Weekly Posts and Insights
Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 2: The Storming Stage
Explore the Storming stage of Tuckman’s Team Development Model and learn how teams navigate conflict, control issues, and growing pains on the path to high performance. This post offers practical strategies for leaders and coaches to guide teams through turbulence and into true collaboration.
The Team Development Wheel Revisited: The Forming Stage in Modern Teamwork
Discover how teams move through Tuckman’s Forming stage and learn practical strategies for building trust, structure, and early momentum. This post explores modern research on psychological safety, team norms, and effective coaching behaviors to help leaders accelerate team maturity and lay a strong foundation for high-performance collaboration.
Team Meetings Are Your Playing Field I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
High-performing teams win or lose in their meetings. In Episode 20, Matt Harrington explains why team meetings are the true playing field of organizational performance and shares three practical strategies—structure, shared accountability, and role rotation—to transform meetings into high-impact collaboration.
Team Conflict Resolution Protocol I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
In Episode 19 of Direct Application, Matt Harrington talks about something every leader faces (and few prepare for): conflict in teams.
We tend to avoid it or hope it just fades away. But healthy teams design for conflict before it happens.
In this episode, I break down how to:
Recognize that conflict is a signal, not a setback
Use clarity to keep emotion in check
Apply a simple, practical framework — the RISC–PAUSE model
Build a Conflict Resolution Protocol so your team knows how to disagree productively
The best teams don’t fear tension — they use it to grow trust, creativity, and innovation.
Listen to the full episode here: [link to Spotify/YouTube]
Read the companion blog: Conflict in Teams: Why It Happens and How to Handle It Productively
Download the free Conflict Resolution Protocol Template: HarringtonBrands.com/Templates
Why Your Team Struggles to Decide (and What to Do About It)
In too many workplaces, decisions happen by default - through exhaustion, authority, or avoidance - rather than through a clear and fair process. That’s why every high-performing team needs a Decision-Making Protocol in its tool belt of protocols.
A Decision-Making Protocol defines how a team will decide before they actually have to. It’s less about hierarchy and more about equity - making sure everyone understands the process, expectations, and boundaries.
Do Your Team Meetings Have Positions? (They Should.)
Have you ever noticed that players on a sports team have clear positions and skill sets, but in most workplaces, once you walk into a meeting, everyone just… sits down? Other than your job title, you probably don’t have a position in the meeting itself. But you should. High-performing teams understand that meetings are their playing field, and every player needs a defined role.
Why Your Team Meetings Aren’t Working (and What High-Performing Teams Do Differently)
Learn why most team meetings fail and what high-performing teams do differently to make every meeting focused, accountable, and worth everyone’s time.
Building A Baby Crib Without Instructions Is Like a Team Without Its Charter I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
Ever tried putting together a baby crib (or any piece of furniture) without the instructions? Frustrating, confusing, and usually ending with extra screws left over. That’s exactly what it feels like when we ask our teams to perform without clear guidelines, purpose, and structure.
In this episode of Direct Application, Matt Harrington dives deeper into the concept of the Team Charter - the roadmap that keeps teams aligned, accountable, and moving toward high performance. Matt explains why teams get stuck in confusion and conflict, and how a well-crafted charter clarifies mission, roles, decision-making, and expectations.
If you’re leading a board, committee, project team, or organization, this episode will give you practical insight into how to design a framework for trust, accountability, and results.
Building the Workforce of the Future - Lessons in Culture, Change, and Coffee I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
In this episode of Direct Application, host Matt Harrington sits down with Chuck Hollingsworth - Director of Engineering at Keurig Dr Pepper and a 40-year veteran of manufacturing leadership - for a front-line look at what it really takes to lead through massive change, scale innovation, and build a workforce ready for the future.
The Power of Teams I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
What makes a great team truly powerful? In this episode of Direct Application, Matt Harrington explores the Power of Teams—why teamwork is more than just working side by side, and how the right dynamics create results far greater than the sum of the parts.