Psychological safety for healthcare teams
Keep the people who keep care running.
Terawatt brings group training in psychological safety to hospitals and health systems: opt-in sessions on your sites, led by vetted local coaches. Staff stay longer, teams work better together, and care improves alongside your finances.
24% → 4%
Annual turnover at Poudre Valley Health System over nine years of group training
Develop and retain staff
Fewer voluntary departures, and less spent on contingent labor, recruiting and onboarding.
Improve patient care
Teams that speak up and coordinate make fewer errors and deliver safer care.
Strengthen financial health
A measurable dollar return that sustains itself, with higher retained earnings.
The problem
Turnover is a costly cycle.
When staff feel undervalued or underdeveloped, they leave, and replacing them is expensive. Yet most organizations still treat staff development as optional spending rather than strategy.
- 01Staff feel undervaluedTeams are siloed and people don't feel safe speaking up.
- 02They leaveExperience and relationships walk out the door.
- 03Replacing them costs moreRecruiting, background checks, orientation, onboarding, training.
- 04Development gets cutAnd the cycle starts again.
20%
Average annual turnover in U.S. healthcare
~$91K
Estimated cost of each departure: $73K to replace the person, plus $18K in productivity lost while the role sits empty
$14.6M
Projected yearly savings for a 16,000-person health system, for every point of turnover cut
Proven results
At Poudre Valley, turnover fell from 24% to 4%.
Poudre Valley Health System in Fort Collins, Colorado (4,200 employees) used the same group training framework we deliver. Voluntary turnover dropped in the first year, and the gains snowballed as the program reached more of the organization.
$32M
annual savings, peak to trough
9 years
of group training
Source: Poudre Valley Health System case study, via Dr. Tommy Thomas, Opposite Strengths, Inc.
Years incorporating group training
Our approach
Care quality can improve in lockstep with financial performance.
Hospitals that cultivate psychological safety outperform traditional models on patient care, staff engagement and financial results. Here is how the value builds.
- 1 · TrainingPsychological safety training and coaching
- 2 · BehaviorsBetter teamwork, communication and speaking up
- 3 · ProcessesStronger care communication and clinical administration
- 4 · OutcomesLower turnover, fewer readmissions, better patient outcomes, higher retained earnings
We measure along the way, so data feeds back into every stage.
Why group training, not 1:1 coaching?
Both develop people's skills. Only group training changes how a whole organization works together, and that is where the savings show up.
| Individual coaching | Group training | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | One person's skills and goals | A shared culture aligned to your goals |
| Who benefits | The person being coached | Employees, the organization and patients |
| Coach ratio | 1:1 | 1:30 |
| Cost per person | $$$$ | $ |
The program
One session is enough to start the magic.
Built on the Opposite Strengths framework: a trainer-guided discussion that helps people see how they solve problems, value the strengths of others, and know who is best suited to lead in a given moment. No strength is better than another. After the session, colleagues keep practicing it together on the job.
Do you lead with thought or with action?
Do you focus on what is, or on what could be?
Do you rely more on others or on yourself?
90 min to 3 hours
One session, held on your sites and scheduled around shift changes
Offered every week
New people can join a session any week
Practiced on the job
Colleagues put it to work together on every shift
Opt-in
For professionals who choose to attend
Local, vetted coaches
Facilitators come from Terawatt's network and live near your sites. Every coach passes:
- Background criminal screening
- Content review
- A 1:1 interview with our founder
- A social media check
The savings
What lower turnover is worth to a 1,000-employee hospital.
At 18% voluntary turnover, 180 people leave a 1,000-employee hospital every year. At about $91K per departure, each point of turnover cut saves roughly $910K a year.
Turnover falls to 10%
$7.3M
saved per year · 80 fewer departures
Turnover falls to 8%
$9.1M
saved per year · 100 fewer departures
Turnover falls to 4%, as at Poudre Valley
$12.7M
saved per year · 140 fewer departures
Every organization is different. Contact Francie for a customized assessment of the range of possibilities when your turnover decreases.
Request your assessmentIllustrative example, not a quote. Assumes about $91K per departure: a $73K replacement cost (recruiting, background checks, orientation, onboarding, training) plus $18K in lost productivity while the role is vacant.
Funding
Fully funded, with little lift from your team.
We pursue private grants and state workforce development funds to cover the full cost of the program. Terawatt handles the applications, organization, measurement and ongoing upkeep.
What we ask of you
- A letter of commitment naming your organization as the project site, about an hour to sign
- A leader to confirm the hospital data in the application, about an hour
- Space on your sites for the group sessions
- Help recruiting staff to attend
- Quarterly reports of the metrics we track together
Coaching is loving.
We stand against white supremacy and all forms of systemic oppression.
Ready to break the cycle?
The organizations that thrive over the next decade will be the ones investing in their people now. Contact Francie for a customized assessment of what lower turnover could mean for yours.