Weekly Posts and Insights

Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 4: The Performing Stage
People Matthew Harrington People Matthew Harrington

Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 4: The Performing Stage

Explore the Performing stage of Tuckman’s Team Development Model and learn how high-performing teams achieve shared accountability, distributed leadership, and continuous improvement. This post blends modern research on psychological safety, shared leadership, and team resilience with practical strategies for leaders and coaches to sustain peak performance, empower teams, and navigate inevitable change without losing momentum.

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Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 3: The Norming Stage
People, Leadership, Culture Matthew Harrington People, Leadership, Culture Matthew Harrington

Tuckman’s Team Development Wheel, Revisited — Part 3: The Norming Stage

Explore the Norming stage of Tuckman’s Team Development Model, where teams shift from conflict to cohesion and begin choosing collaboration over individuality. This post blends team-building methods with modern research on psychological safety, accountability, and shared mental models to explain how teams stabilize, strengthen trust, and build the foundation for high performance. Learn key coaching strategies for supporting autonomy, reinforcing positive norms, and guiding teams toward the Performing stage.

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The Team Development Wheel Revisited: The Forming Stage in Modern Teamwork
Leadership, Culture Matthew Harrington Leadership, Culture Matthew Harrington

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.

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Why Your Team Struggles to Decide (and What to Do About It)
People Matthew Harrington People Matthew Harrington

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.

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Do Your Team Meetings Have Positions? (They Should.)
People Matthew Harrington People Matthew Harrington

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.

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Conflict in Teams: Why It Happens and How to Handle It Productively
Culture, Leadership, People Matthew Harrington Culture, Leadership, People Matthew Harrington

Conflict in Teams: Why It Happens and How to Handle It Productively

When you have eight to ten people on a high-stakes team, conflict is inevitable. What matters isn’t if you’ll run into it — but how you engage with it. Study after study shows unresolved workplace conflict drains productivity. One report found employees spend roughly 2.8 hours per week on conflict. But when a team accepts conflict as normal and builds a protocol around it, everything changes. This is your second protocol — the one that transforms conflict from destructive to generative.

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Help or Hinder: The First Agreement of Every Great Team
People, Culture Matthew Harrington People, Culture Matthew Harrington

Help or Hinder: The First Agreement of Every Great Team

High-performing teams don’t just set goals—they set norms. In this post, I explain how the Help/Hinder List transforms team culture by making expectations visible and shared. Discover how this simple, early exercise helps teams communicate openly, manage conflict, and build accountability. Includes practical pro-script examples leaders can use to reinforce healthy team behavior in real time.

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