Putting together the perfect team is no longer a hit-and-miss, "hold thumbs it will work" exercise

The Belbin Team Inventory, also called the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory or the Belbin Team Role Inventory, is a behavioural tool administered by an Industrial Psychologist and used to gain insight into an individual's behavioural type. The instrument was developed by Dr Meredith Belbin after studying numerous teams at Henley Management College, and it assesses how an individual behaves in a team environment.

Whether it be a specific team created to execute and complete a special project, or an on-going functional team which heads up a department or organisation, it is valuable to have co-operation amongst team members to ensure the achievement of objectives.

Belbin's findings indicate that there are eight "team types" which have relevance in most organisational structures. These types can be identified and grouped in the early stages of the selection process by running a battery of tests.

Each team type has certain particular attributes which can contribute an important element to the total performance of the group. Groups incorporating a variety of these types, as opposed to the predominance of any one or two team types, are inclined to be more successful.

In simple terms, this means that those common bugbears which tend to hamper team performance and achievement such as personality clashes, conflict, lack of co-operation or follow through and the over-burdening of a single individual, are forestalled by exercising greater care and prudence in the initial creation of a team.

Many people fall into more than one of these categories but one particular tendency usually features stronger than any other.

The logic of using Belbin's methods to create a successful team becomes obvious if you consider that it is not at all unusual to find an established team containing three "co-ordinators" and four "plants", especially when you set out originally to find seven highly intelligent individuals to make up a team, with no regard for their team types. The result is likely to be extensive delays in implementing, completing and finalising any given project and even complete failure to complete the task at hand.

The Belbin method, if not an exact recipe for success, provides excellent guidelines for creating the perfect team.

The specific team types, as outlined by Belbin, are briefly the following:

Co-ordinator - the goal setter and role definer, who leads by commanding respect and has the ability to co-ordinate the efforts of the team.

Shaper - The task leader who makes things happen, and brings competitive drive to the team. Often considered to be abrasive.

Plant - The imaginative thinker and the team's source of original ideas. Usually highly intelligent and concerned with fundamentals.

Monitor-evaluator - The dispassionate and critical analyst, who prevents the team from pursuing misguided objectives.

Resource Investigator - The good improviser who established contacts and excels as a salesperson, diplomat and seeker of resources, but can easily be diverted from the task at hand.

Completer (Finisher) - The checker of details and worrier about problems, who is intolerant of slapdash and sees projects through.

Team Worker - The good listener who promotes team harmony and builds on the ideas of others. Usually likeable and assertive.

Implementer - The practician who turns decisions and strategies into manageable tasks, bringing logical and methodical pursuance of objectives to the team.

Woodburn Mann has formed a number of strategic alliances which add considerable value to the company’s service offerings and these include Psychometric Assessment, using Appropriate level occupationally oriented assessment batteries conducted by Industrial Psychologists. Team coaching and team mentoring for improved team performance and team efficiency.

Links:

Board Appraisal
Performance Management

 

Putting together the perfect team is no longer a hit-and-miss, "hold thumbs it will work" exercise

The Belbin Team Inventory, also called the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory or the Belbin Team Role Inventory, is a behavioural tool administered by an Industrial Psychologist and used to gain insight into an individual's behavioural type. The instrument was developed by Dr Meredith Belbin after studying numerous teams at Henley Management College, and it assesses how an individual behaves in a team environment.

Whether it be a specific team created to execute and complete a special project, or an on-going functional team which heads up a department or organisation, it is valuable to have co-operation amongst team members to ensure the achievement of objectives.

Belbin's findings indicate that there are eight "team types" which have relevance in most organisational structures. These types can be identified and grouped in the early stages of the selection process by running a battery of tests.

Each team type has certain particular attributes which can contribute an important element to the total performance of the group. Groups incorporating a variety of these types, as opposed to the predominance of any one or two team types, are inclined to be more successful.

In simple terms, this means that those common bugbears which tend to hamper team performance and achievement such as personality clashes, conflict, lack of co-operation or follow through and the over-burdening of a single individual, are forestalled by exercising greater care and prudence in the initial creation of a team.

Many people fall into more than one of these categories but one particular tendency usually features stronger than any other.

The logic of using Belbin's methods to create a successful team becomes obvious if you consider that it is not at all unusual to find an established team containing three "co-ordinators" and four "plants", especially when you set out originally to find seven highly intelligent individuals to make up a team, with no regard for their team types. The result is likely to be extensive delays in implementing, completing and finalising any given project and even complete failure to complete the task at hand.

The Belbin method, if not an exact recipe for success, provides excellent guidelines for creating the perfect team.

The specific team types, as outlined by Belbin, are briefly the following:

Co-ordinator - the goal setter and role definer, who leads by commanding respect and has the ability to co-ordinate the efforts of the team.

Shaper - The task leader who makes things happen, and brings competitive drive to the team. Often considered to be abrasive.

Plant - The imaginative thinker and the team's source of original ideas. Usually highly intelligent and concerned with fundamentals.

Monitor-evaluator - The dispassionate and critical analyst, who prevents the team from pursuing misguided objectives.

Resource Investigator - The good improviser who established contacts and excels as a salesperson, diplomat and seeker of resources, but can easily be diverted from the task at hand.

Completer (Finisher) - The checker of details and worrier about problems, who is intolerant of slapdash and sees projects through.

Team Worker - The good listener who promotes team harmony and builds on the ideas of others. Usually likeable and assertive.

Implementer - The practician who turns decisions and strategies into manageable tasks, bringing logical and methodical pursuance of objectives to the team.

Woodburn Mann has formed a number of strategic alliances which add considerable value to the company’s service offerings and these include Psychometric Assessment, using Appropriate level occupationally oriented assessment batteries conducted by Industrial Psychologists. Team coaching and team mentoring for improved team performance and team efficiency.

Links:

Board Appraisal
Performance Management