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

Edition 3 - Address stress using Belbin team roles

When your team may be working remotely and/or working in this time of uncertainty with Covid restrictions which often requires rapid or frequent changes in process or direction, keeping an eye on the bigger picture and keeping everyone on board can be especially challenging. The last three of Belbin’s nine Team Roles (see articles 1 and 2 of our 3 part series for more) may all show different indicators of stress as they deal with change and you may need to manage them all in slightly different ways.

monitor evaluator (ME)

You may have a Monitor Evaluator (ME) in your team: a thinker who likes to evaluate details and options before making decisions; they are very good at bringing the “what ifs?” to your attention. Unfortunately, the environment which brings out the best in your ME is likely to be quite the opposite of what we are currently experiencing: you may not have time to allow advance notice of issues needing prompt attention; decisions may need to be made without full information. This can be incredibly stressful for an ME and you may find them becoming non-responsive or worse, they will start to only see flaws and loudly criticise the plan and those proposing it. Try acknowledging that this situation is not ideal. Don’t try and convince your ME that a “quick decision is a good decision” but rather explain that the current situation requires a different approach on a temporary basis and that you value their contribution. Try asking for their help on some specific, complex, problem or issues and give as much information as possible on the background that is driving the need for any changes.

implementer (IMP)

Another team member who may be particularly opposed to having the goal posts moved is the one on whom you normally rely to turn ideas into practical actions: your Implementer (IMP). This team member works systematically and methodically, but sometimes inflexibly. A possible sign of their stress is unusual floundering and poor execution. Or you might notice them becoming uncharacteristically competitive; or telling everyone this new approach won’t work; or unreasonably criticising others’ ideas. Resist temptation to be drawn into competitiveness or “she’s right – he’s wrong” debates: it will be counter-productive. In team meetings, try recognising the organisational abilities of your IMP; give them responsibility, and then recognition and praise, for letting others know what has been decided and who should be doing what and by when. Perhaps ask them to develop communication plans for use beyond the team. Confirm, that even though the situation is not ideal, their organisational abilities are needed even more during this period.

completer finisher (CF)

Which brings us to our ninth Team Role: the Completer Finisher (CF). As with the IMP, the CF does not like last minute changes to upset their careful planning. They are proud of their attention to detail and their reliability to complete jobs to standard. Whilst working remotely can give them opportunity to bring their attention to even more detail, your CF may fall into the trap of over engineering everything they touch and/or losing sight of the overall (and often changing) objective. Watch for signs of stress: are they working very long hours or bogging down on ever smaller details? Are they finishing tasks they started, even though you have advised the tasks are no longer required? Are they becoming more assertive than usual and confronting other team members, and/or their ideas, if changes to the normal way of doing things are required? Don’t allow yourself to be frustrated by your CF’s apparent resistance and stubbornness. Try seeing things from their perspective: how practical are their objections? Have we missed something in the rush to change? Let them know you appreciate them – and how they feel – and invest time explaining the benefits and advantages of the changes and how your CF is critical to the team’s success. Be clear on what the new priorities are and what standards are needed.

So, managing a team is easy eh?

Of course, no-one is just any one of the nine Team Roles – we are usually a combination of a few – and we rarely have exactly nine people in our team. We trust the brief outlines here help you recognise some of your team members; give you some clues to spot some of the different ways they may each demonstrate stress; and the tips prove valuable in helping you manage your team with ease during the strange time – and beyond.

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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 2

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

Part 2: Shapers (SH), Coordinators (CO), Specialists (SP)