Life Long Learning Project

Leadership and Management - Leadership Tools

BELBIN

Meredith Belbin, creator of the Belbin model, defines the roles in his model as

'A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way'

The model evolved after 9 years of research based in Henley Management College.

The use of the Belbin model in identifying team roles within your organisation or department can be beneficial in terms of self awareness and awareness of how all of your team members contribute to the good functioning and wellbeing of the team as a whole. It allows your team to understand the key team roles. Each member of the team has a choice if to react or adjust their behaviour according to the demands being made by external influences.

Team roles can be applied to organisational development in terms of recruitment, training, project management and so on.

There are nine key roles identified:

Action oriented role
   Shaper, Implementer and Completer finisher
People orientated roles
   Co-ordinator, team worker and resource investigator
Cerebral roles
   Plant, Monitor Evaluator and Specialist

Since most of our jobs in the NHS involve working with others in teams, the aim of the tool is to allow people to gain an insight into their role and behaviour within the team. To find out more about Dr Meredith Belbin and his work http://www.belbin.com