Belbin Team roles

About the theory Meredith Belbin identified nine different behaviours that individuals display in the work place.  He called them the nine Belbin Team Roles. A Team Role is defined as "a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way." For a team to be successful it needs to have access to each of the 9 Belbin Team Roles. Typically, most people have two or three Team Roles that they are most comfortable with; a few others that they can manage to cover if they need to; and finally the rest that they prefer not to adopt at all.

Benefits of Team Role Theory Recognise individual strengths Understand weaknesses A language to talk about behaviour As mentioned elsewhere, using Belbin within a team can help us to… recognize our own and others strengths - both individually and as a team have more tolerance for our own and others weaknesses use a common, neutral language to talk about what can be sensitive behaviour-related issues. (Again, use examples if you can. Among some of us at the UNSSC we say things like “We need more Completer-Finishers around here!” or “This is really a Completer-Finisher task.” or “Malcolm, you’re having too many ideas - could you be a little less Plant for a moment??” or “I need to be less Teamworker and more Shaper, so I can confront people on difficult issues.”) Whenever we work together, there are dynamics, messages, communications within the group, some of which we talk about and all recognize - explicit ones - and things we don’t talk about - implicit ones. (Like who has the most influence with the chair - like who had a conflict with each other at the last meeting, etc.) Like many analysis tools, Belbin helps us to take implicit group dynamics and make them explicit. Once they are explicit we can talk about them and we have more and more choices about how to respond.

The Nine roles may be categorized as Action-oriented roles People-oriented roles Cerebral or thought-oriented roles

Action-oriented Roles Shaper Implementer Completer

People-oriented Roles Co-ordinator Team Worker Resource Investigator

Cerebral Roles Plant Monitor Evaluator Specialist

Plant (PL) Creative, Imaginative, Unorthodox. Solves difficult problems. Too pre-occupied to communicate effectively. Loses touch with everyday realities

Co-ordinator (CO) Mature, Confident, a good chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well. Can be often seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work.

Monitor Evaluator (ME) Sober, strategic, objective and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately. Slow moving. Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.

Implementer (IMP) Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns an idea into practical actions. Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

Completer (CF) Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time. Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.

Resource Investigator (RI) Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts. Over optimistic. Weak in follow-through. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.

Shaper (SH) Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles. Prone to provocation, aggressive, offends people's feelings.

Team Worker (TW) Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction. Indecisive in crunch situation.

Specialist (SP) Single minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply. Contributes on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Different Stages Roles of the task Direction and needs Co-ordinator, Shaper Ideas Plant, RI Contacts Resource Investigator, TW Organization & Follow through Team Worker, Implementer, Coordinator, Completer

Source - Meredith Belbin 9 Are internal team dynamics important? Belbin – Styles of Leadership Source - Meredith Belbin Team Roles At Work, 1993