Sheryl Clark

I attribute my success to never being afraid to dive in and learn, even when I don't know the answer. Throughout my career, I've always been willing to reach out to people, ask questions, and figure things out from scratch when necessary. I'm a big believer in going to meetings and listening, even if the topic doesn't directly relate to my work, because you never know when that knowledge will come in handy. I stay very organized and I'm an excellent multitasker - if I'm not organized in my brain, I can't do all these functions, so I have to stay on top of everything. I think my willingness to learn continuously, combined with my passion for what I do, has been key. I've never felt like my work is just a job - it's always been a career I genuinely love, and I think that enthusiasm and dedication shows in everything I do. I also believe in working with people, not over them, and being compassionate and respectful in all my interactions, which has helped me build strong relationships throughout my career.

The best career advice I ever received came from a doctor who was the chairman when I first became a reimbursement manager in 2009. He told me that when you start something new, especially when you're going to be managing people you previously worked with, don't change anything right away. He said to give yourself a few months, look at everything, and decide what you want to do, but don't make changes yet. If you think there need to be changes, you need to do it slowly so that everybody can acclimate at the same time. I've followed that advice through my entire career. When I took over a new group of people who were very set in their ways, I didn't change anything at first - I went to them and asked how they did things, then I slowly implemented changes, starting with very small things so they didn't feel like I was coming in and telling them they were doing everything wrong. No one's really doing anything wrong, it's just the way they've always done it, and some things just aren't as efficient as others. I've even taken this approach into my personal life, and it's served me incredibly well.

I would tell young women entering this field to stay who you are. I've been in many positions where I worked for people that were not very nice or very compassionate to myself or any employees, but you have to stay true to yourself. Be strong. Don't be afraid to disagree in your professional life or with someone you're working with, because if you disagree with someone, that's okay - there could be another way. You just have to try and convince whoever you're talking to what the other way is. There's no perfect right way, but you have to be able to have conversations to say, you know what, that doesn't make sense to me, I think it would be better doing this, or should we do it this way, because I really don't agree with the plan. Young women today are very nervous and they get scared, especially when you work for people who are very strong-willed and very hard-headed. You don't have to match that intensity, but you have to be professional and be able to speak up, and be confident in yourself. Be very confident in what you know. You don't know everything, but it doesn't mean you can't contribute. It's like putting sticky notes on the wall and just slapping ideas up there, then picking out the best one together.

I feel like the revenue integrity and revenue cycle portion of healthcare is normally at the end of the priority list, and to me, I feel like if that could be brought more to the top and looked at more seriously, it would make a huge difference. People need to understand how much coders do, and reimbursement specialists do, and denial management people do, to make everything function and bring in that reimbursement to have all these companies run. I think this is so important, but a lot of times, everywhere I've worked, people say we're always at the end, we always find out later about changes or decisions that affect our work. Let's find out early. Let's try to explain to everybody what we do and why it matters, because it's all cyclical, and sometimes being at the end is not always the best. If revenue cycle professionals were included earlier in decision-making processes and given more recognition for the critical role we play in keeping healthcare organizations financially viable, I think we could be much more effective and the entire system would run better.

The values most important to me are respect, being compassionate to everyone, and listening - truly listening, not just hearing. There's a difference between listening and hearing, and you want to make sure you're hearing someone but also listening to what they say so that if there's something going on, you can help, or just listen. One of the things my daughter says to me when she comes to me about certain things is, Mom, I don't need you to fix anything, I just want you to listen to me. I use that in my personal life and I use that in my professional life, because sometimes you just need to listen to someone and let them get something off their chest and move on. It's not always something you have to go in and try to make better. I believe in working with people, not being their boss in the traditional sense - I want to work with them. There's a difference between delegating and being a micromanager, and I've always tried to be someone who collaborates and supports rather than controls.