Tria Deibert:

We are a small part of the organization, but the ripple effect of what we do is immense. And so when you think about pebbles, if you have more pebbles, you create more ripples. And so that's what our Culture Champions do. They're not paid for being a Culture Champion, it's a voluntary position. But they are all individuals who believe in the organization and who also, I would say, their souls lit on fire by this type of work.

Tim Spiker:

The most organic and effective means of scaling culture is to create opportunities for authentic buy-in. I'm your host, Tim Spiker, and this is the Be Worth* Following podcast, a production of the PeopleForward Network. On this show we talk with exceptional leaders, thinkers, and researchers about what actually drives effective leadership across the globe and over time.

You just heard from Tria Deibert, the Vice President of Culture at Hackensack Meridian Health. HMH, as it is known, is a 35,000 member network of healthcare providers. Tria moved into the VP of Culture role from a very unexpected spot in the organization. Her unique expertise prior to beating in this role is something that she leverages every single day. But where Tria came from isn't the only unexpected part of her work, wait until you hear about the structure and size of her department. When Tria made the move to VP of Culture it lit her on fire in all the best ways. She now creates opportunities for others to experience that very same jolt. And in doing so, she is fostering something that every organization needs, organic and authentic cultural alignment.

Tria's move into her current role, came at a time in her life that taught her more than one important lesson about leadership, and that is where we begin.

Tria Deibert:

The things that really have shaped me as a leader, also as a person in the past few years particularly, are self-discovery, becoming a mother, and changes I experienced with my leadership, and I can dig into those a little bit.

On the self-discovery piece, I was a marketer by background and spent a lot of my career in a stand-in, deliver type of role. And even in my early, early career it was in ad sales. As I moved into healthcare, I started to look at the world a little bit differently, but I will say, my 40s, I just turned 50, my 40s were a time of really great, deep discovery. It helped me become more self-aware, but it was through things like learning about my strengths, doing strengths assessments, and going to grad school.

I decided to go back to school when I was in my, as my son would say, late 40s, he gave me a birthday card that said, "Happy late 40s." But I went back to grad school because I felt like there was a bit of a gap as I shifted from marketing to culture. And what I really found during that time was not that I took so much away from learning about different theories, that was great, it was important, but the opportunity to reflect on what I was learning and how I was showing up was incredible.

I feel like during that time, and again, this also ties into being a mother, I had a lot of time where I was thinking about how I show up as a person, how I show up as a mother, the things I see in my child that I want to work on myself. They're great mirrors. You can see your strengths and you can see your opportunities in your children sometimes. And so I feel like that all came together in a way that helped me look inward and changed how I was showing up as a leader.

Tim Spiker:

What I love about that story and all of those pieces coming together, is it points out this growth trajectory for us doesn't end. It doesn't stop at 30. What are the opportunities that we have to continue? Certainly the very best leaders never stop growing and developing. And you're also talking about in meaningful places. You're not like, "Well, I shaved a rough edge off of this one skill." You're talking about self-awareness and how you show up. And I think that that's so important for all of us to be reminded of, is that yes, there is this thing called the formative years, but we mistakenly lean into sometimes the logical but inaccurate notion that we're fully baked at the age of 30.

Now you mentioned in there something that I knew that we wanted to get into, because you're helping to scale culture and leadership development within a sizable organization, but your background begins in marketing. Walk us through that, because that is not your standard path towards culture and leadership development.

Tria Deibert:

I always talk about my career as definitely it wasn't a straight path. As a little girl, I never thought about working in culture. Honestly, as a little girl, I never thought about working in marketing. I wanted to be a waitress.

But what I have discovered is I spent a lot of time thinking about my purpose. And my purpose is to really to architect ideas, experiences, and programs that have a positive impact on individuals, organizations, and communities. That's a little wordy, but really it's about creating experiences that have an impact. And I love that, I'm more of a builder than a sustainer. I love to create. And I was afforded that in marketing for sure, but absolutely in culture as well.

And so I think in addition to my purpose, the skills that you have in marketing to package an idea and to really convey the why, getting people to understand what's important, help me in my work in culture. Because initially, the idea of how we're going to move forward together as a new ... We were a newly merged organization. You really have to capture people's minds and hearts and do it in a way that they can remember, that makes sense, and that is authentic.

So language can be beautiful and not meaningful. It's really about finding language that is beautiful but meaningful to the people who are hearing it. They need to be able to see themselves, see the possibility, see the future in what you're talking about. And I think those are some of the skills that I brought to that role.

Tim Spiker: