9 Team Roles to Maximise Your Projects' Success

Successful teamwork hinges on the skills and resources each member brings to the table. As a project manager or managing director of a department, who you select to form your team is critical for your projects' success.

According to Meredith Belbin, a British researcher and management theorist, if you want to ensure the success of your next project, you need to take advantage of the psychological diversity in your team. Of course it is conducive if all members get along, but more importantly, their traits and skills must complement each other.

The infographic created by Market Inspector UK below identifies and explains each of the 9 roles and their strengths and weaknesses for you to ensure your next project will be a success.

There are 9 team roles you need to cover to maximise your projects' success. Each individual role has a purpose, natural strengths, and allowable weaknesses. While all 9 roles need to be covered, not every team requires 9 members as one person can cover 2-3 roles.

These 9 roles can be categories into three groups:

By covering these three areas, you form a balanced team that will deliver results. If your team is unbalanced, you may have too many strong-minded individuals that tend to be impatient or inflexible. This could lead to time wasted arguing, instead of producing results. Or you could have an indecisive team that shies away from making important judgement calls. Belbin’s model helps pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of a team, as well as foresee potential conflicts between members and how to diffuse them.