In this Member Spotlight, we're highlighting a new-to-the-profession member's healthcare HR career journey.
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About
Hi, I’m Sarah Nave—a lifelong resident of Northeast Tennessee and the Appalachian Highlands, and an alumna of East Tennessee State University. As a licensed Tennessee educator, I bring a strong foundation in education to my role as a Senior Training Specialist at Ballad Health.
I enjoy connecting with team members and leaders across the system, especially through facilitating the Excellence in Leadership program for newly hired or promoted leaders. My background includes public education and nonprofit leadership. Outside of work, I enjoy life with my husband and energetic toddler. I’d love to connect and learn together.
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What drew you to healthcare HR?
What drew me to this field was the opportunity to help other team members on the front line. I have multiple family members who work in clinical roles, and while I know that's not the role I was made for, I still wanted to be involved.
Truthfully, for the longest time I didn’t realize that roles like mine were an option. When I learned that I could serve team members by combining my love of teaching with my passion for leadership concepts, it was like something clicked. I cannot imagine taking on another role.
What impact are you most proud of in the past year?
My main responsibility is to organize and facilitate the Excellence in Leadership Program, which is our internal leadership program for newly hired or promoted leaders at Ballad Health.
One of my success metrics is our one-year retention rate of leaders, and our goal is to retain 75% over the course of the year following a leader’s graduation from the program. We’ve held an average of 96% leader retention so far in 2026.
What’s one practice, mindset, or tool that’s made a difference for you?
The practice I’ve really leaned on in this role is asking for feedback about almost everything. Our team has fostered and protected a culture of trust, which creates psychological safety so we can share feedback with one another.
By asking for feedback, I’ve learned things I wouldn’t have otherwise, improved my professional processes, and adapted the Excellence in Leadership Program over time to better meet the needs of new leaders in an ever-changing field.
How has ASHHRA supported your growth?
The educational opportunities are far beyond what I expected. I’m a firm believer that we do better when we know better, so it’s a great first step.
I also love reading the ASHHRA forum pages. I haven’t personally written anything yet, but just reading the scenarios and questions others have shared has given me valuable insight into other healthcare HR teams.
What challenge are you navigating right now?
The scope of our roles was the biggest surprise to me. We truly get to “play in everyone’s backyard,” which is also a great opportunity because our impact can be widespread.
What advice would you give to someone earlier in their journey?
Be prepared to adapt and learn new things, even when it feels uncomfortable. Growth often comes from moments when you don’t have all the answers.
Ask thoughtful questions, stay curious, and be willing to listen first—especially to perspectives different from your own. Taking time to truly hear others builds trust, strengthens relationships, and leads to better outcomes for everyone involved.
A resource that shaped your growth
Crucial Conversations for Accountability is a class I wish I had taken earlier in my career. When I stepped into my first leadership role, I didn’t know how to effectively hold a “crucial conversation.”
Learning that I can be both completely respectful and candid at the same time changed how I approach my work and collaborate with others.
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Why address age-related conflicts?
Today, older adult employees are living longer and retiring later than their colleagues before them, and this has led to the potential for more older-younger team conflict. It is important we find new approaches, because when two or a few people on a team are struggling with a conflict it is likely the entire team struggles. When not addressed properly, conflicts can lead to:
- Decreased trust and collaboration
- Communications breakdowns
- Poor morale and low engagement
- Reduced productivity and higher turnover
- Unfavorable impacts on patient experiences and the quality of care.
What is the age bias connection?
Age bias or ageism is a systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people due to age, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and gender. While often unintentional, age bias can show up on workplace teams in various ways, sometimes in the form of microaggressions, subtle comments, mistaken assumptions or false beliefs. Examples include:
Capability or competence assumptions:
- “You’re young, so this will be easy for you.”
- “Let’s have someone older/younger handle this. I think they’ll relate better.”
- “You’ve been here a long time, and this change might be too much for you.”
Commitment or flexibility assumptions:
- “The young ones don’t stay anywhere very long.”
- “At your age, you’re probably just coasting into retirement.”
- “This generation expects everything instantly.”
- “I’m old enough to remember when people worked long hours without complaining.”
Technology-related microaggressions:
- “Since you’re older and don’t like technology, let’s bring someone else in for this project.”
- “It’s pretty basic. Gen Z probably grew up with it.
Sarcasm:
- “Well, that’s very Gen Z of you.”
- “Classic Boomer” or “Okay Boomer.”
- Laughing off a concern as a generational issue.
Without intending to, the above examples can marginalize employees by age or generation, impacting a sense of belonging on a team, perceived credibility, or opportunities for development. They may escalate to misunderstandings, positioning (digging in), personalization (making the disagreement personal), to a full conflict that leads to grievances, investigations, disengagement, retaliation, termination or another unfavorable impact.
Can we shift from generational descriptions and identify our team members in other ways?
As we consider ways to address conflict between older and younger team members, can we ask important questions to help reframe how we identify team members by generation or their birth year, and instead focus on skills and competencies? Or character strengths? Or shared experiences?
These questions, reframing strategies, and conflict resolution tactics will be explored in an ASHHRA26 session workshop on Monday, May 18, at 1:50 p.m., Reframing and Addressing Conflicts Between Older and Younger Team Members, presented by Margie Hackbarth, Employee Experience Advisor with Marshfield Clinic – Sanford Health. Hackbarth will share some background on generational theory, offer reframing strategies, and suggest how to address active conflicts between older and younger employees. ♦
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Author bios:
Margie Hackbarth, MBA, CCM is an Employee Experience Advisor with Marshfield Clinic - Sanford Health. With nearly 40 years' experience in healthcare, she is a certified conflict manager and supports employee experience programs. She researched and developed a leadership development program, "Resolve: Applying Strengths to Manage Conflict" and is the author of "Amaging: Growing Old on Purpose."
Dr. Jean Gordon is an associate professor and online MHA Division director at the Medical University of South Carolina and is a family nurse practitioner and consultant on the business side of healthcare through human resource management for strategic management, leadership development, and training.
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