The Belbin Team roles!
!
“What is needed is not well balanced individuals, but individuals who balance
well with each other.”!
— Dr. Meredith Belbin!
!
Dr. Meredith Belbin is a U.K. researcher who found that groups need the right
mix of people to be effective. His research identified 9 types of people in groups. !
Below you will find an overview of each of the nine types with their strengths and
weaknesses. Each type has typical phrases and slogans. !
!
General BELBIN ! Strengths Allowable Weaknesses
Role Type Team Role Type
Cerebral PLANT Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Ignores incidentals. Too pre-
Solves difficult problems. occupied to communicate
effectively.
SPECIALIST Single-minded, self-starting, Contributes only on a narrow
dedicated.! front. Dwells on technicalities.
Provides knowledge and skills in rare
supply.
MONITOR Sober, strategic and discerning.! Lacks drive and ability to inspire
EVALUATOR Sees al options. Judges accurately. others
Action IMPLEMENTER Disciplined, reliable, conservative and Somewhat inflexible. Slow to
Oriented efficient. Turns ideas into practical respond to new possibilities.
actions.
SHAPER Challenging, dynamic, thrives on Prone to provocation. Offends
pressure. The drive and courage to people’s feelings.
overcome obstacles.
COMPLETER Painstaking, conscientious, anxious. Inclined to worry unduly.
FINISHER Searches out errors and omissions. Reluctant to delegate.
Delivers on time.
People TEAMWORKER Co-operative, mild, perceptive and Indecisive in crunch situations.
Oriented diplomatic. Listens, builds, averts
friction.
General BELBIN ! Strengths Allowable Weaknesses
Role Type Team Role Type
COORDINATOR Mature, confident, a good Can often be seen as
chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes manipulative. Off loads personal
decision-making, delegates well. work.
RESOURCE Extrovert, enthusiastic, Over-optimistic. Loses interest
INVESTIGATOR communicative. Explores once initial enthusiasm has
opportunities. Develops contacts. passed.
!
BELBIN Type Favourite phrases and slogans
PLANT When a problem is baffling, think laterally.!
Where there’s a problem, there’s a solution.!
The greater the problem, the greater the challenge. !
Do not disturb, genius at work. !
Good ideas always seem strange at first.!
Ideas start with dreaming. !
Without continuous innovation, there is no survival.
SPECIALIST In this job you never stop learning.!
Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day of your life.!
True professionalism is its own reward. !
My subject is fascinating to me. !
The more you know, the more you find to discover. !
It is better to know a lot about something, than a little about everything. !
A committee is 12 people doing the work of one.
MONITOR I’ll think it over and give you a firm decision tomorrow. !
EVALUATOR Have we exhausted all the options?!
If it does not stand up to logic, it’s not worth doing!!
Better to make the right decision slowly than the wrong one quickly.!
This looks like the best option on blaance. !
Let’s weigh up the alternatives.!
Decisions should not be based purely on enthusiasm.
IMPLEMENTER If it can be done, we will do it. !
An ounce of action is worth a pound of theory.!
Hard work never killed anybody.!
The difficult we do it immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.!
To err is human, to forgive is not company policy. !
Let’s get down to the task in hand.!
The company has my full support.
SHAPER Just do it!!
Say “no”, then negotiate.!
If you say “yes I will do it”, I expect it to be done. !
I’m satisfied we are achieving all we can. !
I may be blunt, but at least I am to the point. !
I’ll get things moving.!
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
BELBIN Type Favourite phrases and slogans
COMPLETER This is something that demands our undivided attention.!
FINISHER The small print is always worth reading. !
Murphy’s Law “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong”…O’Toole’s Law: “Murphy was an
optimist.”!
There is no excuse for not being perfect.!
Perfection is only just good enough. !
A stitch in time saves nine. !
Has it been checked?
TEAMWORKER Courtesy costs nothing. !
I was very interested in you point of view.!
It it’s all right with you, it’s all right with me. !
Everybody has a good side worth appealing to. !
If people listened to themselves more, they would talk less. !
You can always sense a good atmosphere at work. !
I try to be versatile.
COORDINATOR Let’s keep the main objective in sight.!
Has anyone else got anything to add to this?!
We like to reach a consensus before we move forward. !
Never assume that silence means approval.!
I think that we should give someone else a chance. !
Good delegation is an art. !
Management is the art of getting other people to do all the work.
RESOURCE We could make a fortune out of that. !
INVESTIGATOR Ideas should be stolen with pride. !
Never reinvent the wheel. !
Opportunities aries from other people’s mistakes.!
Surely we can exploit that?!
You can always telephone to find out.!
Let me google that for you.!
Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
Activity 1:! Identify individual roles!
! Decide for yourself based on the above tables what your team role could be. Keep !
! in mind that!
! ! ! You might be more than just one role type.!
!
Activity 2:! Work out team roles!
! Fill in the following team role grid for the members in your team.!
! ! ** Mark two stars in the appropriate box, if the group member shows string !
! ! characteristics of a Belbin type.!
! ! * Mark one star if the group member shows the characteristics to some extent.!
!
Name of Group 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
member:
PLANT
SPECIALIST
MONITOR
EVALUATOR
IMPLEMENTER
SHAPER
COMPLETER
FINISHER
TEAMWORKER
COORDINATOR
RESOURCE
INVESTIGATOR
!
Activity 3:! What’s missing?!
!
! What roles are not filled in by members in this group?!
!
! How might you overcome this potential problem?
