How to spot the signs of team overwhelm (and what to do about it using Belbin Team Roles)

Edition 2 - Address stress using Belbin team roles.

Following on from identifying possible indicators of stress with some of your team members (PL, RI and TW) – particularly clues to look for when working remotely – let’s consider another three of Belbin’s Team Roles, Shapers (SH), Co-ordinators (CO) and Specialists (SP).  How might you spot concerns and what are some actions you can take to address them?

SHAPERS (SH)

In some ways, remote working is ideal for Shapers: they love stress don’t they? They don’t have to be nice to those around them and put up with all that social chit-chat; they can just focus on the job at hand and get things done their way! Nevertheless, by having a tendency not to notice people problems within the team, your SH may just withdraw and become isolated and focussed on their own tasks. Alternatively, if their complementary team members are not working with them effectively, your SH may become loud and frustrated, demanding action without appropriate concern for others or the current situation. Try speaking with them directly and sharing that the current environment is putting stress on people and affecting delivery of some tasks. Explain that results will be better achieved by accommodating this and suggest some practical ways this can be done.

COORDINATORS (CO)

One such practical action may be to urge more input from any Co-ordinators in your team. Like Shapers, Co-ordinators have a strong focus on goals and objectives but they are also skilled at getting things done through people. In remote teams your CO may be suffering stress by being distanced from their colleagues – you might notice them withdrawing, even becoming apparently lazy and leaving tasks to be done by others, then jumping in to take credit if they succeed. Try seeking their active input on how to best use the skills, knowledge and competencies of each team member in today’s situation: and give them some responsibility for helping others learn and grow – done well, this may also serve to alleviate some of the frustrations of your Shapers and help deliver projects effectively.

SPECIALISTS (SP)

Your CO may also usefully help engage any Specialist (SP) in your team – those with specialist knowledge and particular technical skills. Like the Plants we considered earlier, your SP can be quite happy working alone but they also share the risk of becoming too single-mined and narrow in their views if they become isolated from their team members and from the main game. If you find you haven’t heard from your SP in a while, or they do join in team meetings only to dominate with their ideas and knock down those whom they consider less knowledgeable, your SP may be suffering stress. Try bringing your SP into group discussions: seek and acknowledge their specialist input and make sure to give others an opportunity to show how they can build on that input to add value to the task or project, reminding everyone of the bigger picture.

And that bigger picture might be particularly important when we look at the last three of Belbin’s nine Team Roles.

Next

Next, we’ll look at possible indicators of stress in other team members. Perhaps you have a Monitor Evaluator (ME); always analysing things far too much (in someone’s opinion) before making a decision and saying “what if, what if, what if”? What about an Implementer (IMP); very methodical and practical at getting things done albeit inflexible with change? And lastly, every team needs a Completer Finisher (CF) as well; do you have a perfectionist, proud of their attention to detail and oblivious to missing your deadlines a little too often?

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If you’d like more information about how Horizon can help you to make the most effective use of the people in your team – we are offering a limited number of complimentary assessments and a debrief for a Manager in your organisation to provide some insight to how fascinating and useful this inventory can be. Please contact amyphillips@horizonmg.com.au if you’d like to take us up on this offer or discuss anything further to improve the performance and satisfaction of your people.

Parts 1 and 3

Part 1: Plants (PL), Resource Investigators (RI), Team Workers (TW)

Part 3: Monitor Evaluators (ME), Implementers (IMP), Completer Finishers (CF)