Team Types
know them by their slogans

Belbin M (1993) Team Roles at Work; Butterworth/Heinemann 0 7506 0925 7

Belbin is famous for his categorization of types of people in teams. His 9 types are listed below and described in terms of the phrases and slogans which they might use.

Plant

• When a problem is baffling, think laterally
• Where there’s a problem, there’s a solution
• The greater the problem, the greater the challenge
• Do not disturb, genius at work
• Good ideas always seem strange at first
• Ideas start with dreaming
• Without continuous innovation, there is no survival

Resource Investigator

• We could make a fortune out of that
• Ideas should be stolen with pride
• Never reinvent the wheel
• Opportunities arise from other people’s mistakes
• Surely we can exploit that?
• You can always telephone to find out
• Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted

Co-ordinator

• Let’s keep the main objective in sight
• Has anyone else got anything to add to this?
• We like to reach a consensus before we move forward
• Never assume that silence means approval
• I think that we should give someone else a chance
• Good delegation is an art
• Management is the art of getting other people to do all the work

Shaper

• Just do it!
• Say ‘no’, then negotiate.
• If you say ‘yes I will do it’, I expect it to be done
• I’m not satisfied we are achieving all we can
• I may be blunt, but at least I am to the point
• I’ll get things moving
• When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Monitor evaluator

• I’ll think it over and give you a firm decision tomorrow
• Have we exhausted all the options?
• If it does not stand up to logic, it’s not worth doing!
• Better to make the right decision slowly than the wrong one quickly
• This looks like the best option on balance
• Let’s weigh up the alternatives
• Decisions should not be based purely on enthusiasm

Teamworker

• Courtesy costs nothing
• I was very interested in your point of view
• If it’s all right with you, it’s all right with me
• Everybody has a good side worth appealing to
• If people listened to themselves more, they would talk less
• You can always sense a good atmosphere at work
• I try to be versatile

Implementer

• If it can be done, we will do it
• An ounce of action is worth a pound of theory
• Hard work never killed anybody
• If it’s difficult, we do it immediately. If it’s impossible it takes a little longer
• To err is human, to forgive is not company policy
• Let’s get down to the task in hand
• The company has my full support

Completer finisher

• This is something that demands our undivided attention
• The small print is always worth reading
• ‘If anything can go wrong it will’, and as O’Toole said on Murphy’s Law, ‘Murphy was an optimist’.
• There is no excuse for not being perfect
• Perfection is only just good enough
• A stitch in time saves nine
• Has it been checked?

Specialist

• In this job you never stop learning
• Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day of your life
• True professionalism is its own reward
• My subject is fascinating to me
• The more you know, the more you find to discover
• It is better to know a lot about something, than a little about everything
• A committee is 12 people doing the work on one