UNIT 8: TEAM BUILDING

UNIT 8: TEAM BUILDING

In constructing teams, it's important not just to get talented people, but the right combination of talents. In the famous phrase, it's important to have a great team of minds, rather than a team of great minds. Meredith Belbin sees these types as necessary in teams, whether in business or elsewhere:

The Implementer, who converts the team's plan into something achievable

The Coordinator, who sets agendas, defines team-members' roles and keeps the objectives in view

The Shaper, who defines issues, shapes ideas and leads the action

The Plant, who provides the original ideas and finds new approaches when the team is stuck

The Resource Investigator, who communicates with the outside world and finds new ways to get things done

The Monitor Evaluator, who evaluates information objectively and draws accurate conclusions from it

The Team Worker, who builds the team, supports others, and reduces conflict

The Completer/Finisher, who meets deadlines, gets the detail right and makes sure nothing is forgotten.

This model lends itself better to some business situations than others, but the idea of roles and competencies in a team is important, whatever form these take in particular situations. Some organisations are more hierarchicaland less democratic than others, and team members are obviously expected to behave more deferentially in the former. Senior managers there have the traditional leader's role: what they say goes. In other organisations, power is more devolved and managers talk about, or at least pay tip-service to, the empowerment of those under them: the idea that decision-making should be decentralised to members of their teams.

In addition to the traditional organisation, we increasingly find virtual organisations and virtual teams. People are brought together for a particular project and then disbanded. Here, in addition to Belbin's types above, the role of the Selector/Facilitator is crucial. Finding the right tatents and co-ordinating them takes on new importance, especially when the team members may never actuatly meet face-to-face, but work by e-mail and phone.

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