How do we build high-caliber bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent? What programs should be used? Should they be public, private, non-profit, or a combination of the three? Why does it matter?
Background
Bilingual talent, without a doubt, is the fastest-growing workforce pool in the nation. Whether it’s private, public or non-profit vacancies, speaking Spanish is a preferred skill and often a requirement. Talent is the life and blood of any organization. The leadership is the heart. The operations is the left arm. The staff is the right arm. I hope you pardon my anatomy analogy, but hope it makes sense. The talent is what keeps the organization going. So how do we build bilingual talent?
Build Wings
Leadership should provide avenues of opportunity to mentor and shape the organization’s bilingual talent through putting this talent through management simulations. If you have a committee or project, put young Maya in the hot seat and evaluate her performance. Test her ability to develop presentations, present/brief-back, and repeat over (until he/she builds muscle memory). Supervisors should provide exploratory opportunities for Maya, from providing access to management to IT, from human resources to finance, while holding Maya accountable to the organization’s standards. Organizations, large and small, should groom their high-caliber bilingual talent internally for higher levels of responsibility, and be evaluated by the senior leadership team. Building, and enabling wings requires a commitment, persistence and having a pulse of your current assets: talent. If done correctly, naturally talent will rise to the occasion and meet the challenge head-on. Your organization will meet it’s mission. Maya will thank you later.
Provide Guidance
Forget the crawl, walk and run nonsense. Provide guidance. Period. Brief Maya on your organization’s task, condition and standard of which you expect her to execute on. Guidance is creating an atmosphere where trust is the foundation, and where excelling standards is the norm. Guidance is a compass. It’s a set of points on the map that clearly outline the territory. Leadership should put their high-performing advisors with Maya, not the dull, bland or quiet. Maya should feel proud of the organization, the team, leadership and the vision. After it is all said and done, Maya should feel like she’s ready to become a pirate and run with the ship.
Get out of the Way
Too many leaders make the mistake of getting in the way after building their talents’ wings. Big mistake. Getting out of the way means removing the atmosphere of ceilings and brick walls that resemble fortresses and reengineer your organization and systems to get the most out of Maya that now has wings. Oh, and don’t suppress her creativity.
Partnerships between organizations and corporations to develop bilingual talent is smart business. Between, non-profit and corporations is also smart. What matters is that bilingual talent get exposure to as many facets of the organization as possible. To have access to leadership’s thoughts, insights and vision. To be given an opportunity to learn, demonstrate their learned skill sets, and apply that expertise. It starts early in their careers. It should matter to leadership, but here’s betting human resources can play a bigger role.
David Molina is the Founder/CEO of BilingualHire. You can reach him at: +1-503-708-4614 or email him at: david@bilingualhireco.com.
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