Weekly Posts and Insights
Team Protocols: Help/Hinder List I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
In this episode of Direct Application, host Matt Harrington breaks down one of the most practical frameworks for high-performance teamwork: the Help/Hinder list — a simple, powerful first agreement that sets the foundation for trust, accountability, and inclusive excellence.
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.
Leadership & Teams (and a Personal Story) I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
Building a team-based culture isn’t a retreat or an initiative that fades by November. It’s a long game - years, not months - and it begins and ends with leadership commitment. In this episode of my podcast, Direct Application, I reflect on those early lessons from Deb and what they still mean for leaders today:
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.
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.
Teams & Conflict I Direct Application with Matt Harrington
Conflict in teams isn’t something to fear—it’s a sign of growth. In this episode, Matt Harrington unpacks Bruce Tuckman’s famous storming stage of team development and explains why conflict is not only natural but necessary. Healthy disagreement signals that a team is maturing, moving beyond surface-level cooperation, and learning to navigate real challenges together.
Leadership’s Long Game: Why Top Commitment is the Bedrock of High-Performance Teams
The real question for any leader isn’t “Do I believe in teams?” It’s “Am I willing to commit - day after day, year after year - to building and protecting the culture that allows them to thrive?”
Speed, Momentum, and the 20-Mile March
Discover why momentum beats speed in leadership and business strategy. Drawing on insights from Chuck Hollingsworth on the Direct Application podcast and Jim Collins’ Great By Choice, this post explores the 20-Mile March, Agile sprints, and high-performance team practices. Learn how to show quick wins, build sustainable momentum, and lead with discipline in a world obsessed with speed.
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.