Healthcare Leaders: Learn your biases

To unveil a competitive advantage for yourself and your organization

An educational and leadership development module of the Central Illinois Chapter of ACHE, with 2018 Innovation Grant funding from ACHE

Implicit, or unconscious, biases are prejudices we have but that we are not aware of. In the workplace, they cause people to make decisions that exclude some people and include others—in hiring, promotions and project teams, for example—without regard to factors relevant to the job’s demands.

So implicit bias can be a detriment to your organization.

For leaders in healthcare, the Central Illinois Chapter of ACHE has prepared this learning module–including a pre-test, video and post-test–to help you examine your own implicit biases.

The goal: help you become aware of your biases and their impact on decisions in the workplace. You will then be in position to address them in yourself, among your colleagues and your organization.

To begin, start with this learning module from the Central Illinois Chapter of ACHE:

Take a pre-test to evaluate your personal implicit biases. Choose the one labeled ‘race.’ The anonymous online tests, called Implicit Association Tests (IATs), were created by an academic research team at Harvard University. Save your results. Note that no one has access to your personal results.

Next, watch this video  (first 40 minutes) using this slide deck (PDF download) of the Implicit Bias educational program presented by the Central Illinois Chapter of ACHE in May 2018, given by noted expert and champion of implicit bias education, Kris Kieper Machajewski, President and CEO of YWCA Northwestern Illinois. (Video also includes interesting panel discussions related to the topic.)

Take the same Implicit Association Test (IAT) again at the Harvard website. Compare your results to the first time you took it.

Take a very short post-test on SurveyMonkey. This is important for program organizers, to evaluate the effectiveness of the training module. You will be able to return to this module after you answer the 6 questions.

 

 

 

What’s next?

Share this Implicit Bias training module with your team. Download the PDF of the Central Ill ACHE Implicit Bias Learning Module flyer.  It includes an active link to this website. Encourage your colleagues to take these four steps above, as well, to help effect change that can impact our organizations and the people we serve.

View these additional educational resources: