The importance of reflection and feedback: Explore your team profile together

Living Democracy » Principals » LEADERSHIP » A democratic style of school leadership » The importance of reflection and feedback: Explore your team profile together

A tool to reflect team roles based on Meredith Belbin

In democratic school leadership, your staff members should ideally form a team. Each teacher will show his or her character and specific talents. However, it is possible to distinguish clusters of typical ways of behavior or roles, that people tend to develop in a team.

An ideal team model includes nine different roles. Each of the roles is essential for the success of a team. Each role has its strengths and weaknesses, and as you may not be able to change people, balancing their strengths and weakness through other team member’s roles is the key to a team’s success. This model of team players’ roles may help your staff to reflect on their cooperation and identify the reasons for their success, their failures and problems as a team. This tool may help you and your staff to assess your perceptions of each other and to clarify your roles.

Role	Strengths	Weaknesses
Coordinator	Coordinators are person-oriented leaders. They are trustworthy, dominant and committed to team goals. These positive thinkers appreciate efforts of other team members, listen to others and have their own point of view.	Coordinators might over-delegate tasks to others, leaving themselves little work to do.
Shaper	Shapers are energetic task-focused leaders with a high motivation to achieve and win. They are committed to success and will ‘shape’ others into achieving the aims of the team.	Coordinators may be aggressive in their attempt to get things done and achieve the goals. Two or three shapers in a group can lead to conflict and in-fighting.
Plant	Plants are idea makers characterized by a high IQ and introversion, while also being dominant and original. They tend to take radical approaches and are more concerned with major issues than with details.	Plants tend to disregard practical details and perspectives. They could be forgetful.
Resource investigator	Resource investigators explore opportunities and develop contacts. They are good negotiators who can find relevant information, support and develop ideas of others. They are sociable and enthusiastic, good at liaison work and exploring resources outside the group.	Resource investigators tend to lose interest after being initially fascinated by an idea. Their ideas are less innovative, and they may forget to see a task through.
Implementer	Implementers are disciplined, practical, trusting and tolerant. They are characterized by low anxiety and work for the team in a practical, realistic way. Implementers tend to do the tasks that others do not want to perform, and they do them well.	Implementers are conservative, inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities.
Team worker	Team workers are sociable and have a positive influence on other team members. They keep up the team spirit and allow other members to contribute effectively. They often have diplomatic skills, a good sense of humor, and they are good listeners.	Team workers tend to be indecisive in moments of crisis and reluctant to do things that might hurt others.
Complete finisher	Complete finishers pay attention to details and thorough fulfilment of tasks. They are consistent, hardworking and responsible.	Complete finishers are perfectionists, who tend to be over-anxious and extreme. They prefer not to delegate tasks.
Monitor evaluator	Monitor evaluators are often judicious, prudent and intelligent. They contribute most when important decisions need to be made. They are competent in analysis and comparison, and they are not misguided by emotions.	Monitor evaluators may be boring or over-critical. They are not good at inspiring others and tend to be slow in decision-making.

It is interesting to note that every person has a predisposition for two, three, or sometimes even more of the roles described above. It depends on the team and the circumstances which role a member fulfills. If your staff finds that certain roles are missing, it should discuss how, and by whom, the gap may be filled.