You can think of these as areas to be aware of and potentially try to improve. Belbin called these weaknesses “allowable” weaknesses. Over time 9 distinct team roles were identified (3 roles per group).Īlong with defining each team role, Belbin also identified characteristic weaknesses that tend to accompany each role. With this information, the next step of the research was to put these people in teams of various composition, and ask them to perform complex tasks requiring teamwork.įrom these experiments 3 different groups of behaviour were identified. The first step of the research was to figure out each participant’s personality type and preferred style of working in a team by performing psychometric tests. His research studied the behaviour of team members from all over the world. Meredith Belbin developed his team roles during the 1970s. If you were to put together a team where the members all had very similar Team Roles (how they did it) then it’s likely that the overall team would suffer from the same imbalances as the individuals that make up the team.īelbin’s Team Roles enables you firstly to ensure that all the team roles are included within the makeup of your team, and secondly, that structural weaknesses (in terms of behaviour) within the overall team are addressed. Why You and Your Team Should Understand BelbinĪs a team member, Belbin allows you to understand your strengths and manage your weaknesses, enabling you to better contribute to the team.Īs an individual responsible for putting together a team, Belbin allows you to construct more balanced teams. It is this second part that Belbin focusses on.

There’s what we were hired to do, and there is how we do it. It’s about how people behave, contribute, and relate to others in a team.Ī very simply way to think about Belbin Team Roles is to realize that there are two parts to any job.

It’s important to realize that we are talking about behaviour and not personality. The Belbin Team Roles enable you to understand people’s preferred behaviour when working within a team. Have you ever been part of a team that seemed to gel without any forced effort? Perhaps you’ve been part of a team which despite everyone’s best efforts, somehow consistently failed to deliver? If you’re in a leadership position, would you find it useful to be able to increase your chances of putting together a naturally effective team? By understanding Belbin Team Roles you can do just that.

Belbin team roles test free pdf