What Role Do You Play in a Team?

In today's highly competitive business environment, teamwork is an incredibly key element to business success. A good organisation is formed by several business teams with the objective to utilise manpower and expertise by combining the contributions of each team member to perform and achieve business goals.

Leaders realised the importance of teamwork that expands the knowledge of individuals through interaction and collaboration. An individual perform better by working in the team compared to carry out the task alone. They carry out the tasks confidently with the support system by working in the team and increases productivity of the business.

So what is teamwork?

Teamwork is the combined action and joint effort of a group of people. Many organisations find it challenging in forming team as each individual possess different characteristics and personalities. Belbin (1981) believed that a team success and failure depends on the behaviour of the team members. He suggested that by understanding individual strengths and weaknesses helps to form a strong and more balanced team.

The concept of team roles emphasis on one person’s strength is another’s weakness. The ideal team is to have a mixture of team members with various behavioural strengths and allowable weaknesses. The performance of the team increases by leveraging individual strengths to cover another’s weaknesses. A highly outgoing and enthusiastic individual is likely to be over-optimistic and less detail-oriented. It is recommended to team up with a strategic and discerning person who is likely to be lack of drive and ability to inspire people.

Let’s take a look at Belbin’s model to understand more about team roles. Initially Belbin’s team roles model identified eight team roles in 1981 (Belbin, 1981). It was reviewed and increased to nine team roles in 1993 and categorised them into three groups: thought-oriented, action-oriented and people-oriented (Belbin, 1993).

Thought-oriented: Plant (PL), Monitor Evaluator (ME) and Specialist (SP)

• Plant (PL) are imaginative, creative and free-thinking. They contribute new ideas and problem solving solutions. Plant’s allowable weaknesses are too pre-occupied to communicate effectively and ignore incidentals.

• Monitor Evaluator (ME) are sober, strategic and discerning. They see all options and judges accurately. Sometimes they can be overly critical which lock drive and ability to inspire others.

• Specialist (SP) provides rare knowledge and skills. They are single-minded, self-starting and dedicated. However, they dwell on technicalities and contribute only on a narrow front.

Action-oriented: Shaper (SH), Implementer (IMP) and Completer Finisher (CF)

• Shaper (SH) are dynamic, thrive on pressure and challenging. They prone to provocation and offend other’s feelings.

• Implementer (IMP) turns ideas into actions and organizes tasks. They are practical, reliable and efficient. However, they are somewhat inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.

• Completer Finisher (CF) with an eye for detail and always striving to reach the highest possible standards. They are painstaking and conscientious. However, they inclined to worry unduly and reluctant to delegate.

People-oriented: Coordinator (CO), Team worker (TW) and Resource Investigator (RI)

• Coordinator (CO) are mature, confident and a good chairperson. They clarify goals, promote decision-making and delegate well. However, they can be seen as manipulative and offload personal work.

• Team Worker (TW) listens and averts frictions. They are co-operative, perceptive and diplomatic. They can be indecisive in crunch situations and avoid confrontation.

• Resource Investigator (RI) possesses the strengths of extrovert, enthusiastic and communicative. They explore opportunities and develop contacts. However, they are likely to be over-optimistic and loss interest once initial enthusiasm has passed.

The grouping of the team roles reflects on the effectiveness of the pairings. The pairings of team role should be counterbalance and complementary to each other. Belbin (1993) described the roles of shaper and coordinator as counterbalancing. Shaper is dynamic and challenging, whereas coordinator motivates the team. Implementer who is lack of new ideas is likely to perform better with Plant. Meanwhile, Implementer undertakes the role to turn the ideas into action. On the other hand, Coordinator eases the anxious mind of Completer-Finisher through effective tasks delegation and decision making.

Leadership and group cohesion are one of the major elements to determine team success. Groupings and pairings of team members should be counterbalance and complementary to each other by leveraging individual strengths to cover another’s weaknesses. It is crucial to understand individual behavioural strengths and allowable weaknesses to form a strong and more balanced team.

So have you already identified your roles in a team?

References:

Belbin, R.M. 1981, Management teams: why they succeed or fail, Butterworth-Heinemann, London.

Belbin, R.M. 1993, Team roles at work: why they succeed or fail, Butterworth-Heinemann, London.