Our Vision
Hospitals that promote health for everyone—
patients, families, and the professionals who care for them.
Hospitals make a sacred promise to their patients:
Unconditional Acceptance and Care for Every Patient
What if hospitals made that same promise
to nurses and other healthcare professionals?
You know the reality: Many nurses experience burnout. Mismanaged conflicts drain millions. Talented people leave.
But what if it could be different?
What if hospitals kept their promise to patients and to the professionals who care for them?
We envision hospitals:
Where administrators, nurses, physicians, and staff work in an environment infused with genuine love and care.
Where respect flows in every direction.
Where compassion sustains the compassionate.
Where people don't just endure. They flourish.
Where burnout becomes rare and self-actualization becomes common.
Where five-star outcomes reflect a five-star commitment to everyone who makes healing possible.
This is healthcare reimagined. This is what we're called to build.
This is the vision of the Conflict-Intelligent Healthcare Program.
What’s Standing in the Way of this Vision?
Mismanaged workplace conflict is a major barrier. It drains millions of dollars annually from the average hospital through burnout, turnover, and lost productivity—while eroding the culture of care you're trying to build.
Conflict-Intelligent Healthcare is developing a program to put hospitals on a path to achieving the vision summarized above.
Complete our 5-minute questionnaire to discover how well your hospital manages conflict now.
“Great people inside a flawed system will always underperform those in a great system.”
Dave Chase, Health Rosetta
How Well Does Your Hospital Manage Conflict?
Complete our free questionnaire and receive an instant report on your hospital’s Conflict Intelligence Rating based on 20 questions in 7 areas:
Conflict Frequency and Awareness
Communication and Emotional Safety
Impact on Performance and Retention
Patient Safety and Quality
Organizational Culture and Leadership
Recognition and Fairness
Financial and Organizational Impact
In 5 minutes you’ll gain valuable insights into important aspects of your hospital’s conflict intelligence.
Completely free and confidential.
Click the button below to get started.
The Costs of Mismanaged Conflict
The Human Cost
Stress and Mental Problems
Nurse burnout
Physician/nurse tensions
Treatment errors
High turnover
Litigation
The Dollar Cost
When Sarah, an experienced ICU nurse, resigned after a year-long conflict with her unit manager, the hospital wrote it off as "normal turnover." But the real cost?
Recruitment: $15,000 (advertising, agency fees, HR time)
Onboarding: $25,000 (orientation, training, reduced productivity)
Lost Productivity: $30,000 (3-month ramp-up at reduced efficiency)
Team Impact: Unmeasured but real (remaining staff demoralization, increased turnover risk)
Total: $70,000+ for one preventable resignation
Now multiply that across your organization:
300-bed hospital with 18% RN turnover = 90 nurse departures/year
At $50,000 average replacement cost = $4.5 million in turnover costs alone
Add productivity losses from workplace conflicts ($1-3M), absenteeism ($500K-$1M), quality impacts, and leadership time consumed, and the total annual cost of unmanaged conflict reaches $8-15 million for a typical hospital.
These costs are hidden because they're dispersed. But they're real, measurable, and—most important—preventable through conflict-intelligent leadership and systems.
The chart on the right shows what 12,581 nurses told the American Nurses Association in the ANA’s 2023 Annual Survey about how they felt at work. One third or fewer experienced positive emotions. Over 57% had felt exhausted, frustrated, or stressed in the previous 14 days.
Over 40% of nurses surveyed do not feel supported by their organization as summarized in the chart below.
Another 38% disagree with the statement that their organization values their contribution.
These numbers are like high blood pressure readings for hospitals. The least damaging result is high and costly nurse turnover. But like high blood pressure in humans, organizational stress and burnout also can be life-threatening to hospital patients.
Impact of Conflict on Nurse Mental Health and Well-being
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller
Learn —> Practice —> Apply
LEARN CONFLICT INTELLIGENCE
The Art of Conflict-Intelligent Interaction consists of a body of knowledge, a set of methods, and a collection of tools.
Through a series of hands-on workshops, we help you move from novice to master levels of expertise.
The series begins with our basic free workshop on listening to understand others as they see the world. Deeply understanding others is the foundation of conflict intelligence.
PRACTICE THE SKILLS
Conflict Intelligence is an art that is learned through repeated practice.
Hone your skills in simulated conflict scenarios with others in a safe practice environment.
Our program gives you the opportunity to practice with others online in live settings using conflicts just like the ones you encounter at work.
You can record the simulation sessions for later study and debriefing to see where you can improve.
APPLY AT WORK
As you apply your skills in the hospital, at home, and in other settings, they become ingrained in your behavioral repertoire.
You become an expert who models the behavior you would like to see in others.
How you manage conflict-laden interactions becomes contagious as others pick up on what you are doing.
Like yeast, your demonstrated conflict intelligence leavens the workplace with acceptance, affirmation, and care for others.
More Conflict Intelligence Resources
Get Free Early Access to
Conflict-Intelligent Hospitals:
A Transformative Framework
This 182-page book summarizes our Conflict-Intelligent Healthcare Program for Hospitals and clinics.
The book presents an evidence-based framework, specifically designed for hospitals. It draws on over 35 years of teaching and practicing conflict intelligence as well as extensive research into healthcare's unique challenges.
Free Workshop on
Listening to Understand
Deeply understanding others is the foundation of conflict intelligence.
When people feel genuinely understood: Defensiveness melts, trust builds, and conflict more easily becomes collaboration.
In this free, 90-minute workshop, we use the latest neuroscience, practical techniques, and simulated practice to help you get started learning this foundational skill.
Share Your Experience
Mike is speaking with CNOs and other healthcare leaders across the country to understand your challenges and refine our program.
We're in development and want to learn from you.
Your insights will help shape the program.
Click the button below to schedule a 30-minute conversation. Your insights will help build something truly useful for the field.