Belbin’s Team Roles

“What is needed is not well balanced individuals, but

individuals who balance well with each other.”

Belbin 2003

Complete Belbin’s Self- Perception Inventory

Team Roles (Belbin)

“A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.”

(Dr Meredith Belbin, Henley Management College)

Roles Action-oriented roles

– Shaper, Implementer, and Completer-Finisher People-oriented roles

– Co-ordinator, Team-worker and Resource Investigator Cerebral roles

– Plant, Monitor-Evaluator and Specialist

Team-Role Descriptions: the Parts People Play in Effective Team operations

Team Role Contribution Allowance Weakness

Plant Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems.

Ignores Incidents. Too pre-occupied to communicate effectively

Resource Investigator

Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores opportunities. Develops contacts.

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

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

Can be seen as manipulative. Offloads personal work.

Team Role Contribution Allowance Weakness

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

Prone to provocation. Offends people’s feelings.

Monitor Evaluator

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

Lacks drive and ability to inspire others.

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

Indecisive in crunch situations.

Team-Role Descriptions: the Parts People Play in Effective Team Operations

Team Role Contribution Allowance Weakness

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

Somewhat inflexible. Slow to respond to new possibilities.

Completer Finisher

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

Inclined to worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate.

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

Contributes on only a narrow front. Dwells on technicalities.

Source-Belbin, R.M. Team Roles at Work, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 1993

Team-Role Descriptions: the Parts People Play in Effective Team Operations

Belbin – Dominant Traits

Cerebral RolePlant

Monitor Evaluator

Specialist

Cerebral RolePlant

Monitor Evaluator

Specialist

PeopleOrientatedCo-ordinator

Resource Investigator

Team Worker

PeopleOrientatedCo-ordinator

Resource Investigator

Team Worker

Action Orientated

ShaperCompleter/Finisher

Implementer

Action Orientated

ShaperCompleter/Finisher

Implementer

A functional role (determined by their professional

and/or technical knowledge) A team role (determined by their characteristic pattern of team interaction).

According to Belbin …

Each team member contributes towards achieving the team’s objectives by performing: -

The team needs an optimal balance in both functional & team roles

That balance is dependent on the goals & tasks that the team faces.

The effectiveness of the team will be promoted by the extent to which members correctly recognise and adjust themselves to the relative strengths

of the team, both in expertise and ability to engage in specific team roles.

Belbin’s Ideal Team

One Co-ordinator or one ShaperOne InnovatorOne Monitor-EvaluatorOne or more

– Implementer– Team worker– Resource Investigator– One Finisher-Completer