Belbin Team Roles

Type				Team Size
Me, Myself and I	Group Collaboration	The Academic System	Software	1	2-10	11-30	30+

Why & When

The Belbin Team Inventory is a role test for groups. The behavioral test developed by Meredith Belbin fosters effective teamwork and is based on personal questions that you answer online. As a result, you receive an evaluation of your individual preferences regarding the following nine team roles: plants, monitor evaluators, specialists, resource investigators, co-ordinators, team workers, shapers, implementers and completer-finishers.

To form an effective team, diverse roles should be represented. Therefore, it is recommended to do the test before forming groups. However, existing groups can also use the test in order to gain a deeper understanding of competencies and responsibilities. The ideal is of course a team in which all nine different roles are distributed. In reality, however, this is often not possible. If there are some roles that are not represented in your group, you may want to talk about what skills you lack and how you would like to compensate them.

Let's take a concrete example to show how the test allows groups to work more efficiently: Anna's seminar is planning a group work. As preparation, all students do the Belbin test. Anna is assigned to the role called plant. Based on the results of the whole seminar group, teams are put together which have as many different roles as possible. Anna takes on the role of the plant in her group. Thus, her team members know from the beginning that Anna is a very creative and open minded person and likes to think outside of the box. Therefore she takes over the creative tasks in the group and is available to everyone as a brainstorming partner.

There are some things to take care of: First of all, this method involves personal questions. Thus, it is important to make sure that everyone feels comfortable in the process. Second, the Belbin roles only refer to group work and therefore are not to be equated with character traits. And finally, the roles should not be seen as fixed constructs. Team members can also take on different roles at the same time or change roles in the course of group work. The Belbin roles should rather be understood as a basis for an open discussion.

Not a fan of long texts? Check this video.

What

Here is a short overview of the different roles and a list of keywords for each role (extracted from Peter Mackechnie). In addition, the nine roles can be assigned to three categories: thought, people and action oriented roles.

Role	Keywords	Category
Plants	Independent, unorthodox, imaginative, original, radical, clever, loner, dominant, socially bold, uninhibited, forthright	thought oriented
Monitor Evaluators	Prudent, hard-headed, intelligent, dispassionate, analytic, unemotional, hardly ever wrong, serious minded, shrewd, judge of proposals, uncommitted, immune to enthusiasm, rations interventions to a minimum	thought oriented
Specialists	Calm, logical, detached, uncommunicative, highly competent in his/her field of expertise, interested only in the exercise of that expertise, accurate, conscientious, may be a dogged finisher	thought oriented
Resource Investigators	Communicative, relaxed, sociable, enthusiastic, outgoing, gregarious, versatile and innovative	people oriented
Co-Ordinators	Calm, self-confident, open, good listener, talent spotter,self-disciplined, commands respect, trusting by nature, strong moral commitment, unflappable in face of controversy, naturally enthusiastic, good speaker, thinks positively	people oriented
Team Workers	Sympathetic, understanding, sensitive, aware, sociable, low dominance, trusting, strong interest in human interaction and communication, leads from behind	people oriented
Shapers	Dynamic, impulsive, challenging, looks for a pattern, compulsive drive, nervous energy, strong need for achievement, sociable, opportunistic rather than conscientious, tough minded, emotional, fearless and unflinching in face-to-face contact	action oriented
Implementers	Methodical, practical, hard working, reliable, systematic, tough minded tolerant, self controlled, orthodox, strength of character, organizational flair	action oriented
Completer-Finishers	Painstaking, conscientious, follows through, strong attention to detail, relentless, high self-control, appears unflappable but prone to internal anxiety, consistent, capacity for hard and effective work, impatient of slapdash	action oriented

Goals

• Forming diverse teams
• Distributing responsibilities based on personal prefernces
• Beeing aware of personal strengths and weaknesses
• Enabling effective teamwork

Getting started

1. Do the Belbin test online. There is a free questionnaire in pdf-format, which is linked below. Alternatively, you can do the test on the official Belbin homepage for a fee.
2. After you have received your individual team role, discuss and analyse the results in your large group. Based on this you can now form diverse teams.
3. Once you have found your team, it is important to discuss the roles explicitly and to clarify the tasks and responsibilities associated with them.

Links & Further reading

• Official Belbin homepage https://www.belbin.com/
• Book: Belbin, Meredith. "Belbin team roles." Book Belbin Team Roles (2004)
• Belbin team role theories https://www.businesscoaching.co.uk/files/belbin_team_role_theories.pdf
• Video explaining the Belbin test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMesDq_rNOw
• Free Belbin test questionnaire https://stevensonsino.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/BELBIN-questionnaire.pdf

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The author of this entry is Esther Kohlhase.