BELBIN TEAM ROLES

What is a team role?

A team role as defined by Dr Meredith Belbin is: "A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way."

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

Belbin team roles describe a pattern of behaviour that characterises one person’s behaviour in relationship to another in facilitating the progress of a team.

The value of Belbin team-role theory lies in enabling an individual or team to benefit from self-knowledge and adjust according to the demands being made by the external situation.

BELBIN TEAM ROLESHow did the concept originate?

During a period of over nine years, Meredith Belbin and his team of researchers based at Henley Management College, England, studied the behaviour of managers from all over the world.

Belbin's key book 'Management Teams - Why They Succeed or Fail', was first published in 1981.

Managers taking part in the study were given a battery of psychometric tests and put into teams of varying composition, while they were engaged in a complex management exercise.

BELBIN TEAM ROLESHow did the concept originate?

Their different core personality traits, intellectual styles and behaviours were assessed during the exercise. As time progressed different clusters of behaviour were identified as underlying the success of the teams.

These successful clusters of behaviour were then given names. Hence the emergence of eight team roles. A ninth, the Specialist, was added later as an afterthought, but does not form part of the original analysis.

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

These are:

Action-oriented roles:

Shaper, Implementer, and Completer Finisher

People-oriented roles:

Co-ordinator, Teamworker and Resource Investigator

Cerebral roles:

Plant, Monitor Evaluator and (Specialist)

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

Results from this research showed that there are a finite number of behaviours or TEAM ROLES which comprise certain patterns of behaviour which can be adopted naturally by the various personality types found among people at work.

The accurate delineation of these TEAM ROLES is critical in understanding the dynamics of any management or work team.

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

BELBIN Team Role Type

Contributions Allowable Weaknesses

Completer Finisher

Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Searches out errors and omissions. Delivers on time.

Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.

Co-ordinator Mature, confident, a good chairman. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making, delegates well.

Can often be seen as manipulative. Off loads personal work.

Implementer Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Turns ideas into practical actions.

Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

Monitor

Evaluator

Sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options. Judges accurately.

Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.

Plant Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves

difficult problems.

Ignores incidentals. Too pre-occupied to communicate effectively.

Resource

Investigator

Enthusiastic, communicative, extrovert. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts.

Over - optimistic. Loses interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.

Shaper Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles.

Prone to provocation. Offends people's feelings.

Specialist Single-minded, self-starting, dedicated. Provides knowledge and skills in rare supply.

Contributes only on a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Teamworker Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts friction.

Indecisive in crunch situations.

BELBIN TEAM ROLESBelbin Team Roles within Teams:

•The Co-ordinator clarifies group objectives, sets the agenda, establishes priorities, selects problems, sums up and is decisive, but does not dominate discussions.•The Shaper gives shape to the team effort, looking for pattern in discussions and practical considerations regarding the feasibility of the project. Can steamroller the team, but gets results.•The Plant is the source of original ideas, suggestions and proposals that are usually original and radical.•The Monitor-Evaluator contributes a measured and dispassionate analysis and, through objectivity, stops the team committing itself to a misguided task.

BELBIN TEAM ROLESBelbin Team Roles within Teams:

•The Implementer turns decisions and strategies into defined and manageable tasks, sorting out objectives and pursuing them logically.

•The Resource Investigator goes outside the team to bring in ideas, information and developments to it.They are the team's sales-person, diplomat, liaison officer and explorer.•The Team Worker operates against division and disruption in the team, like cement, particularly in times of stress and pressure.•The Finisher maintains a permanent sense of urgency with relentless follow-through.

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

In small teams, people can, and do, assume more than one role. In addition, analysing existing teams and their performance or behaviour, using these team role concepts, can lead to improvements, for example:

•Under-achievement demands a good coordinator or finisher

•Conflict requires a team worker or strong coordinator

•Mediocre performance needs a resource investigator, innovator or shaper

•Error prone teams need an evaluator

BELBIN TEAM ROLESDifferent roles are important in different circumstances, for example:

•New teams need a strong shaper to get started.

•Competitive situations demand an innovator with good ideas.

•In areas of high risk, a good evaluator may be needed.

Teams should, therefore, be analysed both in terms of what team roles members can play, and also in relation to what team skills are most needed.