Co-ordinator – Mostly A’s
- Person-orientated leader.
- Recognises the skills of the individuals and how they can be used.
- Pulls People and tasks together.
- Tries to maintain harmony among the team members.
- Good at controlling people and events and co-ordinating resources.
- Good judge of people.
- Co-ordinates team efforts and leads by eliciting respect.
- Clarifies group objectives, sets the agenda, establishes priorities, selects problems, sums up and is decisive, but does not dominate discussions.
- Trusting, accepting, dominant, and is committed to team goals and objectives.
- Positive thinker who approves of goal attainment, struggle and effort in others.
- Tolerant enough always to listen to others, but strong enough to reject their advise.
Shaper – Mostly B’s
- A natural leader who can command respect and motivate and enthuse others, provided the negative behaviours are controlled
- An outgoing and dominant person who has to be careful not to be domineering
- Urges the team to achievement of the team objectives
- Impatient with complacency and lack of progress and can overreact
- Has energy, determination and initiative to overcome obstacles
- Brings competitive drive to the team
- Gives shape to the team effort, looking for patterns in discussions and practical considerations regarding the feasibility of the project
- Can steamroller the team but gets results.
Plant – Mostly C’s
- An ideas person, full of creativity
- Usually a dominant person, but can be serious minded and introverted
- Dislikes orthodoxy and not too concerned with practicalities
- Potentially the most creative person in the team, sometimes ‘planted’ in a team for this purpose
- Imaginative, intelligent and the team’s source of original ideas
- Provides suggestions and proposals that are usually original and radical
- Tends to take radical approaches to team functioning and problems
- Plants are more concerned with major issues than with details.
Monitor-evaluator – Mostly D’s
- The logical, analytical, objective processor in the team
- Tends to be unobtrusive until special qualities are needed
- Cautious and critical of loose thinking in others
- Not imaginative or creative, but suggests team consider alternatives
- Offers measured, dispassionate critical analysis
- Keeps team from pursuing misguided objectives
- Judicious, prudent, intelligent person
- Contributes at times of crucial decision making because they are capable of evaluating competing proposals
- Serious minded and not deflected by emotional arguments
- Tends to be slow in coming to a decision because of need to think things over and takes pride in never being wrong.
Resource investigator – Mostly E’s
- Goes outside the team to bring in ideas, information and developments
- Extroverted, outgoing, enthusiastic when investigating anything new
- Can stimulate discussion, but soon gets tired after initial buzz
- Skilled at finding and starting to use resources
- Popular, sociable, relaxed
- Good improviser with many external contacts
- May be easily diverted from task at hand
- Good negotiators who probe other people for information and support and pick up other’s ideas and develop them.
Implementer/Company Worker – Mostly F’s
- A stable, self-disciplined member, aware of the team’s obligation internally and externally
- Very practical and needs convincing of the practicalities of new ideas
- Conservative and reactionary
- Happy when involved in working out methods, procedures and rules for implementation
- Methodical and trustworthy
- Turns decisions and strategies into defined and manageable tasks, sorting out objectives and pursuing them logically
- Aware of external obligations and are disciplined and conscientious
- Characterised by low anxiety and tend to work for the team in a practical, realistic way.
- Tend to do the jobs that others do not want to do and do them well.
Team Worker – Mostly G’s
- Works well with different people and can be depended on to promote a good team atmosphere, helping the team to gel.
- Diplomatic and sensitive to the feelings of others, not seen as a threat.
- Supportive and a good listener, able to recognise and resolve the development of conflict and other difficulties.
- >Good at building on the ideas of others.
- Likeable and unassertive.
- Make helpful interventions to avert potential friction and enable difficult characters within the team to use their skills to positive ends.
- Tend to keep the team spirit up and allow other members to contribute effectively.
- Their diplomatic skills together with their sense of humour are assets to the team.
- Sensitive and people –orientated.
Completer – Mostly H’s
- An introverted perfectionist, interested in detail and seeking high standards in self and others
- Finishes tasks thoroughly, giving them complete attention
- Can antagonise others through the over-attention to detail
- Worries about problems, personally checks details
- Maintains a permanent sense of urgency with relentless follow through
- They make steady effort and are consistent in their work.
Sources: West M (1994) Effective Teamwork; The British Psychology Society
Rae L (1998) Using people skills in training and development