Cross Balance

bullet1 NINE TYPES OF TEAM MEMBER

Table: Nine Types of Team Member

(Adapted from Meredith Belbin (1992) in Pretty et al. (1995


THE SPECIALIST

The team’s chief source of rare knowledge and skill
  • A single minded loner
  • Self-starting
  • Dedicated
  • Makes the occasional dazzling breakthrough
Allowable weakness:
  • Contributes on a narrow front

THE MONITOR /
EVALUATOR
The team’s rock
  • Strategic
  • Sober
  • Analytical
  • Introvert
  • Capable of deep analysis of huge quantities of data
  • Rarely wrong
Allowable weaknesses
  • An unexciting plod
  • Lacks imagination

THE COMPLETER / FINISHER
The teams’ worrier and stickler for detail, deadlines and schedules
  • Has relentless follow through
  • Chief catcher of errors and omissions
Allowable weaknesses:
  • Reluctant to let go
  • Worries about small things

THE TEAMWORKER
The team’s counsellor and conciliator
  • Social
  • Perceptive
  • Accommodating
  • Aware of undercurrents and other’s problems
  • Promotes harmony
  • Most valuable in times of crisis
Allowable weakness:
  • Indecisive

THE COORDINATOR
The team’s natural chairperson
  • Confident
  • Talks easily
  • Listens well
  • Promotes decision making
  • Able to encourage contributions from all team members
  • Need not be brilliant intellectually
Allowable weakness:
  • A bit manipulative

THE SHAPER
Usually the team’s self-elected leader
  • Dynamic
  • Positive
  • Out-going
  • Argumentative
  • A pressuriser
  • Seeks ways around obstacles
Allowable weaknesses:
  • Not always likeable
  • Tendency to bully
  • Provokes opposition

THE ENERGY PLANT
The team’s vital spark and chef source of ideas
  • Creative
  • Unorthodox
  • Imaginative
Allowable weaknesses:
  • Lacks practicality
  • A bit of a handful
  • Up in the clouds

THE RESOUCES INVESTIGATOR
The team’s fixer
  • Extrovert
  • Amiable
  • Good at making and using contacts
  • An explorer of opportunities
Allowable weaknesses
  • Undisciplined
  • Short attention span

THE IMPLEMENTER
The team’s workhorse
  • Turns ideas into practical action and gets on with them logically and loyally
  • Disciplined
  • Reliable
  • Conservative
Allowable weaknesses:
  • Can only adapt if told why
  • Lacks imagination