Red Rover—A Lesson on Disparity, Inclusion, and Culture

I can still hear the song playing over and over in my head. Red rover, red rover, let Kayla come over. Kayla and I were the last two 5-year-olds left on the west wing of the game. We felt left out and disheartened. It was a horrible feeling. Those feelings generated so many thoughts… so many questions at such a young age. Even in young children, fear can perpetuate feelings of self-doubt and it reinforces a culture of exclusion and isolation. These feelings transcend the playground. They move into the classroom and beyond. Fear at that age meant not being good enough or having the confidence to share my voice and use my strengths.

Although the game is mostly banned today in many child playgrounds, are we still living and re-living Red Rover in the workplace?

It’s a simple child’s game that shouldn’t mean anything and yet today we’ve learned to, consciously or unconsciously, include certain people and exclude others. But why? Each person’s perspective has merit. Each person’s knowledge has value. We made the decision to hire them. Yet we make assumptions about their interest, capacity, level of engagement, and fit. These assumptions limit their career trajectory and have a damaging effect on our organization’s capacity to innovate.

One might argue that people in leadership are tasked to assess who is the right fit for their organization. My challenge to leaders is to question whether the concept of “fit” is an outdated notion.

Think about how many times we overlook history, knowledge, experience, and perspective from our more tenured team members. On the flip side, how often do we discount ideas from the rookies, because they don’t have “enough” experience to truly understand the problem? This only serves to perpetuate a cycle of disparity and exclusion in the workplace. These actions can have a lasting impact on organizational culture that harvests fear of engagement and repression of voice.

As more women have joined the workforce in recent decades, leadership styles have become more collaborative and relationship-based compared to historically male-oriented leadership styles. Women, by nature, often exercise highly connected relationships through bonding. The level of connectedness varies based on the individual’s background, culture, education, self-awareness, and life experiences. 

Personal and professional growth is partially accomplished through self-exploration and reaching forward to literary works that can help explain how past experiences, traditions, and culture influence leadership style. I frequently seek out past and present trailblazers who share my cultural and situational experiences to identify strengths and shortcomings that I might not instinctively consider in my journey. One of my favorites is Juana Bordas, a Latina community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. In her recent book, The Power of Latino Leadership, she describes several actions a person must embrace in order to build a powerful culture within an organization. For example, personalismo or the “character of oneself” is a personal commitment to apply the belief that every person has inherent value and thus deserves respect.

For Latinos, personalismo is an expectation that lives inherently in our culture and traditions. A person who embodies personalismo is the essence of a leader and thus held in high regard. They become the rock of the organization and are expected to live up to a higher standard with every decision and action. As leaders, we must be cognizant of actions that could inadvertently exclude colleagues with these cultural sensitivities.

The lessons learned from Red Rover are all too real in the corporate world. Those who lead people may disrespect and devalue people, both overtly and inadvertently. Either way, this breaks the bond of trust and has a long-term impact on the culture and success of the organization.

When leaders are faced with significant opportunities and challenges, early in the life cycle of planning they should seek, not only the voices but the engagement of all members of their teams. These acts promote inclusion, solidarity, respect, and value, thereby reinforcing the Culture of Parity in the organization. Stakeholder buy-in and vision acceptance become the pillars surrounding the change. It impacts their Destino or future paths. For the Latino, it solidifies fate and purpose. After all, one’s Destino is but “a dance with the currents of life.”

Bordas J. (2013). The Power of Latino Leadership: Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution. Berrett0Koehler Publishers. ISBN 978-1609948870.