Instruments for teamwork

[Masud Sheikh]

To my way of thinking, the main value (as with so many other
instruments) is the self-awareness it brings - and the opportunity to
balance personal weaknesses.
When I undertook the questionnaire myself for the first time, one role
came out quite clearly for me. When I did this again many months later,
the 'dominant role' was no longer as dominant - I could fill more than
one role.

Open Space has a philosophical underpinning of self-organizing. Belbin
seems to have a philosophical underpinning of 'engineering'. I have
often wondered if these philosophies can be combined, or whether the two
play different roles, in different (cycle of) times.

Mayke, have you used Belbin only during training, or have you used it
for actual (longer running) projects?

Esther, if you say a little more about the context in which you are
asking the question, I (and others) might be in a better position to
comment.

Masud
1-905-338-9583



-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Mayke
Wagner, essence
Sent: February 18, 2004 4:29 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Instruments for teamwork

Hi Ester,
we have used Belbin for a couple of years! There is different ways of
working with you:
1. You can introduce the roles. We always explain the roles, looking at
a whole work process: creating ideas, evaluating ideas, planning things,
putting things into action, evaluating the outcome, improving... The
specialist role has been "created" after the initial roles - so it does
not really fit in the work process, but is obviousy needed.
According to your explanations, the participants explore which roles
they prefer...
With respect to dealing with differences in groups, it makes sense to
focus on the strength each role contributes. These strengths are tied to
weaknesses and you can only get the "package", so the people start
looking at the benefifs of having, for example, a creative inventor in
their team and stop complaining about the chaotic side of the person!

2. Another option would be that the participants fill in the
questionnaire and then - after explaining the roles - you look at the
results with respect to the team (Do we have all roles in the team? What
is missing? What are the effects of that?) and to the individual.

What I find important that the people fill in the questionnaire with a
certain team situation in the back of their mind. That way, their role
is situational and the idea, that you may have different roles in
different teams, gets across.

3. A third option is to give written explanations to the participants,
and have them come up with strength and weaknesses, popular examples.

4. I heard someone introduced the roles by using start trek - supposedly
you have all the roles in it! Since I am not a star trek freak, I have
not used the approach.

5. What I have also seen before is a combination of Belbin and Riemann's
dimensions of fear (I only know it in German - so I do not know whether
it is known in the English-speaking world). The dimensions are distance
- closeness and change - continuity (process) and in those four
quadrants they have allocated the Belbin roles.

It would take me tto long to explain everything in written form. My
suggestion is that you give me a call and I can explain what I know on
the phone. That is, of course, an offer for others as well!

I hope these ideas are helpful!
Greetings from Germany,

Mayke
___________________________________________
essence - Beratung, Training, Coaching
Mayke Wagner
Hanser 3
88279 Amtzell
GERMANY

mayke.wagner at t-e-a-m.org
Tel (+49) 07520 / 9232 02
visit us:  <http://www.t-e-a-m.org>

Von: "Esther ." <EwingChange at aol.com>
Antworten an: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Datum: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 16:08:57 EST
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: Re: [OSLIST] Instruments for teamwork

Masud:

How would you approach using Belbin with a team?


Esther Ewing
The Change Alliance - Assisting Individuals and Organizations to Build
Capability
www.ChangeAlliance.com <http://www.changealliance.com/>
330 East 38th St, Suite 53K
New York, NY 10016-9804
212-661-6024

Authorized Distributor, Panoramic Feedback
www.panoramicfeedback.com <http://www.panoramicfeedback.com/>

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