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Belbin Theory

When a team is performing at its best, you'll usually find that each team member has clear responsibilities. Just as importantly, you'll see that every role needed to achieve the team's goal is being performed fully and well.


But often, despite clear roles and responsibilities, a team will fall short of its full potential.


How often does this happen in the teams you work with? Perhaps some team members don't complete what you expect them to do. Perhaps others are not quite flexible enough, so things "fall between the cracks." Maybe someone who is valued for their expert input fails to see the wider picture, and so misses out tasks or steps that others would expect. Or perhaps one team member becomes frustrated because he or she disagrees with the approach of another team member.


Dr Meredith Belbin studied team-work for many years, and he famously observed that people in teams tend to assume different "team roles." He defined a team role as "a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way" and named nine such team roles that underlie team success.


Belbin identified nine team roles and he categorized those roles into three groups: Action Oriented, People Oriented, and Thinking Oriented. Each team role is associated with typical behavioral and interpersonal strengths.


A Balance of Thinking + Action + People Roles = Productivity and Performance





Research showed that the most successful teams were made up of a diverse mix of behaviours; they had access to all nine Belbin Team Roles.


This doesn't mean that every team requires nine people! Most people will have two or three Team Roles that they are most comfortable with.


There are no good or bad Team Roles. Each Team Role has it's strengths and weaknesses, and each has equal importance. However, not all are required at the same time - it is important to first look at the team objectives, and work out which tasks need to be undertaken. Once this has been done, discussions can take place regarding which and when each Team Role behaviour should be utlised.






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