Belbin’s Team Roles

Dr. Meredith Belbin identified model of nine team roles. He observed that every team member tend to adopt to one of these roles and contribute/interact in team accordingly.

An effective team would have members fulfilling all of these key roles. Understanding these roles help to form a balanced team.

Action Oriented Roles

  • Shaper: Dynamic, extrovert members often engaging in solution discussions.
  • Implementer: Conservative, disciplined members getting things done.
  • Completer-Finisher: Perfectionists with attention to each and every small detail in project. Making sure all the tasks are tracked and completed.

People Oriented Roles

  • Resource Investigator: Enthusiastic extroverts working with external stakeholders to get things done.
  • Teamworker: Diplomatic, negotiators providing support to team members.
  • Co-ordinator: Delegate, coordinate tasks within team. Good listeners.

Thought Oriented Roles

  • Plant: Creative innovators. Plant new ideas, solutions. May be over enthusiastic.
  • Monitor-Evaluator: Analyze and evaluate ideas carefully. Critical thinkers and very strategic.
  • Specialist: Expert in their particular domain. May bring a lot of technical discussions even at ideation stage.

References