The Belbin Team Roles

The Belbin Team Roles


The Belbin Model is a robust and highly effective concept on teamwork that is the product of many years of research. British psychologist Dr Meredith Belbin has worked to achieve a coherent and accurate system that explains individual behaviour and its influence on team success. These behavioural patterns are called "Team Roles" and these nine roles cover the types of individual behaviour at work in a team.
1. Plant (PL)
Advancing new ideas and strategies with special attention to major issues and looking for possible breaks in approach to the problem that the group is confronting.
2. Resource Investigator (RI)
Exploring and reporting on ideas, developments and resources outside the group, creating external contacts that may be useful to the team and conducting negotiations.
3. Co-ordinator (CO)
Controlling the way in which the team moves forward towards the group objectives by making the best use of team resources; recognising where the team's strengths and weaknesses lie and ensuring the best use is made of each members potential.
4. Shaper (SH)
Shaping the way in which the team effort is applied, directing attention generally to the setting of objectives and priorities and seeking to impose some shape or pattern on group discussion and on the outcome of group activities.
5. Monitor Evaluator (ME)
Analysing problems, evaluating ideas and suggestions so that the team is better placed to take balanced decisions.
6. Team Worker (TW)
Supporting members in their strengths; eg. Building on suggestions, underpinning members in their shortcomings, improving communications between members and fostering team spirit generally.
7. Implementer (IMP)
Turning concepts and ideas into practical working procedures; carrying out agreed plans systematically and efficiently.
8. Completer Finisher (CF)
Ensuring the team is protected as far as possible from mistakes of both commission and omission; actively searching for aspects of work that need a more than usual degree of attention; and maintaining a sense of urgency within the team.
9. Specialist (SP)
Feeding technical information into the group. Translating from general into technical terms. Contributing a professional viewpoint on the subject under discussion.
Renowned corporate psychologist Dr David Marriott (a colleague of Belbin and an expert on his work) is available for detailed team role profiling and reporting for corporate teams and managers.