Belbin 9 Team Roles
The 9 Belbin Team Roles – Understanding Team Dynamics for High Performance
How Belbin’s 9 Team Roles Can Improve a Team
Building a high-performing team goes beyond ticking off technical skills and qualifications. To improve a team, you need to understand how people behave, communicate, and contribute. This is where Belbin’s 9 Team Roles make a real impact.
Developed by Dr Meredith Belbin, the model is based on research at Henley Management College. It identifies 9 distinct ways people contribute to a team. Each with strengths and allowable weaknesses.
Instead of relying on job titles, Belbin shines a light on behavioural strengths.
It helps teams work smarter by making the most of what each person brings to the table.
Learn more about the 9 Belbin Team Roles
Effective teams need a balance of complementary behaviours.
While skills get the job done, behaviour drives how successfully a team works together.
Belbin offers a shared language to understand team dynamics, reduce conflict, and ultimately improve a team’s performance.
Resource Investigator
Strengths: Great at networking and bringing back ideas and opportunities for the team. Outgoing, communicative and enthusiastic. Adept at exploring new opportunities and developing contacts.
Potential weaknesses: Can be over-optimistic and may lose interest following an initial wave of enthusiasm. They might forget to follow up on a task or activity.
Teamworker
Strengths: Co-operative, collaborative and diplomatic. Good listeners that often put other people first. They bring harmony, help and support to a team.
Potential weaknesses: May avoid confrontation or become indecisive, particularly when facing a difficult, challenging or unpopular decision that may cause conflict.
Co-ordinator
Strengths: Have an eye on the big picture and are adept and clarifying and working towards goals. They have a mature outlook and are good at identify and nurturing talent.
Potential weaknesses: Can offload their own tasks or responsibilities to the team by over-delegating at times and may be seen as manipulative when guiding a team towards a goal. Tends to rely on collaborative, team based delivery.
Plant
Strengths: Creative, imaginative with a natural ability for problem solving. Good at developing new ideas that can be innovative or unorthodox.
Potential weaknesses: May become forgetful or get caught up in their own ideas and lose sight of day to day practicalities. A preoccupation with their ideas means they may not always communicate their thoughts as effectively as they could do.
Monitor Evaluator
Strengths: Rational, logical and strategic thinkers. Good at weighing up different options and making sound, fact based decisions. Like to identify problems.
Potential weaknesses: Can be seen as pessimistic or lacking inspiration. May require more time to properly think things through before they reach a final decision.
Specialist
Strengths: Brings depth of subject matter knowledge to the team. Dedicated professionals, they add value to the team through their specialist knowledge, know-how and skills.
Potential weaknesses: May only contribute to the team in relation to their specialist subject matter. Can get caught up in technicalities and go into information overload mode, and may not always see bigger picture.
Shaper
Strengths: Direct, outspoken and self-confident. They drive the team towards their goals with a strong task focus. They thrive under pressure and are not afraid to take difficult decisions that achieve results.
Potential weaknesses: May lack sensitivity or empathy at times, so may upset people with their direct approach. Can become so task focused they may forget about the importance of maintaining team morale and motivation.
Implementer
Strengths: Very practical in their approach to work. They turn ideas into workable solutions and processes. Efficient when undertaking repeatable tasks or activities or which follow a defined process. They get things done that need to be done.
Potential weaknesses: Can be slower to adapt to new ways of working or change, especially when it is rapid or unexpected. Their preference for the tried and tested means they can be a bit more resistant or may even become a barrier to change if they are not fully bought in.
Completer Finisher
Strengths: Conscientious, detail oriented individuals who strive for perfection. Focused on delivering high quality outputs, eliminating errors and mistakes.
Potential weaknesses: Their pursuit of perfection can result in an underlying level of anxiety as they worry if they can’t meet their own exacting standards all the time. Can be reluctant to delegate as they feel nobody in the team may do the task in hand to the same standard they deliver to.
How can teams benefit from understanding the 9 Belbin Team Roles?
By recognising which Team Roles are present and which are missing, team leaders can build better teams. With more balance, resilience and productivity.
Making assumptions can impact our objective decision making ability. Whether recruitment, task allocation, development or succession planning.
Moreover, when individuals understand their own role preferences, they can contribute more confidently, collaborate more effectively.
Making all 9 Belbin Team Roles Work for You
Are you forming a new team, navigating conflict, hiring for a role, or looking to get more out of your people? If so, Belbin can help.
Start by generating a Belbin Individual Report and discover your own behavioural strengths.
From there, you can use Belbin Team Reports to identify group dynamics and areas for improvement.
With the right combination of roles your team can be transformed.
From functional to phenomenal!
Belbin Team Roles
Belbin Team Roles can be used to recruit, select and develop effective teams,. Enabling a higher level of performance.
Getting the right mix and balance of behaviours can help teams achieve their goals and exceed targets.
Belbin Reports
A range of Belbin Reports are available.
They can be used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an individual or team. Understand behavioural differences in a working relationship. Or to assess candidates behaviours against the those required for a role.
Quickly and cost effectively.
Workshops
Are you based in Scotland?
Want to learn more about Belbin Team Roles or Belbin Theory?
We offer a range of Belbin workshops which can be delivered throughout Scotland or online.
Check out some of our Belbin Scotland Client Testimonials
