Related: 11 Common Barriers to Teamwork and How You Can Overcome Them 3 thought-oriented team roles in the Belbin model The Resource Investigator (people-oriented) Understanding each role a team member can play may help you to work more efficiently as a team: The nine Belbin team roles are descriptions of job duties that fall into three broad categories: thought-oriented roles, action-oriented roles and people-oriented roles. When you understand your role within a team, you can improve your contributions by developing your strengths and managing your weaknesses. You may also use results from this test to identify opportunities for growth, depending on what kind of skills your organization needs. Results from this test can help guide the hiring process or help you decide how to split up your existing pool of employees into different teams. You can apply the Belbin model to your team to help create a more balanced unit. The team, which consists of members with unrefined social skills, may exhibit this weakness as a whole. These members can complete some tasks efficiently, but they may fail to network with customers and business partners. For example, imagine a team that has members who all rely on rational thinking and facts rather than emotions. The Belbin model suggests that a team that has members with similar styles of workplace behaviors and tendencies can become unbalanced. How to use the Belbin model in the workplace The Belbin test is available online to complete for free. The latter is a psychometric test that reveals your personality type, whereas the Belbin test is a behavioral exam that establishes which traits you display in nine possible team roles. The Belbin test differs from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. This means that you can build a well-balanced team from any number of people, as long as you include all the roles. Participants may exhibit traits that enable them to assume more than one role. The results show which of the nine roles best fit each participant. To measure personality traits with the Belbin test, participants evaluate their own behaviors, receive feedback from observers and compare the resulting answers. Meredith Belbin devised the Belbin Team Inventory test through a study at Henley Management College to establish the ideal roles for individuals to assume within a team. In this article, we discuss the nine Belbin team roles and the associated Belbin personality test so you can optimize teamwork in your own office.

Understanding the different roles in the Belbin Team Inventory test can help you assign team roles by identifying each individual's motivations and objectives. For instance, some individuals are better in thought-oriented or action-oriented positions, while others may excel in people-oriented roles. An effective team utilizes the various personality types of its members in order to best fulfill different roles.

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