Latina leadership development: Lessons from the creation and facilitation of a game-based workshop.

Abstract

Latinas are underrepresented in positions of leadership in the United States. Similar to other women of color, Latinas face a myriad of personal challenges and professional barriers in leadership development. The complexities of experiencing layers of oppression, a bicultural identity, and a lack of representation in leadership-development practice render a need for new approaches. This need can be met with innovative, creative, and culturally sensitive approaches to Latina leadership development. This article explores unique aspects of Latina leadership development that emerged during the process of creating a facilitated Latina leadership game. El Rio de Dichos is a game-based workshop centered around the theme of dichos, common Spanish idioms, that allow players to explore cultural themes, differing Latina leader personas, and the notion of scarce resources in the context of organizational leadership.

Introduction to supporting women in leadership across industries and contexts.

“…These three papers expose some of the cultural biases, barriers, and needed facilitators for women to be promoted into leadership roles. They also describe the importance of understanding how intersectionality and social location (Na & Kawahara, 2022; Padilla et al, 2022) contribute to leadership outcomes and experiences of leadership development. The themes extracted from these papers give a rich perspective and an understanding of how to apply concepts to leadership-development programming and support for underrepresented women leaders.…”

“…As noted in Brancu & Hayes (2020), in the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion within consulting psychology, authors often bring a personal perspective, not just a professional one. Padilla et al (2022) describe the experience of Latinas in particular. Like other women of color, Latinas are underrepresented in leadership roles in the Unites States and face a myriad of barriers in leadership development.…”

“…Padilla et al (2022) describe the experience of Latinas in particular. Like other women of color, Latinas are underrepresented in leadership roles in the Unites States and face a myriad of barriers in leadership development.…”

Why Games for Leadership?

“…Non‐digital examples of gaming for influence also exist including the table‐top game, Road to Racial Justice , designed to help players discuss privilege and racism in their daily interactions (Kivel, 2022) or El Rio de Dichos , a card game that exposes individuals to the challenges Latinas face in the workplace (Padilla et al., 2022). Lasely's symposium article, Role‐playing Games as a New Adventure for Leadership‐As‐Practice: Forming a Leadership Framework Around Collective Creativity and Development , explores the theoretical underpinnings for the use of analog role‐playing games as leadership practice amidst adaptive challenges.…”

Level up: Games for socially just leadership education

“…Latinx game players are able to deepen their understanding of how their identity impacts their career trajectories. Non‐Latinx players gain insight into the barriers Latinas face professionally with the hope they become more informed allies (Padilla et al., in press).…”