Instruments for teamwork

Wed Feb 18 08:42:14 PST 2004

Masud,
I totally agree with your idea of the underpinning of "engineering" with
Belbin. That is the reason why we have sofar only used it in training
situations and not in team development situations, when we are facilitating
(long-term) team development processes. For me, models like Belbin are like
a tool/instrument to pick up the clients where they are, i.e. if I am
working with a team of engineers, who are not used to reflecting their
relationships, I could imagine using it in a team development context in
order to meet their way of thinking and structuring their world. At the same
time, I believe, there is a value in proposing an alternative (systemic) way
of looking at the world - maybe that is why I have never used Belbin in a
team development situation.

Another reason for being hesitant to use these instruments is the lack of
context. Even if I stress it when filling in those questionnaire, there is
always the tendency to label and to forget about the context. Or at least
people do not give the amount of attention to the context I think is
necessary to derive sustainable results and insights from it. Especially in
team situations I therefore prefer to focus on the actual context.

I am enjoying the discussion!

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: Masud Sheikh <masheikh at cogeco.ca>
Antworten an: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Datum: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 08:33:25 -0500
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: Re: [OSLIST] Instruments for teamwork

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
Œdominant role¹ 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 Œengineering¹. 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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