Dialogue-Driven Leadership: Creating Traction for a Social Justice Framework for Local Public Health

In 2009, the Ingham County Health Department (ICHD) initiated its Health Equity and Social Justice Workshops—four-day, dialogue-based sessions attended by members of its own workforce and interested community members. The workshops immerse participants in an exploration of the root causes of health inequity and the consequences of unearned privilege across target and non-target groups. They are part of a multi-year effort to transform the department's practice that was first described in the 2007 NACCHO publication, Tackling Health Inequities Through Public Health Practice: A Handbook for Action. ICHD also funds and monitors dialogue-based efforts to transform practice in several other local health departments through grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

In this session, the presenter will share information on 1) the steps required to create the internal capacity to conduct these workshops; 2) workshop content; 3) the rationale behind adopting a dialogue-based approach to transforming practice; and 4) impact of the workshops on participating members of the department work force. The presenter will contrast dialogue as a driver of transformation of public health practice with other possible drivers (information, policy, training, etc.), arguing that dialogue has a unitive function in overcoming persistent bureaucratic barriers to change.