- Relationship between personality preferences and abilities of team members and their performance in competition with other teams - Meridith Belbin. - 8 team roles plus a specialist role. - Managers comfortable contributing to 3 of these roles. Less comfortable with another three. - About preferences not abilities - A mix is required. - Provides more informed choices about how to engage with colleagues to get the best outcome. ### Types Thinking Roles: - Plants. creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Impractical or unrealistic? - Monitor evaluator. Analytical, evaluative, considers many options. Lacking drive or ability to inspire? Impersonal? - Specialist. Single minded, self starting, conscientious. Contributes narrowly? Action Roles: - Implementer. Structured, methodological. Reluctant to change - Completer finishers. Detailed, perfectionist, anxious. Delivers on time. May worry unduly. Reluctant to delegate. - Shaper. Challenging. Thrives on pressure. Prone to provocation and short bursts of temper. Relationship Roles: - Co-ordinator. Mature, confident, clarifies goals, delegates. May not be most clever or most creative. - Team worker. Cooperative, responsible, promotes positive climate. May be indecisive. - Resource investigator. Natural networkers. Enjoy comms. May loose interest after initial enthusiasm. I am probably a monitor evaluator, with some tendency towards completer finisher, and probably a co-ordinator or a team worker.