Although the following anecdote is not a true story, anyone who works with Hispanic employees will probably agree that it very well could be!

As the parlor supervisor at a dairy, it is John´s job to manage the Hispanic employees. He trains new employees, oversees daily routines and deals with any problems that come up. His Spanish-speaking ability is limited, but he feels that between his Spanish, his employees´ limited English, and a fair amount of sign language and Spanglish, they get along just fine. Lately they have had a higher-than-usual somatic cell count and an increased number of clinical mastitis cases. John spends some extra time observing in the parlor and realizes that the employees aren´t all following the same milking procedure. So he holds a meeting with all the employees, reviews the steps that he expects all the employees to follow, then asks for questions. Silence. "Does everybody understand?" Heads nod emphatically as the employees smile and respond with a mix of "Yes" and “Sí”. Satisfied that he has gotten the message across, John thanks them all for their time and hard work. The next morning as he walks through the parlor, he notices that the milkers are doing EXACTLY what he told them NOT to do yesterday!  Either they are blatantly disobeying him...or they didn'´t understand. It wouldn´t be the first time! John is frustrated and doesn't know what to do.

Does this sound all too familiar? If you work with Hispanic employees, you´ve surely experienced your fair share of lapses in communication. But why does this happen so often? In Latin American countries, the culture stresses respect and deference towards elders and anyone in a position of power- be that a boss or a supervisor. Avoiding eye contact and agreeing, even if not in agreement, are both ways to show respect. This cultural barrier alone can lead to misunderstandings, even when a language barrier has been overcome.
 
Some other common tendencies in the communication style of Latin American cultures are to:

• Strive to maintain the harmony between the employer and employee
• Avoid confrontation
• Imply what is meant instead of stating it directly
• Rely less on what is said verbally, and more on what is said through nonverbal cues and what is implied by the context of the situation

So how can you get around this difficult situation? You probably will not be able to change the way your employees communicate with you overnight, but with some encouragement, over time they may become more open to our American style of direct communication. In the meantime, when explaining procedures, go to the area of the farm where the specific job will be done and show them what you want them to do. Then, to make sure that they understand, ask them to show you how they will complete the task. If they make a mistake, correct them. If they do well, praise them.
 
This approach to communicating certainly takes more time, but in the long run it can prevent many misunderstandings and save you lots of frustration.