Finding My Place...

Almost at the end of the first year is not when I thought that I would be asked to decide where I 'fit in' to a team with my peers. However that is exactly what we have been asked to do this week, using the Belbin website and the Belbin team roles summary table.

Resource Investigator seems to fit me quite well. On my previous course, we had to work as a group to create a website for a given client and one of my main responsibilities was to liaise with the client, keeping in constant contact with them (and others in the company, although with less input into the project). I also feel that perhaps my enthusiasm for the project did dwindle slightly as the project went on as I was not in contact with as many people as I would liked to have been.

In the group that I was in on my previous course, it was only a group of 3. This consisted of a Project Manager, an admin (builder) and a P.A. In the group I was the P.A to start with, but it soon became obvious that the PM wasn't pulling his weight in the group. I think that this is the biggest key to a successful group (I.e. everyone does what they're supposed to do, and pulls their weight). Without this, everyone will become demotivated extremely quickly and the work will suffer as a result.

To get around this problem in my last group, we shifted the roles around a bit, and sat down as a group to discuss our progress and what we could do to get back on track. In the end we gave our 'slacker' a choice. Do the work or your out.

Although I feel this way of motivation is a little strict, and perhaps not the best way of motivating someone, sometimes you have to take the attitude of 'do what you need to do to get things done'. And it worked.

To be in a successful team next year, the first person I think that would be needed for the group would be a 'project manager' or a 'coordinator' on the Belbin site. This senior figure would be the guiding light for the rest of the group, and would allow everyone to get through the project with minimal fuss. Although I have had experience as 'project manager' before, I feel that perhaps other people within the group could be better suited for this position, though if no one felt up to this amount of responsibility, I would offer to take on this role.

The second team member I would like within my group would be a plant. This person would be the centre of the groups creativity and would really help get the initial ideas off the ground so that they can be adapted and built upon as quickly as possible ready for the client to see and for work to be started.

Lastly in my group, I think that a 'Completer Finisher' would be well suited. I think not only would this person be useful throughout projects finding little errors as you go along (instead of having a domino effect going on) but I also think that they would be useful particularly at the end of the project, to really fine tune any things that need to be changed that others may miss.

I think that perhaps a 'team worker' would be one person I would least like in my group next year. I think that perhaps a 'team worker' is a sort of get out clause and that by having a team builder in the group could affect the time management of the project as decisions would be difficult to make. However, saying this, if a team worker were in my group, I think that once the project was up and going with most of the problems and decisions worked out, that a team worker could be quite useful as part of the team.

Because of the pros and cons of all the team roles it is difficult to create an 'ideal' team summary, and there are many external factors that can affect how the team cooperates.

If there were an 'ideal' team, then it would consist of team members with various pros (and unavoidably cons) from a few sections of Belbin's 'team roles summary table'.

As well as these factors, next year I will also be hoping to use some of the skills I learnt from my previous course and also learn from my mistakes too. I feel I know now the signs of when someone is slacking off long before I did previously, and therefore will be able to stop the same problems we had before sooner rather than later, when it is easier to steer someone back on track.

I look forward to seeing who I will be working with next year, although I don't feel that there is anyone who I would dislike working with.