us so far. While we have a ways to go to see more Latinas in the C-Suite, it starts with one person, one promotion and one organization at a time.
How are you supporting Latina professionals in your organization? Are you tracking their advancement in the organization? Do you know what the specific opportunities and challenges are in your organization to grow their advancement?
For more information on how De Dios Consulting can help your organization address this important opportunity, checkout our services.
