A Belbin Team Role Check-Up - For new and existing users of the Belbin Team Role Model.
As we progress in our careers, work with and communicate with new people, as we mature and develop, so too does our behaviour change.
Just as people wisely obtain frequent check-ups for their car and also for their own physical health, there is great professional value in obtaining regular check-ups on your own team and leadership behaviours and how they impact you at work.
By completing a “Team Role Check Up” you can obtain a clear picture of your changing strengths and allowable weaknesses as you work with other people and also within the context of changing teams and functional roles.
Behaviour changes over time, sometimes by little, sometimes significantly, and the Belbin Model elegantly takes this into account. Any such change is what our ANNUAL TEAM ROLE CHECK-UP can help you to identify and adapt to in a positive way.
For example, a person's preference for the Team Role of Plant (and also their ability to play that role well), may have been quite high in a team where they were the only natural example of a Plant. If they are then moved into a new team that has one or more stronger or "Super Plants" then it's very likely that the relative strength and usefulness of their ability to play the role of Plant within the context of the new team will have also changed in ranked order. Whilst their personal preference to play that Role may still be strong, in reality the ability for them to play it clealry and authentically may have actually changed.
Being "forewarned" is thus "forearmed". Such a person can not only better understand their own Team Role contributions within the context of the new team, but can also avoid clashes and disappointments that will come from trying to play a role poorly in the context of a new team where their other Roles may actually have far greater value to them and to their team.
Likewise when a person is promoted, fresh challenges can often draw out different strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps even require a person to better develop their Managable Roles. Some people can with discipline even cultivate those roles that may previously have been lower in ranked order for them.
Whether as a team member or as a leader, it is incredibly useful to re-assess your Team Role contributions over time, especially when being promoted or moved into a new team.
By using both the Self Perception Inventory and reliable Observers, the Belbin Model can help you to keep track of not just your own preferences, but importantly also how others in the team are seeing and experiencing your contributions. Working to understand the associated weaknesses is also critical. Whilst we'd like to avoid them at all times and just play to our strengths, the reality is that under real-world pressure those weaknesses will often manifest anyway.
The first step is to complete an updated on-line Belbin Self Perception Inventory, which generally takes about fifteen minutes. You then ask four people that you work with, preferably a boss, two colleagues and a subordinate, to complete, again on-line, our Observed Behaviour Assessment.
These materials are then analysed, and reports generated on how you see yourself interacting in a team, and how each of your observers sees your behaviour.
For a small cost, to new and existing users of the Belbin Team Role model, this service should be of real value and assistance in improving your own, and hence your team, performance.