EML

Belbin Team Roles Session

Structure

Pre-course: Participant completion of online team role type questionnaire

Preparatory work

Online completion of self-assessment questionnaire - approximately 15 minutes required. Questionnaires will be scored to identify team role type for each individual.

Facilitated Session

Each delegate will be assigned to a team. This team will have been pre-selected by EML on the basis of team role types. Each team will be strongly weighted towards particular team role types. For instance, there will be teams of "Shapers" or "Plants" (the precise teams will depend on the actual composition of the group).

Typical Programme Running Order - Running Time: 4 hours

Introduction

Brief introduction by the facilitator outlining the objectives and structure of the day

Activity 1: ice-breaker - logo, motto, name

Purpose: icebreaker and working as at team

The first activity is for the team to create a logo, motto and team name. Each team will then introduce itself to the group as a whole.

Activity 2: team (im)balance

Purpose: to examine how teams weighted towards particular team role types behave differently - and how this impacts the results achieved. Each team will also select an observer - the observer will observe another team in action.

The objective is for each team is to produce the most profit from a construction project. Each team must support a bottle above the ground on a free-standing structure created entirely from adhesive tape and flipchart paper. Revenues are earned for height and speed of construction; costs are incurred for materials used. A planning phase is followed by an execution phase.

At the end of the execution phase, the profit for each team will be calculated and the winner will be announced. Each team will discuss how they performed - what they would change, how they interrelated etc. - and produce a short summary on a flipchart and present to the group as a whole. The observer will add his or her comments

Presentation: Team role types

Brief introduction to team role types by facilitator

Video: Belbin Team Role Types

Activity 3: review of individual profiles and impact on team performance

The facilitator will provide each participant with their individual team role profile (based on the pre-course questionnaire). Participants will discuss their team role types within their teams and will be asked to consider how the team role composition of the team affected performance in the construction activity.

Team reassignment

Participants will now be assigned to new "balanced" teams - ie each team will have each team role represented amongst the team members.

Activity 4: Overcoming team role gaps / over-representation

Purpose: many workplace teams lack or have a preponderance of one or more team role types; how can these gaps / biases be managed so that the team performs effectively.

Each team will be asked to consider how a team can overcome the absence of particular team role types. For instance, how can a team overcome the lack of a Completer Finisher or Monitor Evaluator. (Belbin explicitly warns against a team member playing a role which is not a natural primary or secondary role for them.) Teams will also consider how to counteract the influence of an over-represented team role type - for instance, a team with a preponderance of Plants or Team Workers.

Each team will make a brief presentation to the group

Presentation: Facilitator to summarise the principles derived from the above activity and complement with other ideas. (Essentially gaps etc are managed through process (based on a team recognising its own gaps) or introducing, maybe temporarily, people with the missing characteristics.) Broad categorisation of team roles into Action, Thinking and People orientations.

Activity 5: Good and bad combinations

Purpose: to be aware of team role combinations that are likely to create interpersonal friction or work particularly well.

Each team will be provided with an overview of the strengths and allowable weaknesses of the team role types, together with laminated cards and pens. Three team role types will be assigned to each team and they will be asked to construct good and bad groupings around each of these team role types, assuming that the role that they are considering is in the middle of the hierarchy. For instance, a Shaper - what team role types would work well as a Shaper's boss, colleagues and direct reports? Conversely, what combinations around a Shaper would be likely to have a negative impact on performance.?

Team role types are written on the laminated cards and the groupings assembled. When completed, one team member will remain at the table whilst the other members move to see the groupings created by other teams. The team member who remains will explain the rationale for the groupings to the visitors - who will add their own thoughts, challenges etc.

Presentation: debrief of activity

Activity 6: Human Machine

Purpose: to contrast the "balanced" team with the "imbalanced" team at the beginning and to finish with a high-energy, fun activity.

Teams must create a "human machine" that is capable of passing objects from one end of the room to the other. Each team member must:

• only move in one fixed way - eg rotating or passing items over their head
• move in a unique way - ie no other team member moves in the same way
• synchronise their movement with other team members - eg somebody passing over their head, passes to somebody whose arms are ready to receive as the item comes over. In other words, the machine moves to a set rhythm which cannot be adjusted at individual part level.

The machine must be able to deal with a wide variety of (unknown) items - from chairs to cups of water!

Presentation: debrief and conclusion