Article Belbin’s Balance - 9 Personality Types That Create Group Success - Part 2
In the previous article, I introduced Meredith Belbin’s 9 personality types and how having an understanding about them can help your attempts to create and lead a successful team. Now, you might be wondering why it's crucial to have this blend of character types in our teams. The answer is simple: balance. Each personality type brings a unique skill set to the table, and when combined effectively, they create a harmonious and productive team dynamic. The positive benefits of having these personality types in our teams are manifold:
The following five points provide details about the benefits of having a team that follows Belbin’s balance principles.
1. Enhanced Creativity and Innovation: The presence of Plants and Resource Investigators guarantees a steady stream of creative ideas and fresh insights, keeping your team competitive and adaptable.
2. Improved Decision-Making: With Monitor Evaluators weighing in, your team will make more rational and informed choices, avoiding impulsive decisions.3. Strong Leadership and Cohesion: Coordinators provide effective leadership, and Team Workers keep the team united, ensuring that everyone works together efficiently.
4. Results-Driven Performance: Shapers and Implementers push the team to achieve high standards and execute tasks effectively, leading to improved performance.
5. Meticulous Quality Control: The Completer Finishers' attention to detail guarantees that your team's output is consistently error-free and of high quality.
However, what happens when your team lacks this balance? Consider the following:
1. Creative Stagnation: Without Plants and Resource Investigators, your team may struggle to generate innovative ideas, potentially falling behind competitors.
2. Conflict and Disarray: In the absence of Coordinators and Team Workers, team cohesion may suffer, leading to disputes, misunderstandings, and reduced productivity.
3. Risky Decision-Making: A team lacking Monitor Evaluators may make impulsive choices, which can result in costly mistakes and missed opportunities.
4. Mediocre Performance: Shapers and Implementers drive excellence. Without them, your team might settle for mediocre results.
5. Error-Prone Work: The absence of Completer Finishers may lead to sloppy work with overlooked mistakes, tarnishing your team's reputation.
In conclusion, our team's success hinges on the balance of personality types within it. Are we harnessing the full potential of our teams by embracing the diverse strengths of the members? By acknowledging the significance of personality balance and actively cultivating it within our teams, we can unlock a world of possibilities and propel our organisation to new heights.
So, I challenge you to reflect on your team dynamics and ask yourself: Do you truly understand the importance of characters in your teams, and are you harnessing the positive benefits that the eight core character types can bring? Your answer may very well determine the future success of your team and organisation. You can use the OurSails platform to keep detailed private notes that help us identify these character types, their needs and the positives they bring for each of your team members and refer to these quickly whenever you want. Visit OurSails.com to find out more.
- Align to avoid confusion.
- Collaborate to avoid suspicion.
- Succeed without despair.