Independent, unorthodox, imaginative, original, radical, clever, loner, dominant, socially bold, uninhibited, forthright In addition, the nine roles can be assigned to three categories: thought, people and action oriented roles. Here is a short overview of the different roles and a list of keywords for each role (extracted from Peter Mackechnie). Not a fan of long texts? Check this video. The Belbin roles should rather be understood as a basis for an open discussion. Team members can also take on different roles at the same time or change roles in the course of group work. And finally, the roles should not be seen as fixed constructs. Second, the Belbin roles only refer to group work and therefore are not to be equated with character traits. Thus, it is important to make sure that everyone feels comfortable in the process. Therefore she takes over the creative tasks in the group and is available to everyone as a brainstorming partner.įirst of all, this method involves personal questions. Thus, her team members know from the beginning that Anna is a very creative and open minded person and likes to think outside of the box. Anna takes on the role of the plant in her group. Based on the results of the whole seminar group, teams are put together which have as many different roles as possible. Anna is assigned to the role called plant. As preparation, all students do the Belbin test.

Let's take a concrete example to show how the test allows groups to work more efficiently: Anna's seminar is planning a group work. If there are some roles that are not represented in your group, you may want to talk about what skills you lack and how you would like to compensate them. In reality, however, this is often not possible.

The ideal is of course a team in which all nine different roles are distributed. However, existing groups can also use the test in order to gain a deeper understanding of competencies and responsibilities. Therefore, it is recommended to do the test before forming groups. To form an effective team, diverse roles should be represented.

Belbin team roles test questionnaire