Lessons from the career ‘jungle gym’

Tess Wall, director of Grand Forks Public Health, emphasized honing knowledge in leadership journey for latest ‘18:83’ talk

When Tess Wall spent the first few minutes of her 18:83 Speaker Series talk going through her career, recalling the moments in which she took risks and excelled, it wasn’t a means of bragging to her UND audience.

Now serving as the director of Grand Forks Public Health, Wall instead wanted to show what’s possible when one focuses on skillsets and takes advantage of opportunities.

On Wednesday, April 8, Wall was the latest to take part in UND’s speaker series drawing people from campus and across the community to speak about leadership for around 18 minutes and 83 seconds, corresponding with the University’s founding year.

Wall opened with a “Happy National Public Health Week,” but also admitted that getting on stage at the Memorial Union was out of her comfort zone.

But her willingness to do those momentarily uncomfortable things made her progress from being a bedside nurse to earning her MBA, then working her way from the corporate side of the health care field to where she is now, with Grand Forks Public Health.

Student of leadership

Wall knew early on that she had the makings of a helper, fixer and lifelong learner, she said. Wanting job security, she went into nursing, and she passed her qualifying exams to start her career in June 2012.

Wall worked in a labor and delivery unit of a hospital for the first three years.

“What I’ve found is that the ‘career ladder’ is more of a jungle gym,” she remarked.

Where opportunities opened, she followed, which took her from the bedside to broader responsibilities — first at the hospital, then for the regional hospital system.

At each step, she honed her knowledge and approached her roles with an urgency to learn and network.

“I wanted to be a student of leadership,” Wall said, which led her through several decisions along the way. “I demonstrated value in the way I focused on building relationships.”

In the career “jungle gym,” valuing pressure as a privilege was another outlook that helped her in accepting different roles and opportunities to lead.

Take the leap

In leaving private health care to take the public health role in Grand Forks, Wall said that the differences were immediate, but she was able to look back on her career to get acclimated.

“The point there was to get granular about the experiences you’ve had, and what you learned through those times,” Wall said. “That will set you apart in this AI-generated world, to show your value.”

She had a few points of advice for people facing similar leaps along their career paths.

Meet people where they are 

• Leadership is full of hard conversations. Understand who you’re talking to and what you can do in that moment to listen to and support them.

Take the leap 

• “Things usually work out,” Wall remarked. “If I didn’t do that at least a couple times, I wouldn’t speaking here today.”

Understand your personal values and how they align with your organization 

• Even if the pay is good, the slower road of value misalignment is what causes burnout. The people you have around you are important in leadership.

Prevent, promote and protect 

• The role of public health organizations across the country is to prevent, promote and protect, which is something that Wall took to heart regarding institutional knowledge. Work to make sure knowledge is transferable, she said. Cross train in skills and tasks so that people can feel like they can step away, if needed.

The next installment of the 18:83 Speaker Series will take place on April 22 and feature Laura Link, associate professor of Teaching & Leadership and director of the Master of Science in Teaching & Leadership program.