After completing the Belbin quiz, the following results transpired:
Strongest role: Coordinator category
Adept roles: Monitor-Evaluator, Completer-Finisher and Company Worker
Adequate: Shaper
I did not identify with the other roles in any significant measure.
- What did you learn about your attitudes to working in a team? Which Belbin roles did you identify with?
Based on past team experiences, I know I am good at adapting to different teams and different roles well. The quiz seemed to confirm this with the variety of adept roles to support my strongest role.
- Were you surprised by either your Leadership or Team Score following the first quiz? Why/why not? You don't need to specify the scores that you received - rather was it higher/lower than you expected.
I was not surprised, during my undergraduate degree I coordinated many projects but was also in charge of compiling and finishing or monitoring and evaluating other processes if I did not fill the coordinating role. I am very adaptable when it comes to the roles where I received higher scores. I also do not mind taking a worker role if I am not in a leadership position, as I like to support and facilitate teamwork. I can take the role of a shaper (task-oriented leadership) if a people-oriented leadership approach does not seem to be working, but I do prefer a less authoritarian approach.
I was also not surprised that I got low scores in the Plant, Implementer and Resource-Investigator roles as I usually take a big-picture collaborative approach to projects and those are more focused on details, which is something I would like to develop.
- Did you identify with any of the causes of conflict? Is it something you have a tendency to do or something you have experienced from previous team projects? How will you manage this if it occurs in this team project?
In a measure I could relate to some of the weaknesses but I did not relate to the weakness of the coordinator to delegate work, as sometimes I feel I take more of a completer-finisher approach and try to do more than necessary. During this project I will be able to avoid this in the early planning stages through planning and assigning tasks and responsibilities to each person. This will ensure that I do not take on more than is expected, as I do tend to have high expectations on myself.
- What is important to you when working in a team?
It is important that everyone agrees on the end goal. I also believe that any conflict should be addressed as it arises, as I like working in an open, honest environment. Getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses is an important part of the process as well as learning to adapt to different personalities and group dynamics.
