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Belbin's Team Roles

Belbin's Team Roles. Based on Belbin (1993). This diagram has been recreated by LMC.

LMC explains Belbin's Team Roles

A tool used to identify characteristic behaviour observed within individuals working in group or team situations. The nine Team Roles described by Belbin (1) look at behaviour both in terms of strengths and weaknesses. By identifying the different roles, this tool can be used to create and maintain a behavioural or skills balance within teams. The roles can be used in three ways: to plan and organise a proposed team, to identify gaps or conflicts within existing teams, or to analyse and develop one’s own personal behavioural impact on a team.

Shaper

These are dynamic individuals who challenge the team by seeing obstacles as opportunities. They are extroverted and try to avoid complacency by finding the best approach to issues. They can, as a result, be argumentative and cause offence to others in pursuit of their goals.

Implementer

These are results-oriented individuals. They turn ideas into actions and ‘get things done’. They are conservative, disciplined, systematic, efficient and organised, but have a tendency to be inflexible and resistant to change.

Completer / Finisher

These are also results-oriented people and pay a lot of attention to detail. They are concerned with deadlines and tend to push others toward those deadlines.  They are orderly, conscientious and possibly anxious. Because of this, they may worry unnecessarily and find delegation difficult.

Coordinator

These individuals are also often identified as the ‘natural leader’ or ‘chairperson’, they are guided by objectives and team goals, rather than personal objectives. They are calm, good at listening, delegating work and recognising the value of other team members. Their weakness may be a tendency to over-delegate, or they may be seen as manipulative.

Team Worker

These people support and enable team interaction. They are natural negotiators, perceptive and diplomatic. They have a flexible approach to work and prioritise team cohesion and helping others. However, they can be indecisive and uncommitted during periods of pressure.

Resource Investigator

These are innovative, curious and enthusiastic people. They are networkers and develop contacts easily. Through an extroverted, positive demeanour, they make other team members receptive to their ideas. Their weakness is that they can be seen as overly optimistic and they may lose enthusiasm easily.

Plant

These are very creative and ideas-driven people. People in this role thrive on praise and take criticism badly. They might also be introverted, preferring to work alone. Their weaknesses include poor communication skills and they may ignore rules.

Monitor-Evaluator

These people are focused on analysing and evaluating the ideas of others.  They are calm and calculate the best way to do something, before acting. They can appear detached or unemotional due to their strategic approach and can be reactive rather than proactive.

Specialist

These people focus on the skills and abilities they can bring to the team. They are highly committed but have a narrow contribution to make. They may be overly focused on technicalities and fail to appreciate the ‘big picture’.

Overall

Typically, most teams have some natural weaknesses, areas of conflict or unrepresented roles which can lead to issues for the manager or team leader. These issues usually surround a duplication of similar roles, or the absence of one or more roles. By comparing the nine Belbin roles to those of the existing team, the team leader can understand how the team members will interact and where gaps and weaknesses lie. Addressing imbalances in the team can be done in three ways: adding new members to supplement the roles already present, getting existing members to adopt other or modified roles and coaching team members to work more effectively together.

References

(1) Belbin, R.M. (1993). Team Roles at Work. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.