Addressing Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace

Using The Belbin Model and Reports to Help Mitigate Workplace Psychosocial Hazards

Psychosocial hazards in the workplace—such as poor communication, unclear roles, interpersonal conflict, and lack of recognition—can negatively impact team morale, mental health, and productivity. Organisations are now starting to address these hazards akin to the way physical hazards are managed to aid with culture, mental health, wellness and engagement at work.

While some hazards stem from deeply toxic behaviours that require intervention well beyond any team tools, others can arise from behavioural misunderstandings, misaligned expectations, or a simple lack of insight into how people prefer to work.

This is where the Belbin Team Role Model offers powerful support.

Belbin Individual Reports offer practical insight into our individual behavioural strengths, weaknesses and blind spots and their impacts upon our own performance and interactions with others.

Belbin Working Relationship Reports show the behavioural chemistry between two people and how to identify and manage areas of strength and struggle in the relationship between them.

Belbin Team Reports show the behavioural dynamics of a team and how any imbalances may manifest and impact the individuals within the team and the team as a whole.

Belbin provides individuals and teams with a practical, evidence-based framework for understanding how people contribute in a team setting. By identifying each person’s natural strengths, preferred ways of working, and allowable weaknesses, Belbin Reports help to clarify roles, improve communication, and build psychological safety.

Importantly Belbin also offers a non-threatening language to actually talk about workplace behaviour and its impact of people, teams and performance.

When team members gain a deeper understanding of their own styles—and those of their colleagues—they are better equipped to talk about and manage differences constructively. This enhanced self-awareness and mutual respect can reduce the risk of conflict, exclusion, or misinterpretation, which are common psychosocial risks in modern workplaces.

While Belbin certainly isn’t a remedy for all workplace toxicity, it can help mitigate the impact of many challenging behaviours by fostering empathy, setting clearer expectations, and encouraging more inclusive collaboration. It gives teams a shared language and lens through which to view behaviour and contribution—helping to shift focus from personality clashes to team dynamics.

In short, Belbin helps create healthier, more respectful working environments—supporting not just performance, but wellbeing too.

Some brief examples of psychosocial hazards often identified and how Belbin can help:

1. Role Ambiguity

Hazard: Unclear expectations or overlapping responsibilities can lead to stress and conflict.

Belbin Benefit: Belbin clarifies how each person naturally contributes, helping teams align roles more in accord with strengths and reduce role confusion.

2. Interpersonal Conflict

Hazard: Clashing work styles or communication breakdowns can erode team cohesion.

Belbin Benefit: By highlighting behavioural differences and fostering mutual understanding, Belbin helps reframe conflict as diversity in behavioural approach—not just personality.

3. Lack of Recognition

Hazard: Individuals feeling undervalued or overlooked contributes to disengagement.

Belbin Benefit: Belbin identifies each team member’s value beyond job titles, giving a language and framework for offering recognition to less visible but essential contributions.

4. Poor Team Dynamics

Hazard: Dominant voices may overshadow quieter contributors, leading to imbalances and reduced psychological safety.

Belbin Benefit: Belbin encourages inclusive team design and balanced participation in meetings and working relationships, ensuring all voices are heard and valued.

5. Micromanagement or Mistrust

Hazard: A lack of trust can manifest in controlling behaviours and stress.

Belbin Benefit: By demonstrating strengths and weaknesses in action pragmatically, Belbin builds enhanced understanding and confidence in how team members can more appropriately engage or oversee one another without excess.